The Cross and the Crescent: A History of the Crusades by Malcolm Billings. 'Many books have been written about the Crusades. Some concentrate on the romantic ideals, some on the religious fervour, and some on the fierce and frequent blood-letting. This book is different. Journalist and broadcaster, Malcolm Billings has carefully examined all of these aspects and, drawing on recent research, has put them into a new framework. He traces the fortunes of crusaders though no fewer than seven centuries and portrays them not as cardboard heroes and villains, but as ordinary men and women like ourselves. In doing so he sheds new light on their actions and their motives.