A very engaging and captivating book on the third crusade. Saladins genius was not in his military strategy or administrative excellence, but rather his ability to win over & befriend even his bitterest foes.
People who fought against him, later became his loyal supporters, including the Egyptians and the Iraqi鈥檚. The Franks, Germans and even the English king Richard the lion heart openly acknowledged his generosity and magnanimity. When king Richards horse was killed in battle, Saladin sent him two horses as gift. And then when Richard got ill, he sent him the best fruits of the region.
The book also describes his efforts to lay down a network of madrassahs & Sufi Khanqah鈥檚 in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Palestine to produce an intelectual cadre to fill in the religious, bureaucratic, military, judicial and political posts within his kingdom and to replace the influence of the ismaili Fatimids.