As the name of the book says this is a story told from the viewpoint of Arabs and other nations living in the North Africa. It is a very interesting story (author's style is great) and one that should be read today - echoes of the past seem to resonate with greater strength in modern times (as authors explains in the afterword).

Depicted are intrigues in Arab courts, way rulers set their priorities (more important [almost all the time] was inner squabbling than fighting the common enemy), chaotic politics of the time (at one point it was not strange to have a combined crusaders-Arab army fighting another combined crusaders-Arab army in pursuit of wealth and fortune) and relation between native people of North Africa (at the time) with incoming horsemen tribes from the northern parts of Euro-Asia - that will de facto become rulers and/or protectors of the Arab states in years to come.

Very interesting book.Recommended. ( )

Very even handed approach to the crusades from the "invaded" point of view. Learned some interesting items about the Arab history, that has not been presented in other Western based Crusader books I have read. ( )

Oubliez tout ce qu'on vous a raconté sur les preuses et nobles croisdes. On recommence tout, de l'autre côté. Extraordinaire. ( )

I bought this book in 1994 after a trip to Syria because I thought it would be really interesting to read what 12th- and 13th-centurieth Arab chroniclers made of the crusades. Unfortunately I read the preface too late, where the author (a Lebanese journalist writing in French and living in Paris) stated that this was not just another history book, but rather a 'truthful novel' about the crusades. This means that there is very little analysis, hardly any background, but just a succession of events: countless sieges, battles, political assassinations. People who like that kind of thing will probably enjoy reading this book, but I found it disappointing. Only in the epilogue did the book get really interesting. Here the author puts the entire period in a Euorpean-Arabic perspective, draws lines from the past to the present, makes some interesting observations and asks a couple of important questions. Unfortunately this epilogue is only 7 pages long. ( )

The author feels the necessity of doctoring-up the historical record by putting words into dead people's mouths. The object of this is to create a snappy, fast moving story; witness the meanderings of the Turkish King Arsalan. At times I find myself wondering: Is the historical record so dull that it needs to be treated like this? ( )