Peter Frankopan

Frankopan has written a remarkable book that makes as strong case as the incomplete and episodic evidence permits

Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying

A dazzling book, perfectly combining deep scholarship and easy readability. The most important addition to Crusading literature since Runciman

A nuanced and often counterintuitive story of power politics, international diplomacy and war and, ultimately that very rare thing - a truly fresh interpretation of an old story

Frankopan's qualities as a historian and writer are of a high order

A  scholarly but readable account of the first crusade, refreshingly  repositioning it as a successful attempt by the Byzantine Emperor to  save Constantinople

The best book on the First Crusade ever written

Peter Frankopan's re-assessment of the Byzantine contribution to the origins and course of the First Crusade offers a compelling and challenging balance to traditional accounts. Based on fresh interpretations of primary sources, lucidly written and forcefully argued, The First Crusade: The Call from the East will demand attention from scholars while providing an enjoyable and accessible narrative for the general reader.

Christopher Tyerman, author of God’s War: A New History Of The Crusades

In this fluent and dramatic account, Frankopan - quite rightly - places the Emperor Alexios at the heart of the First Crusade and in doing so he skilfully provides a texture/dimension so often missing from our understanding of this seminal event in world history. Frankopan illuminates the complex challenges that faced Alexios and deftly depicts the boldness and finesse needed to survive in the dangerous world of medieval Byzantium

Jonathan Phillips, author of Holy Warriors

It is not possible to do justice to a long and complex argument in a short review, and the author clearly shows that Byzantine politics played a significant part in the formulation of Western attitudes

Frankopan's creative revisionism pierces the armour of medieval history with a new weapon: the call of the East

Superb…brilliantly described…I am proceeding to tell everyone I know that they have to buy the book, read it, and change the way they teach the First Crusade

Dr. Steve Biddlecombe, Bristol University

The Call from the East

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SILK ROADS 
 
 'Filled with Byzantine intrigue, in every sense this book is important, compellingly revisionist and impressive in its scholarly use of totally fresh sources' Simon Sebag Montefiore 
 
 In 1096, an expedition of extraordinary scale and ambition set off from Western Europe on a mass pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Three years later, after a journey which saw acute hardship, the most severe dangers and thousands of casualties, the knights of the First Crusade found themselves storming the fortifications and capturing the Holy City. Against all the odds, the expedition had returned Jerusalem to Christian hands. 
 
 In 'the most significant contribution to rethinking the origins and course of the First Crusade for a generation' (Mark Whittow, TLS), Frankopan paints a strikingly original picture of this infamous confrontation between Christianity and Islam. Focusing on Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, a truly fresh interpretation of a very old story emerges that radically alters our understanding of the entire crusade movement.

Peter Frankopan

Praise for The First Crusade

Frankopan has written a remarkable book that makes as strong case as the incomplete and episodic evidence permits

Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying

A dazzling book, perfectly combining deep scholarship and easy readability. The most important addition to Crusading literature since Runciman

Frankopan has written a remarkable book that makes as strong case as the incomplete and episodic evidence permits

Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying

A dazzling book, perfectly combining deep scholarship and easy readability. The most important addition to Crusading literature since Runciman

Frankopan has written a remarkable book that makes as strong case as the incomplete and episodic evidence permits

Scholarly and yet accessible, and unashamedly partisan, The First Crusade, as any vibrant history should, is bound to set a lot of feathers flying

A dazzling book, perfectly combining deep scholarship and easy readability. The most important addition to Crusading literature since Runciman

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