It was a great adventure, motivated by more than simply religion or pure aggression: the Crusades resulted from an emotional climate that led people from all walks of life to leave their homes and follow the unattainable ideal of a heavenly Jerusalem here on Earth. A prize-winning author paints a portrait of the whole of feudal society, evoking its exceptional vitality and the ingenuity of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem--one of the more sophisticated achievements of the Middle Ages--and personalities such as Tancred, Peter the Hermit, Richard the Lionhearted, and Saladin.