• God's Battalions

  • The Case for the Crusades
  • By: Rodney Stark
  • Narrated by: David Drummond
  • Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (539 ratings)

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God's Battalions

By: Rodney Stark
Narrated by: David Drummond
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Publisher's summary

In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims.

To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression. Stark reviews the history of the seven major Crusades from 1095 to 1291, demonstrating that the Crusades were precipitated by Islamic provocations, centuries of bloody attempts to colonize the West, and sudden attacks on Christian pilgrims and holy places. Although the Crusades were initiated by a plea from the pope, Stark argues that this had nothing to do with any elaborate design of the Christian world to convert all Muslims to Christianity by force of arms. Given current tensions in the Middle East and terrorist attacks around the world, Stark's views are a thought-provoking contribution to our understanding and are sure to spark debate.

©2009 Rodney Stark (P)2009 Tantor
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"An excitingly readable distillation of the new, revisionist Crusades historiography." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about God's Battalions

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A lively and useful introduction

"God's Battalions" has the unfortunate subtitle, "The Case for the Crusades." That makes it sound more polemical than it appeared to me as I listened to it. Rodney Stark seems to be arguing, not that the Crusades were a righteous cause, but that the European participants THOUGHT they were a righteous cause, and that we should take their declared motivations seriously. It's not so much pro-Crusades as it is anti-anti-Crusades.

Stark doesn't think the Crusades were a cynical grab for land and power. By analyzing family connections and financial data, he argues that most people who went on the Crusades did so at tremendous cost, sometimes bankrupting themselves in the process, for little or no material gain. He concludes from this that they truly felt they were participating in a "higher cause."

Stark's strong suit is using sociological and economic data to fill in the historical picture. Surprisingly, he manages to do this without turning the book into a dry thesis: he sticks to a strong narrative line, filled with battle descriptions, anecdotes, and extensive quotes from letters and other contemporary documents. Most of all, he tries to be specific: which families were involved, which groups participated in pogroms, which factions (Christian and Muslim) set off the conflict, when did accusations of conquest and colonialism first arise.

The narrative is crafted into a compact and comprehensible outline that makes the book a useful introduction to the subject. Of course, I have to admit, in saying that, that this IS the first book I've read on the subject. I was drawn to it by the liveliness of the writing (and the excellence of David Drummond's narration) more than anything else. Even if Stark's analysis fails to stand up over time, he has included a wealth of information in a concise and very well-organized format.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Possibly true but not a convincing author

I wanted to like this book - not because I am anti-Muslim but because I do think that, for a variety of reasons, much modern scholarship is hypercritical of Western history and much less critical of non-western history. Don't misunderstand -- much of western history is not honorable -- however, the same can be said of other cultures and I don't think the West is worse than any other. In fact, in spite of many defects, it has been the fountain of freedom and equality as well as technology, etc.

Regarding this book, however, the author did not make a good case. What he said may well be true -- but he did not make a case for it. What's more, many times his argument seemed to be, "Yes, the Crusaders were bad but the Muslims were also bad and Eastern Orthodox Christians were without conscience (I am not Eastern Orthodox, btw).

In the end, I was left to conclude that he started with an assumption and then wrote about it.

I realize no one probably writes without bias, even when she/he tries, but I think we can get closer to the truth if we at least make the attempt. I did not feel I was closer to the actual truth after reading this book.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mythbuster for Catholic Haters

Any additional comments?

This work hits several myths about the Crusades head on and provides historical evidence to expose their errors:

* The myths of why the RC Church called for the 1st Crusade
* The myth of the victimized peace-loving Muslims minding their own business
* The myth of the Crusader as a blood-thirsty, raping, greedy mercenary.
* The myth of Saladin the Noble Warrior
* The myths surrounding the Fall of Jerusalem

Stark is a fearless iconoclast when it comes to the myths progressives invent to support their anti-Western narrative.

Stark does not whitewash the atrocities that were committed by some of the Crusaders. He frequently acknowledges that bad things were committed by some Crusaders. The corrective he offers is a vision of the Crusades as understood by contemporaries, against the vision offered by Enlightenment-Progressive scholarship which interprets the entire history as evidence of why white, European Medieval Christians and the history they made should be condemned.

This and works like it are greatly needed.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

counter revisionist

Good book. Well researched. Well read. It is difficult to find a so called "history" w/o an agenda, and this one's is at least clearly stated: to counter a revisionist view of history that seems to condemn the crusades as motivated by barbaric "Christians" seeking gold and glory while the "high and tolerant" culture of an Islamic Middle East (increasingly accepted as truth)was being destroyed. The author makes a convincing case against such revisionist thinking. I think this book should be read and debated in a wide forum. I would also like to see more titles from Rodney Stark in the Audible catalogue.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Please tone it down

The historical research (historical reference from secondary sources) in this book isn't bad, while offering no new insight, the historical content is nonetheless, worth reading.

Having said that, there are many better books/lectures on crusade than this one, the unabashed anti-islam polemnic in this book borders on offensive, one can write good balanced history without resorting to bias. I seriously recommend Thomas F. Madden's Modern Scholar lecture "Understanding the crusade" before reading this.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Medieval spin

I will not say this book is uninformative. It is, overall, a useful summary of SOME events leading to the Crusades and a description of battles, timetable, etc.
But the author's main purpose seem to be to counter some idiotic statements and actions by some in the west "apologizing" for the Crusades or saying that there was no "justification" for them -- as though the Crusades could be apologized for or needed justifications. The trouble is that, in the process of countering this foolishness, the author engages in what can only be called "spin" -- presenting questionable statements, half-truths or opinions for fact.
For example, in trying to say that the Islamic world did not support new learning because what learning there was was being done by the peoples the Moslems conquered. But the fact is that such learning WAS occurring, unlike in the West. The author says that the European Dark Ages were really not so dark because the invention of the plough, cross-bow, and other technical developments took. A discussion of the advantages of the plough includes more grain, thus more food, thus a larger and healthier population. He does not mention the global warming that occurred during this time that probably played greater role in increased food. He discusses massacres of monks (Byzantine) and pilgrims by Moslems but doesnt discuss, for example, the reported massacre of 2000 Muslim prisoners by Richard the Lionhearted or the killings of Europeans by the Byzantines in Constantinople in 1182.
There are many other discussable or equivocal statements, from the importance and use of crossbows to the killings of Jews by the Crusaders (which to me sounds minimized by the author when they were a horrible occurrance) at the starts of the Crusades. This has to be counted as "spin".
A perhaps useful book to start discussion, but not one to be taken as accurate in its particulars.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

you do not know what you think you know!

If you could sum up God's Battalions in three words, what would they be?

This is not politically correct!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Baldwin, and others like him sold everything of their of their worldly possessions and took their families, recruited an army and marched from France to the Holy Lands to defend the Christians who were being slaughtered by the Saracens as they tried to visit the Holy Lands. These people decided to commit their lives to defending these people and these sites for Christianity. It was a calling and they heard the call. They never intended to survive this Crusade and return to France, they were going to establish a defensive position in the Holy Lands or die trying. This was not a quest for riches, this was a quest to defend the oppressed Christians of the land.

Which character – as performed by David Drummond – was your favorite?

Really, this was a compelling telling of the story.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

One group of crusaders did not have enough money to arm themselves and fund their trip to the Holy lands, so they decided to attack the Jewish communities along the way since they decided that the Jews were evil anyway. The Jews were actually defended by Catholic priests in Cathedrals. This is contrary to the typical version of the story known today.

Any additional comments?

The next time you year someone defending the horrible acts by Islamic barbarians toward Christians or the West as a reaction to the Crusades some 9 centuries ago, listen to this book. It will set the story straight.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Balanced and informative

Great introduction to the Crusades though a tough topic to delve into via audio.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A much needed rebuttal...

...to modernity's rewriting of history. Stark lays out the arguments against the establishment's version in a very cogent and approachable way. Excellent.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

enjoyable listening, well-written

Would you listen to God's Battalions again? Why?

yes. I think the authors case is well-built overall. It's another area where the rhetoric of modernity had me blinded a bit. Stark is a good myth buster.

What did you like best about this story?

Much less like a textbook and much more like an enjoyable read. The author goes through all five crusades breaking down some of the biases which we moderns have picked up. Interacts with 19th and 20th century arguments.

I found myself very much agreeing with the author's perspective from my limited study of the time.

What does David Drummond bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

very nice job of clear reading.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

sure, but it's not exactly a suspenseful thriller.

Any additional comments?

I think many historians in the years to come will see that Stark is basically right in much of his perspectives. It's good to know that the dark ages weren't really so dark. this work was also very balanced and showed some of the horrors of war and siege warfare.

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4 people found this helpful