Bear Mountain Rancher Book Review: The Crusaders by Zoe Oldenbourg

                          Bear Mountain Rancher Book Review: The Crusaders by Zoe Oldenbourg

                                      BEAR MOUNTAIN: THE ALPINE CRUCIBLE

 

                      Bear Mountain Rancher Book Review: The Crusaders by Zoe Oldenbourg

I’ve spent the last week tearing through The Crusaders 1965 by Zoe Oldenbourg. In between fixing fences, tossing lines into Bear River for the elusive Steelhead, and avoiding the usual idiocies of modern civilization, I felt compelled to write a review of this bloody masterpiece because its relevance today is staring us right in the face. And let's be real—comparing the West of the Crusades to the emasculated, tail-tucking, woke dumpster fire that passes for the modern world isn’t just necessary; it's a moral obligation. There was a time when men didn’t apologize for strength, and we need that now more than ever, as the West circles the drain into a third-world socialist nightmare.

                  The Crusaders: A Brutal Reminder of What the West Used to Be

Oldenbourg doesn’t pull punches. She drags you through the mud, blood, and holy wars of the First Crusade, showing you what real grit looked like when men fought with the fire of Christ in their veins and swords in their hands. These weren’t the kind of guys who got bent out of shape over a mean tweet or worried about whether their enemies' feelings were hurt. No, they were hard men, carving out a world for Christendom with a righteous violence that today’s soy-swilling, Twitter-obsessed limp noodles couldn’t fathom.

And here's the kicker—Oldenbourg doesn't waste time pretending the Crusades were some kind of intellectual debate. It was war, baby, pure and simple. The Crusaders fought for survival, for God, and for their civilization, knowing full well that the barbarians at their gates weren’t going to be appeased by dialogue or diversity quotas.

The reality is that these knights didn’t negotiate with existential threats—they obliterated them. They had faith, they had guts, and they had a righteous understanding that you can't build civilization on "dialogue" or "equity." Nope. You build it on blood, sweat, and belief—things the West has forgotten as we politely hold the door open for the third-world hordes streaming in to burn down what's left of Christendom.

                     Modern Parallels: Where the Hell Did We Go Wrong?

Today’s West is in free fall. We’ve traded in knights for bureaucrats, faith for virtue signaling, and hard-earned honor for participation trophies. Look around. While Putin and Xi are drawing maps, the West is drawing up "safe spaces" and debating pronouns. Meanwhile, our cities are burning, inflation's skyrocketing, and the idea of leadership is a clown show. Biden’s handlers can barely wheel him out of the basement to read a teleprompter without him having an aneurysm.

Back in the days of the Crusaders, it wasn’t much different, except they had the guts to act. While modern leaders pander, the knights were defending the West with sword and shield, not worrying about offending someone’s fragile sensibilities. Oldenbourg captures this perfectly, showing how the Crusaders didn’t flinch in the face of savagery—they embraced it. They knew survival required it. Today’s leaders, by contrast, couldn’t lead a Cub Scout troop out of a paper bag.

                           God, Gold, Guts, Faith, Blood, and the Cost of Survival

Oldenbourg hammers home a point that resonates through history: The Crusades were a fight for survival—both physical and spiritual. They weren’t just securing land; they were securing the future of Christendom, of Western civilization. Today, the West has forgotten that survival requires sacrifice, and that sometimes, the only way forward is through force. Instead of honoring the knights who bled for us, we glorify diversity, victimhood, LGBTQ+P and emasculated weakness.

Here’s something to chew on: The Crusaders fought to protect their faith and their people. They were unapologetic in their righteousness, knowing that without the cross and the sword, the West would fall. And look where we are now. As Christianity fades in the West, so does its civilization. Oldenbourg makes this connection without explicitly saying it, but anyone with half a brain can see the parallels between the Crusaders’ fight against the Saracens and our modern battle against the globalist, Marxist, woke brigade tearing down every institution worth a damn.

                                   Where The West Stands Now: Is There Hope?

As Oldenbourg immerses us in the blood-soaked sands of the Holy Land, the question arises: Can the West reclaim that same spirit, that willingness to fight for what matters? Or are we doomed to slide into the trash heap of history, a third-world cesspool where Western men are outnumbered and outgunned by the very forces our ancestors held back for centuries?

Let me tell you, Mother Russia and Japan might be the last bastions of any real civilizations left. Putin is no fool. He understands strength, power and The Art of War IQ9000 75D chess, as does Japan—standing firm with tradition, hierarchy, and a deep sense of national honor. Meanwhile, the West is too busy figuring out how to destroy itself from the inside. Is it any wonder that countries like Russia laugh at the West as they pathetically beg for their gas?

Oldenbourg’s Crusaders remind us of what it means to stand for something, to fight for it without apology. The modern West is ashamed of itself, having been poisoned by decades of Marxist leftist progressive guilt and moral relativism. We could use a few Crusaders today—men who know that the world isn’t saved through hashtags, pronouns, rainbow flags and feelings, but through faith, force, and focus.

As I tore through my pristine First Edition of The Crusaders (1966), with its beautiful deckle-edged pages and 620 total pages of gripping narrative, I was struck by moments that hit like a sucker punch to the gut—scenes and insights so profound they stopped me in my tracks. Oldenbourg didn’t just capture the brutality of the Crusades—she captured their soul, the beating heart of a West that once knew how to fight, bleed, and sacrifice for something greater than itself.

These weren’t just your run-of-the-mill historical recaps; they were nuggets of gold buried in the carnage. Several passages resonated particularly deeply, almost like finding hidden Easter eggs that spoke directly to today’s world, where we've traded strength and conviction for woke posturing and emasculated governance.

There were several passages that struck me as particularly relevant, almost like finding hidden Easter eggs that spoke directly to today’s world, where we've traded strength and conviction for woke posturing and emasculated governance. These moments were raw, honest, and dripping with meaning, and they deserve special attention. Let me pull out a few of the most gripping, so you can see what I mean.

The Siege of Jerusalem (1099):
When Oldenbourg describes the Crusaders' siege of Jerusalem, it’s not just the bloodbath that leaves an impression, though there’s plenty of that. It’s how she captures the sheer weight of history, the sense that this moment wasn’t just about territory—it was about reclaiming something sacred.

“As they entered the Holy City, knee-deep in blood, the Crusaders believed they were fulfilling God's will, not only for their generation but for all those to come. Jerusalem was no longer a city, it was a symbol—a test of faith and force. And only those who survived the storm of violence understood what it meant to conquer both the world and their own souls.”

 
This scene echoes through time, showing how the battle for civilization isn’t just about brute strength but spiritual survival. You can almost feel the same urgency today as we watch the modern West’s collapse from within. The Crusaders were fighting to preserve something sacred—are we?

Bohemond of Taranto's Strategic Genius:
Bohemond of Taranto was a true warfighter. His tactics at the Siege of Antioch in 1098, where he outmaneuvered the vastly superior Muslim forces, shows Oldenbourg at her best when detailing battlefield strategy.

“Bohemond knew that to win this war, it wasn't just swords and shields that would conquer the enemy—it was outthinking them. He baited the Muslim forces, drawing them into a trap, and crushed them beneath the weight of their own miscalculations. In that moment, Antioch wasn’t just a military victory; it was proof that the West could still outwit the world’s most powerful empires.”

 
This resonates today when the West, crippled by bureaucrats and liberal elites, has lost that sharp edge. Can the West still think it's way out of the quagmire they’ve created?

Raymond of Toulouse’s Reluctant Leadership:
Oldenbourg doesn’t let us forget that even within this holy war, human frailty and ambition played a part. Raymond of Toulouse’s internal struggles between ambition and faith stand out as a timeless reminder of how complex leadership can be.

“He marched not out of pure faith, but because he could not bear to be outdone. It was ambition wrapped in a holy banner. Yet in his final moments, Raymond wondered if he had traded his soul for glory. ‘Was this God’s war,’ he asked himself, ‘or was it mine?’”

 
This one hits hard in today’s era of corrupt, self-serving politicians who have no conviction beyond their own egos. Raymond's moment of doubt rings out—a warning to leaders today who have lost any real sense of purpose.

In short, Zoe Oldenbourg’s The Crusaders should be required reading for anyone who gives a damn about the future of the West. It’s not just a history lesson; it’s a brutal wake-up call. The Crusaders understood that strength, faith, and the willingness to fight were the bedrock of any civilization worth its salt. Without these, the West is doomed to become a historical footnote, overshadowed by cultures that are willing to fight for survival.

So, as you sit there reading this on your "smartphone", ask yourself: Are you willing to fight for your faith, your culture, and your civilization? Or will you stand by and watch as the modern-day barbarians tear down everything our ancestors bled for?

Bear J. Sleeman