This book presents a concise, general history of the crusades--whose chief goal was the liberation and preservation of the "holy places" of the Middle East--from the first calls to arms in the later eleventh century to the fall of the last crusader strongholds in Syria and Palestine in 1291. Written by one of the world's great crusader historians, this unique work is the distillation of over forty years' research and contemplation, and the ideal introductory textbook for all students of the crusades.