P.M. Holt – författare

Although the crusader states in the Holy Land were never hugely powerful in themselves, they had significance out of all proportion to their size for medieval Christendom at large, and were the continuing focal point for the crusading impulse from the west, a topic discussed in this text.

The kaleidoscopic political changes during the years covered by this volume include the rise and fall of the Crusader states, the expansion of the Mongol empire, the rise of the Mamluk sultanate and of its ultimate conquerors, the Ottomans. To all of these Professor Holt is a clear and skilful guide. He principally utilises, and to some extent reinterprets, the medieval Arabic sources, to present a picture which differs in important respects from the conventional western-orientated view.

First Published in 1973. This volume brings together a number of studies concerned with the Near East and its history from the sixteenth century. They fall into three groups. The first is concerned with English Arabists of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and particularly with Edward Pococke. The papers in the second group deal with the history of the Nilotic Sudan, and especially attempt to exploit the sparse source-materials available on the Funj Sultanate and to throw some light on developments between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century. Another dark age in modern Near Eastern history is the subject of the third group of papers-the period of Egyptian history from the Ottoman conquest in 1517 to the French occupation in 1798.

The book will be welcome for tackling the Crusades from a fresh but important angle; the relations of the Crusader states with their neighbours, both Christian (the Byzantines) and, especially, Islamic – the rulers of Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, Cairo etc. It contributes to the very fashionable approach of seeing the Crusades as a prime example of early European colonialism, and investigating them much more for their social, political and ethnic impact on the region than for their ostensible ideological and religious motives. Holt uses original Arabic sources, which are generally difficult for Western historians, and therefore this book is an important addition to literature about the Crusades.

A History of the Sudan by Martin Daly and PM Holt, sixth edition, has been fully revised and updated and covers the most recent developments that have occurred in Sudan over the last nine years, including the crisis in Darfur. The most notable developments that this text covers includes the decades-long civil war in the South (with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005); the emergence of the Sudan as an oil-producer and exporter, and its resulting higher profile in global economic affairs, notably as a partner of China; the emergence of al-Qaeda, the relations of Sudanese authorities with Osama bin Laden (whose headquarters were in the Sudan in the 1990s), and the Sudanese government's complicated relations with the West. This text is key introductory reading for any student of North Africa.

The kaleidoscopic political changes during the years covered by this volume include the rise and fall of the Crusader states, the expansion of the Mongol empire, the rise of the Mamluk sultanate and of its ultimate conquerors, the Ottomans. To all of these Professor Holt is a clear and skilful guide. He principally utilises, and to some extent reinterprets, the medieval Arabic sources, to present a picture which differs in important respects from the conventional western-orientated view.

First Published in 1973. This volume brings together a number of studies concerned with the Near East and its history from the sixteenth century. They fall into three groups. The first is concerned with English Arabists of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and particularly with Edward Pococke. The papers in the second group deal with the history of the Nilotic Sudan, and especially attempt to exploit the sparse source-materials available on the Funj Sultanate and to throw some light on developments between the sixteenth and the nineteenth century. Another dark age in modern Near Eastern history is the subject of the third group of papers-the period of Egyptian history from the Ottoman conquest in 1517 to the French occupation in 1798.