Kingdom of Heaven

I saw Kingdom of Heaven last night. I wish I knew a little bit more about the actual history involved and the key players. Can anyone recommend a good book about the end of the Crusades?

The following comments will make more sense if you have seen the movie. One of the driving issues in the movie is understanding what is the "right" choice to make in a particular situation. The main character, Balien, is trying to make morally correct decisions as each decision is presented. There is one point where if he had agreed to a murder (clearly wrong) it would have probably prevented a massacre later on. Another character said that later he would regret not committing the small evil to prevent a much larger evil. So - is evil ever justified?

My answer to that is no, evil is never justified. However, I'm wondering if the dilemma has been somewhat created by the script of the movie. It seems to me that the actual issue is why didn't the king give justice to the people by executing a certain character (Guy something-or-other), or at least removing him from power.

Yesterday, Liam Atchison was the guest pastor at my church and spoke from Romans 13 about (among other issues) the responsibility of government to provide justice. It seems to me, that it was the responsibility of the king to ensure that his sister's husband did not inherit the throne. He failed to carry out his responsibility as a leader. Asking Balien if he would marry the princess if her husband was executed was putting the young knight in a position to benefit from a murder. Of course his integrity required him to refuse. I'm a little unclear as to why it was his decision. Why didn't the king just execute Guy and let the chips fall where they may? Certainly it would be better than what happened... Also - I'm a little confused on why the script writer thought that Balien's honor code would not allow the execution, but seemed to have no problem with committing adultery. Wouldn't this also violate a knight's code? It certainly violates one of the ten commandments...

Ah - Hollywood and its version of history, Christianity and morality. The issues that crop up are so twisted...