Niels Brandt's Gute Ritter, böse Heiden attempts to find a new way to read an already well-mined resource—crusade chronicles. The result is an interesting combination of military and cultural history. Though vitriolic polemic against Islam or imaginative misunderstandings about the religion or its prophet dominate the tone of medieval Christian writings on the topic, Brandt's book does not stop at the characterization of medieval Turks as “evil heathens.” Instead, the book uses the chronicles to seek to understand how crusaders may have felt about their opponents as soldiers and how facing “good knights” in battle may have influenced how the crusaders felt about Muslims as a whole. Though this is not the only topic the book discusses, much of its analysis focuses on similarities and differences in fighting techniques and what those comparisons might have meant to the European knights and chroniclers. For example, he describes how horses were a sign of social status for both sides, which may have helped crusaders to think of their mounted opponents as honorable knights. Brandt finds evidence in the chronicles for crusaders feeling respect for their opponents and seeks to understand its source, describe its characteristics, and trace the changing nature of that respect through time.

Brandt sets the book up primarily chronologically. After an introductory chapter that outlines the early development of the image of Islam and revisits the classic literature on the topic (Richard Southern, Norman Daniel, John Tolan, etc.), the book begins with the crusade sermons of Urban II and moves methodically through time to the fall of Acre in 1291. Within the chronological segments, the analysis is sometimes organized by battle, sometimes by chronicler, and sometimes by subject. Special chapters are devoted to an in-depth comparison of the Gesta Francorum with Ekkehard of Aura, to a comparison of images of Egyptians with images of Turks, and to a discussion of the widely celebrated figure of Saladin. Rather than seeing Saladin as an exception to the general image of the Turk, Brandt's formula of good knights and evil heathens provides a context for reconciling positive depictions of Saladin with generally negative Christian portrayals of Islam.

The book focuses on crusaders’ attitudes and chronicles of battles, so the qualities that the crusaders respect in their opponents are almost entirely military. Especially in siege situations, the crusaders commented on the bravery and perseverance of the other side. Brandt suggests that even some of the characteristics from the chronicles that seem to be negative—wildness, craftiness, and a measure of cruelty—may not have been seen by their readers as negative characteristics for a knight to have. Brandt argues that some of the same terms are used to describe Christian knights as well.

Because of this focus on descriptions of battles and military characteristics, the chapter about everyday life and neighborliness is especially welcome. Brandt's interpretation of Oderic Vitalis's Historia Ecclesiastica and the way that gender plays into images of the Turk provides some more dimension to his analysis. It would have been great to have this section expanded, to understand more about what the crusaders thought of Muslims beyond the battlefield, but the limitations of the source base are especially visible here. Also interesting is the discussion of how perceptions of Byzantium complicated the depiction of Muslims and how respect for the Turkish soldiers and lack of respect for the Greeks worked together to produce the idea that the Turkish soldiers were second only to the Franks.

Brandt's analysis of crusaders’ images of their opponents is thought provoking in its attempts to read past the negative polemic against Islam that is standard in medieval crusade texts. He finds moments in the texts that testify to a respect for Muslim soldiers, even from Christian knights on a holy mission. These moments suggest that the European Christian image of Muslims is more complex than it first appears from reading these chronicles. The aim of this book is narrow, in that it is almost entirely interested in soldiers and depictions of battles. Within that tight focus, Brandt proves his point well, that crusaders were able to see their opponents not only as evil heathens, but also as good knights.