This re-assessment of the Crusades and the turmoil in the Middle East today attempts to untangle the web of misconceptions and prejudice that has distorted the subject and looks behind the legend at the facts of burning witches and heretics, the Spanish Inquisition and the massacre of inocents. The author also attempts to evaluate the effects of Christianity, Judaism and Islam shedding new light on the extraordinary power of religion on our history and on today's suffering in the Middle East.