The Life of Saladin: From the Works of 'Imad ad-Din and Baha' ad-Din (Saqi Essentials)

The book is relatively short but its concise and to the point. It gives a pretty decent background to Saladin's life and if read in conjunction with Baha-al Din's Biography if Saladin its even better. I used both books for a research paper and they helped quite a lot.

Having read about the Crusades from the English point of view, I decided to see what life was like from the other side.I was suprised to see how different life and attitudes were.It certainly gave me an overall picture of one of the Muslim world's better known leaders.He was courteous, even to those that fought him.The French Knights who had treaty's with him,kept them.Strangely the only one to break his treaty, was Richard 1.It is always worth reading about both sides, before making up your mind about pastHistory.

Detailed history in a short book.

First and foremost, a biography on Saladin is a burdensome task as the majority of his notes were never recovered, and nothing is known of the primary stages of his life - so much credit to the author for the attempt. Theres merely an introduction here, the author instantly places you in the battles and controversies that Saladin endured, stemming from his own people and his environment.If what you want is simply the struggles of Saladin in battle then this is the book for you,however, to better understand Saladin as a person, the relationships that existed with others, and details of those in his environment, then look elsewhere.There is no beginning, middle and end. This is not a story and hardly a biography, it feels more like an excerpt from a large volume and that you are missing out on something...where is the rest?