Product Description
“Jerusalem Besieged is a fascinating account of how and why a baffling array of peoples, ideologies, and religions have fought for some four thousand years over a city without either great wealth, size, or strategic importance. Cline guides us through the baffling, but always bloody, array of Jewish, Roman, Moslem, Crusader, Ottoman, Western, Arab, and Israeli fights for possession of such a symbolic prize in a manner that is both scholarly and engaging.”
-Victor… More >>
This was a very informative book, well researched and most importantly it was easy to read without falling asleep. Highly recommended.
Rating: 5 / 5
If you liked the PBS special on “Jerusalem: Center of the World,” which aired on the evening of April 1st and in which I was featured during the first half, you will like this book, which covers 4,000 years of Jerusalem’s conflicted history.
Rating: 5 / 5
Overall I greatly enjoyed the book. It was a good read, and I liked the format and how he tied it in to current affairs and political events in each chapter. It was informative and ballanced, and in most points he did a good job of being objective and neutral about issues.
However in the last couple of chapters I feel that he did fall down a bit. The most glaring example for me was in his discussion of the Six Day War. If you read his account with no other knowledge of events you would think that Israel pulled off a almost completely unprovoked pre-emptive strike. There was a very fleeting minor mention of Egypt’s military build up, though unless memory fails he did not mention how focused that build up on the border was. However he UTTERLY fails to mention that Egypt had blockaded and shut down Israel’s ports, which ACCORDING TO INTERNATIONAL LAW is an act of war. That is a huge oversight in understanding the events and causes of the Six Day War.
But, a few skewed points aside, again I enjoyed the book a great deal. As a conservative christian theologian I will warn other Christians if you are not comfortable reading other views and interacting with secular historical thought this may not be the book for you. It is not written from a Judeo-Christian presupposition. That is not a knock on the book, as I enjoy historical books, and enjoy reading altering viewpoints and opinions.
Again this book receives the highest marks and for people who want a greater understanding of what is going on in the Middle East today, and the many factors throughout history that colour current events, this is one of the better “introductory” books I have read. You could obviously write whole books or series on each one of these individual events or periods described, but this book does an excellent job as a survey of historical events that have given us the Jerusalem of today.
Rating: 4 / 5
Those readers looking for both a thorough history of Jerusalem will also get an informative review of the political and religious aspects of the Near East. Many endnotes and a very useful bibliography.
Rating: 5 / 5
My God indeed!
What a time line story!!! It is without equal, and tells us just where this present day middle east crises is going.
Pulling out the stops here, i want to say this book should be required reading for all people from all cultures.
I have just finished my third reading and keep it next to my reading chair like a Bible.
Only problem; none.
Rating: 5 / 5