Waubonsee Community College

Warriors of God, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade, James Reston, Jr

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-354) and index

mapsillustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

Warriors of God

bibliography

45283102

James Reston, Jr

"James Reston, Jr., re-creates the collision of the Christian holy wars and the Muslim jihad at the end of the twelfth century. A dual biography of the legendary Richard the Lionheart and the Sultan Saladin, iconic hero of the Islamic world, Warriors of God recounts the life of each man and reveals the passions of the times that brought them face-to-face in the final battle of the Third Crusade." "Richard the Lionheart, commonly depicted as the romantic personification of chivalry, here emerges in his full complexity and contradiction as Reston examines the dark side of Richard's role as the leader of the blood-soaked Crusade and breaks new ground by openly discussing Richard's homosexuality. Reston's compelling portrait of Saladin brings to life the wise, highly cultured leader who realized an enduring Arab dream by uniting Egypt and Syria and whose conquest of Jerusalem not only sparked the Third Crusade but ignited the first jihad and turned Saladin into a hero of epic proportions. In riveting descriptions, Reston captures the fascinating clash of the two armies as they battled their way to the outskirts of Jerusalem. There, Saladin's brilliant maneuvers and Richard's sudden failure of nerve turned the tide. Sweeping readers into a mesmerizing period of history, Warriors of God is a provocative look at two towering leaders and the not always noble causes for which they fought."--Jacket

Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade

A sultan is born -- The Kingdom of Heaven -- The flint and the spark -- Prince Richard -- Jihad -- Their lions were hedgehogs -- Still water -- Lovers and kings -- The bride and the camel -- Most gracious, most merciful -- The house of David -- Heathens in thine inheritance -- Appointment at Vézelay -- Red sails -- Dispatches from the promised land -- Visitations in Sicily -- The fruit of Aphrodite -- The holy text -- Waste not the hire -- Home fires smoldering -- The plain of Sharon -- The fourteenth day of Sha'bān the Honored -- Angst and delirium amid the pomegranate trees -- Sacred and demonic flame -- The dagger on the pillow -- The parable of the weeds -- Samson's country -- The dry tree of Hebron -- The ram backs for butting -- Here is my hand -- A slender string -- The last conquest -- Not by their leaves or their blossoms, but by their fruit