This wide-ranging collection provides important insights into the relationships among diverse groups of peoples in the period from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries.

This book covers diverse topics such as the treatment of prisoners, the ransom of captives, and the problems faced by many groups during the period of the Crusades. One of the central issues revolves around the attitudes of the participants.

There were significant differences among Latin and Eastern Christians between Christians and Muslims and Christians, Muslims, and Jews. But, too, great overemphasis on the religious roots of intolerance has oversimplified the ways in which ideas of tolerance developed. What is important in these essays is an effort to explore these relationships in their complexity in order to penetrate those generalizations that have often distorted more than enlightened. Tolerance and intolerance therefore are terms that can obscure as much as enlighten.

What the reader discovers in these works -- all written specifically for this volume -- is that these attitudes play an important role in the shaping of international relations. Cross-cultural cooperation was not rare -- not entirely surprising given the diversity of groups involved. This collection brings together an international group of scholars who have made significant contributions to the field. There is no competing collection that deals with such a range of topics.

Michael Gervers is professor of history at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. He is the editor of Dating Undated Medieval Charters.

James M. Powell was professor emeritus in Department of History at Syracuse University. He is the author of several books including Anatomy of a Crusade and Medieval Studies: An Introduction.