Crusade Texts in Translation aims to provide students and their teachers with source material in up-to-date translations, including mini-collections which could provide the basis for third-year undergraduate special subjects. Louis ix's crusade is a particularly good choice, because it touches on so many different aspects of European and Near Eastern history and is particularly well served with narrative and documentary sources. It has an ideal compiler and translator in Peter Jackson, an accomplished historian who is at home in both western and oriental languages. He chooses, rightly in my opinion, to omit those narrative accounts, including that of John of Joinville, for which adequate translations are already available. He has, therefore, the space he needs to include substantial passages from both Latin and Arabic sources, giving a far better impression than usual of the sort of material professional historians have to work on. Long extracts from the highly important and generally ignored Arab writer Ibn Wasil are particularly welcome. Jackson translates a substantial number of letters and he supplements them with calendared references to others in the papal registers. After an informed discussion of the sources in general, he divides the book into ten sections, for each of which he provides a brief summary of events in relation to the sources he has chosen. The first four sections illustrate Louis's taking of the cross and preparations for his crusade, the ambivalent attitude of the emperor Frederick ii, and the demands of other crusading theatres, which competed with Louis's enterprise for men and funds. Sections 5 to 7 cover the disastrous campaign in Egypt, section 8 the popular ‘Crusade of the Shepherds’, which erupted in France on the news of Louis's capture, and section 9 the attempts to organise help for the crusaders after reports of the catastrophe had reached the west. I found section 10, on Louis's stay in Palestine for another four years, rather disappointing. Interesting evidence on Louis's state of mind, his pilgrimage to Nazareth and his finances was not included, which is surprising given that Jackson is an expert on the history of the Holy Land in that period. It was not clear whether the material had been sacrificed to make way for the Arabic sources or whether the section had been added as an afterthought. On the other hand, the bulk of the volume, containing the material on the crusade before 1250, is a tour de force. This is a first-class addition to a worthy series.