A decent introduction to the history of the Mediterranean which manages to be informed by the most recent scholarship while still accessible to the interested lay reader, though the prose rarely rises beyond the serviceable. Catlos' thematic approach helps give a sense of the interconnected nature of the medieval world—of ethnic diversity, pragmatism, violence, and cultural innovation—particularly in the chapters on Iberia, which I believe is the author's area of speciality. He emphasises that faith was only one of the factors which drove the Crusades, and perhaps not even one of the primary ones. I could see this being useful as a textbook in an upper-level undergrad seminar on the topic (it's perhaps too dense and dry for lower level general courses.)

Catlos does attempt to incorporate women into the narrative, which I appreciated. Sitt al-Qusur, a twelfth-century Egyptian princess who helped to thwart a palace coup and avenge her brother's murder, was a particularly fascinating individual. However, there were some ways in which Catlos framed women's actions that made me wince, and a couple of spots in which he was flat out wrong, most notably when it comes to assessing the nature of medieval women's power and authority. He writes that "[i]n northern Italy and southern France, women could inherit noble titles and even rule as countesses and duchesses—the most famous example being Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, Crusader and queen consort of France and England" (274) which can surely only result from a lack of familiarity with the past thirty or forty years of work on women's history. The countess Blanche of Champagne would surely beg to differ—as would sisters Jeanne and Marguerite of Flanders, both of whom ruled as countesses, both of whom were known as "of Constantinople" because of their father's brief rule as Latin emperor of that city, and neither of whom are mentioned in this book. ( )

the story of the frontier between Dar-al-Islam and the West has a couple of basic stances. The relatively hardliners who say that the overriding concern on either side of the line was religious purity, and the more relaxed group who believe that there were other, more personal concerns that led to the violent outbreaks. Brian A. Catlos, who concentrates more on Norman Sicily and the Hispanic peninsula than Outremer, has collected a number of examples that he believes demonstrate that while religion was a factor, it can be seen only as a contributor, or a convenient additional charge, rather than the primary driver, in these conflicts. The book is reasonably well researched with some small errors regarding the Comnenian Byzantine empire, and western familial relations among the Crusaders. But it is useful for its Hispanic and Sicilian information, and the prose is occasionally lively and always clear. ( )