And now, a new look at the crusades from a 2005 crusader: "For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression—an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands. Christians in the eleventh century were not paranoid fanatics. Muslims really were gunning for them. While Muslims can be peaceful, Islam was born in war and grew the same way. From the time of Mohammed, the means of Muslim expansion was always the sword." Thomas F. Madden, Professor and History Department Chair, St. Louis University. (thanks Ghada for alerting me to this)