Paul F. Crawford, The Intercollegiate Review 46:1, reprinted at First Principles Journal (April 21, 2011).

It is almost scandalous to question the status of "the Crusades" as the paradigmatic exemplar — along with the Inquisition — of the Christian religion gone bad. Nevertheless, recent years have seen a steady stream of publications offering just such a reappraisal. Paul F. Crawford summarizes some of this literature in "Four Myths about the Crusades". The myths? 1) "The crusades represented an unprovoked attack by Western Christians on the Muslim world." 2) "Western Christians went on crusade because their greed led them to plunder Muslims in order to get rich." 3) "Crusaders were a cynical lot who did not really believe their own religious propaganda; rather, they had ulterior, materialistic motives." 4) "The crusades taught Muslims to hate and attack Christians." Events dimly remembered in the fog of history are prone to being recast and appropriated to one narrative or another. Crawford's summary and citations provide a starting point for considering whether the Crusades have suffered such a fate.
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