Earlier tonight, I found a rather silly video that made me rather interested in the crusades. I listened to one very interesting podcast on how our views of the crusades have evolved over time (here). but it's left me hungry for more. After a little while looking around I thought "why am I asking a dispassionate algorithm when I can ask people who are passionate about the crusades?"
So I'm asking historians: what are good books or podcasts for someone who wants to learn more about the crusades? What happened, who did what? I'm not terribly interested in various swordsmanship differences between the Byzantines and the western crusaders.
For a "starter book" about the Crusades, the AH medievalists like to recommend one of these two authors:
Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades: A Short History (or his other books--Oxford History of the Crusades is another good intro option)
Thomas Asbridge, The Crusades (:subtitle is different depending on your side of the Atlantic) or his specifically The First Crusade
Also, questions about the Crusades come up on AskHistorians fairly often--and I don't mean comparing Byzantine and Frankish swords or even Muslim and Christian tactics--so you should stick around!