John France is Professor Emeritus and Director of the Callaghan Centre for Conflict Studies at Swansea University, and a former Visiting Professor at the United States Military Academy, West Point. A specialist on the history of crusading and warfare, he has travelled extensively in the Middle East and is the author of numerous articles and books on the subject, including Victory in the East: a Military History of the First Crusade (1994), Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300 (1999), The Crusades and the Expansion of Catholic Christendom 1000-1714 (2005), and most recently Perilous Glory: The Rise of Western Military Power (2011).