Vision and generosity

It took me a while, but I’ve finally wrapped up The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin, the (rather spectacular) new biography by Jonathan Phillips.

As well as being an excellent, and often very entertaining, examination of what Saladin accomplished (a lot), Phillips also tries to get under the skin of how Saladin succeeded. What combination of aptitude, context, and plain ol’ luck led to Saladin’s unprecedented success?

Phillips’ approach makes Sultan Saladin an excellent companion volume to J...