John Man, a well-known writer on China, talks about his latest book, Saladin: The Life, The Legend and the Islamic Empire, which will be published in April. [Photo by Nick J.B. Moore/China Daily]

John Man, a leading writer on China, is unconcerned about being described as a popular historian.

His books, which include biographies of Marco Polo and Genghis Khan, and have a trademark light jaunty style, sometimes sell in their hundreds of thousands.

The latest, Saladin: The Life, The Legend and the Islamic Empire, to be published in paperback in April, examines the life of the great 12th-century Arabic leader who fought off the Crusaders from Europe.

"I hope the books are easy to read. That is the idea. There is an awful lot of academic work on all these subjects but quite often the authors are just experts on the sources only. They are not bothered to go to the places. I think if you go there－like I do－you always find something new," he says.

Man, 74, who was speaking at his booklined study in London, hopes he will generate fresh interest in Saladin, still an iconic figure in the Middle East but largely anonymous in most other parts of the world.

"He was a great Kurdish Arab general during the Crusades and his major claim to fame was that he kicked the Europeans out of Jerusalem, and is therefore a hero in the Arab world," he says.

"Just at the moment he is relevant and crucial because he united Shias and Sunnis－not in the best possible way because he was pretty rough on the Egyptian Shias－but at least he united them."