"The Crusades have begun. Wave upon wave of Christian pilgrims rush to assault the growing power of Moslems in the Holy Lands. Battles will continue for the next two hundred years. Every able man becomes a soldier of the Cross. When a man is prevented by old age or ill health, he sends his son. Women, too, join to fight alongside their husbands and fathers. Two centuries long, this common cause is the defining war of what was becoming the spirit of the Western world.".

"The author has commented, "I think of this as a book about the Crusades, not an 'historical novel' - a term that suggests imaginary experiences and unlikely conversations. Monologues and dialogues in this book are paraphrased or condensed from those in medieval documents. Every meeting, every conversation, every triumph or defeat, no matter how small, was recorded centuries ago.""--BOOK JACKET.