The Real History Behind the Templars Paperback – Illustrated, September 4, 2007

I have now read at least 20 histories of the Knights Templar, and THIS is by far the best presentation of the facts for the non-academic reader. There are more detailed and thorough accounts of the Templars available. There are accounts that are more thoroughly documented with academic-style source citations. But there are none I've found to date that present the Templar facts, and the facts that debunk the popular myths, more clearly, succinctly, or in a more easy-to-read fashion than Newman's The Real History Behind the Templars. If you are writing a thesis or dissertation on the Templars, this is probably not your best source. But if you are looking for an enjoyable, well-written, and well-organized history of the Templars just to satisfy your personal curiosity I highly recommend this one.

I read several reviews on several books regarding the Templars and this one came within the top three. However, I was disappointed to learn from it that the Templars were not the ultimate fighting machine of the Crusades. In fact, they were big-time losers as presented in this book. A real wakeup call contained herein.

Well researched and detailed account on now the Templars came about in the early 12th century and their history that was very closely tied to the 200 year period of the Crusades to Holy Land. This is a very good narrative the avoids the overly ponderous prose that characterize some of the other studies on the Templars. The research is well documented with footnotes that reference original contemporaneous writings and documents. An important and critical aspect of the book is the author's objective to systematically and thoroughly debunk myths and misconceptions about the Templars that have arisen in the past several hundred years and which have been further promoted by the da Vince Code book and movie.

These days, it seems like all that's available about the history of the Order of the Temple is the fantastical pseudo-histories of this group of poor knights.Sharan Newman has really dug into every aspect of the myths, legends, and the facts of the Templars. From her first sentence "How does a legend begin?" she dissects all the overblown stories of this much-maligned group.Her last chapter points our her heroism in wading into this minefield of revisionist history. The title - "How to tell if you're reading pseudohistory" really explains what a mess this area of history has become. The Templars existed; there is no doubt about that. But they've been totally hijacked by those who want to claim that they are around to this day, even on the U.S. One Dollar Bill.The most remarkable part of her book is something that 99% of Templar "history" books leave out - FOOTNOTES !! It's simply amazing how many books get sold these days without footnotes. (I think we need a footnote rating on Amazon - The Footnote Police ;)I've owned Newman's book for about 6 months and its pages are more worn than many books I've owned for 10 years.I highly recommend this terrific book. You'll treat it more like a reference.

I was glad to see references and footnotes where information was researched. Always important to verify that what you read has sound backup. I’ve read many books on the Templar’s, but this book beats them all with actual facts!

love Templar history

Book was well written

The Templar Knights existed 700 years ago, lasted over 2 centuries, before being ended by a greedy French monarch,Philip IV, (the Capet line ended with him), in forcible collusion with Pope Clement V. Although the author did research from various books written by many other authors/historians of varying knowledge levels on the subject of the Templar Knights, they were, after all, a secretive order for very good reasons, reasons why questions arise about them. They actually at the beginning of the order & continued to exist in Portugal for many, many years following 1307, because of the continuing dynasty of the Burgundian Portuguese ruler, King Dinis, as the Order of Christ (replacing the word Temple) there are documents previously unknown that have been uncovered/discovered regarding their goals/aims, etc., in Portugal. In fact, from their earliest beginnings, the Burgundian Portuguese rulers/royalty, were blood-related to the original Templar Knights, including Bernard Clairveau. In those medieval days, there were originally Burgundian French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German...all Burgundians and related by blood and/or marriage.One particular author, Freddy Silva, did over a decade of research on the Templar Knights of Portugal, he is one of the world's leading researchers of ancient knowledge, etc., and a bestselling author, working with librarians for fact-checks at Harvard University, Archivists in Sintra & Tomar, Lisbon, Library of Congress; also consulting with other known authors/researchers. Read his book, "First Templar Nation"; he writes in a narrative style with all the facts & information, which is extremely interesting.I have read many books on the Templar Knights, non-fiction; if interested in these knights, then start with Freddy Silva's book. There are old documents that weren't destroyed by *certain parties, which fortunately still exist if one knows where to look and translate it from Latin (classical or church), medieval French, Portuguese, Spanish, etc., makes a lot of difference; changes/alterations of place & people names over time were not uncommon, which gave more meanings/translations of certain places/things over time or the period of time involved. History is often written by those ( *Church of Rome Catholic Popes, monarchs/rulers, etc.) who felt powerfully challenged enough to discredit the Templars, by the use of Papal Bulls, torture via the Inquisition, etc., so that whatever was/is known, would be distorted & read in a certain way, and in their favor; yet there are documents that contradict or alter the way it was/is considered as "more factual".To be fair, the Medieval Period/Dark Ages of Europe ( about 500 Ad to the 14th century AD) was a feudal society, where fairness & justness for all, were never always for all, because it actually favored the ruling powers that be, fair/just and/or not.