God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades

Author Bio: Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, and began his career as a newspaper reporter. Following a tour of duty in the United States Army, he received his PhD from the University of California–Berkeley, where he held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society. He left Berkeley to become professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. In 2004 he joined the faculty of Baylor University. He has published over thirty books and more than 160 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome.