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Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry, 1100-1550. By Yuval Noah Harari. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-8438-3292-8. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Works cited. Index. Pp. xi, 224. $80.00.
Medieval Mercenaries: The Business of War. By William Urban. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-8536-7697-7. Maps. Illustrations. Sources. Index. Pp. 304. $39.95.
It is common knowledge that wine develops with age (provided it does not turn into vinegar), and Dr. Harari's most recent effort shows signs of improvement over his first, unsatisfactory, book. Special Operations in the Age of Chivalry reads as an eager attempt to fill an apparent gap in military historiography, and it is therefore unfortunate that, despite the author's best intentions, the fissure was never there in the first place. The main problem is Dr. Harari's approach, since he applies the label 'Special Operations' to incidents that, in days of old, people considered more prosaically as part of the 'ruse de guerre'; therefore he is at pains to find elements characteristic of modern commando-style missions, or units, that may be applicable to the period under scrutiny. Only in chapter four - the best part of the whole book - does the author manage a degree of success, when he describes the activities of the nizari (assassins) in the Middle East.
Dr. Harari appears to have done his homework diligently, if somewhat unsystematically and not...