"An explosive, fast-paced journey into complex politics that brings together two of history's greatest legends. Here is the real story of the Assassins and Templars, carefully researched and engagingly told."--Matt Lewis, author of Richard III "What happens when groups dedicated to martyrdom come into conflict? Assassins and Templars shows how two corporate and cult-like groups divided by faith and methodology were united in their attempts to survive and their demise at the hands of the Mamluks and Mongols."--Jessalynn Bird, editor of Papacy, Crusade, and Christian-Muslim Relations "Yes - truth is stranger than fiction! We have here a significant work of scholarship: bold, innovative, well written and thoroughly persuasive."--Peter W. Edbury, author of The Conquest of Jerusalem and the Third Crusade "A gripping tale not just of ideological fanatics but also of the politicians who used them to do the slaughter then ruthlessly eliminated them when their usefulness was at an end."--Jonathan Harris, author of The Lost World of Byzantium "An extremely readable narrative on an incredibly complex and ill understood relationship between a Muslim and a Christian group - filled with original insights and new interpretations."--Farhad Daftary, author of The Assassin Legends.