An excellent and detailed treatise on the history of medieval crossbows, with many references. Before reading the book, I was unaware that comparatively few crossbows have survived through to the present time, and that only a few eyewitness accounts mention the specific use of crossbows in battles.
The author gives fascinating details of the development of crossbow technology across the centuries until they were gradually superseded by firearms. Some of the earlier versions were adapted to fire stones or lead balls. by the means of a small pouch. These were more suited to hunting than battle.
It is interesting to note that medieval armies often mixed longbow archers with crossbowmen in the same unit, with sometimes quite impressive results. The crossbowmen certainly deserved their enhanced pay, crossbows were very expensive to purchase and difficult to maintain compared to a bow.
I can thoroughly recommend this book to military buffs and historians.

A good book for any person interested in the history of the crossbow. As a person interested in recreation I would have like to have seen more of construction methods, but other than that a good book all around with well established and well cited sources. Only downside was, due to the format I had to read the book in, several of the pictures wouldn't load, which took away quite a bit from the experience as the pictures are often referenced.