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Jerusalem: City of Longing
Jerusalem is the site of some of the most famous religious monuments in the world, from the Dome of the Rock to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the Western Wall of the Temple. Since the nineteenth century, the city has been a premier tourist destination, not least because of the countless religious pilgrims from the three Abrahamic faiths.
But Jerusalem is more than a tourist site--it is a city where every square mile is layered with historical significance, religious intensity, and extraordinary stories. It is a city rebuilt by each ruling Empire in its own way: the Jews, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims, and for the past sixty years, the modern Israelis. What makes Jerusalem so unique is the heady mix, in one place, of centuries of passion and scandal, kingdom-threatening wars and petty squabbles, architectural magnificence and bizarre relics, spiritual longing and political cruelty. It is a history marked by three great forces: religion, war, and monumentality.
In this book, Simon Goldhill takes on this peculiar archaeology of human imagination, hope, and disaster to provide a tour through the history of this most image-filled and ideology-laden city--from the bedrock of the Old City to the towering roofs of the Holy Sepulchre. Along the way, we discover through layers of buried and exposed memories--the long history, the forgotten stories, and the lesser-known aspects of contemporary politics that continue to make Jerusalem one of the most embattled cities in the world.
But Jerusalem is more than a tourist site--it is a city where every square mile is layered with historical significance, religious intensity, and extraordinary stories. It is a city rebuilt by each ruling Empire in its own way: the Jews, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims, and for the past sixty years, the modern Israelis. What makes Jerusalem so unique is the heady mix, in one place, of centuries of passion and scandal, kingdom-threatening wars and petty squabbles, architectural magnificence and bizarre relics, spiritual longing and political cruelty. It is a history marked by three great forces: religion, war, and monumentality.
In this book, Simon Goldhill takes on this peculiar archaeology of human imagination, hope, and disaster to provide a tour through the history of this most image-filled and ideology-laden city--from the bedrock of the Old City to the towering roofs of the Holy Sepulchre. Along the way, we discover through layers of buried and exposed memories--the long history, the forgotten stories, and the lesser-known aspects of contemporary politics that continue to make Jerusalem one of the most embattled cities in the world.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published May 16, 2008
6 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Simon Goldhill
61 books21 followersSimon David Goldhil is Professor in Greek literature and culture and fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at King's College, Cambridge. He was previously Director of Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, succeeding Mary Jacobus in October 2011. He is best known for his work on Greek tragedy.
In 2009, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was appointed as the John Harvard Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at Cambridge, a research position held concurrently with his chair in Greek.
In 2016, he became a fellow of the British Academy. He is a member of the Council of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, and is President of the European Institutes for Advanced Study (NetIAS).
Goldhill is a well-known lecturer and broadcaster and has appeared on television and radio in England, Australia, the United States and Canada. His books have been translated into ten languages, and he has been profiled by newspapers in Brazil, Australia and the Netherlands.
In 2009, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2010, he was appointed as the John Harvard Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences at Cambridge, a research position held concurrently with his chair in Greek.
In 2016, he became a fellow of the British Academy. He is a member of the Council of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, and is President of the European Institutes for Advanced Study (NetIAS).
Goldhill is a well-known lecturer and broadcaster and has appeared on television and radio in England, Australia, the United States and Canada. His books have been translated into ten languages, and he has been profiled by newspapers in Brazil, Australia and the Netherlands.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 4, 2023
The examination of more modern-day Jerusalem pales in comparison to the rest of the book...and it's clear that the author is extremely frustrated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (occasionally in a sweet but naive fashion). But if you stick with the examination of the old city and its environs, this is first-rate architectural history that makes me want to crawl through the streets and cubby-holes of the old city. One day, perhaps...one day...though at the time of writing, that day seems much more distant.
November 28, 2012
Jerusalem has its unique place as focus of religion, history, wars in God's name and ethnic traditions. Its identity consists of layers upon layers--truth, myth and hearsay, archeology, historical records and unsolved mystery. Simon Goldhill, professor at Cambridge, tries to peel them away one by one and bring them all to light, a difficult and uncertain task. Yet his book may be your best guide to making sense of it all.
He certainly knows his subject and has studied it in depth. The book consists of seven large chapters, the first three concerned with the holy sites of Christians, Jews and Moslems. He makes a commendable effort of trying to separate myth from fact, but guesswork abounds--not least because archeological excavation is all but impossible at such sites. Miracles are said to have occurred around them, but the author neatly sidesteps the issue by saying the truth makes little difference now (e.g., the true location of where Christ was crucified), the more interesting story is that of the people who believed those stories, fought over them and to this day strongly defend different accounts. We know very little, for instance, about the original second Jewish temple (and nothing about Solomon's, the first), because its magnificent reconstruction under king Herod obliterated and buried older traces. The older rubble is still there, but the site has been paved over for centuries, and trying to dig it up now would unleash enormous violence.
The fourth chapter is about what is now called the Old City, the area within the city walls. Those walls date to the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who built them in 1538, over much older foundations. Incidentally, the site of the crucifixion, now inside that wall, was indeed outside the walls of Roman Jerusalem, which archeologists also have found. Here and there archeologists have excavated small parts of he Old City, just enough to provide a tantalizing idea of what may still be buried. For old Jerusalem is largely built on rubble, from wars and also from earthquakes--from the biblical one under king Uziah (Amos ch.1, Zecharia ch. 14) to the most recent one of 1926.
Today's tourist can stroll the Cardo, excavated main street of Byzantine Jerusalem (also portrayed on an ancient mosaic map), and realize it lies up to 20' below the recent ground level The tourist can also wonder at the "Western Wall" ("wailing wall") of the Temple compound, actually part of a huge retaining wall enclosing the flat platform where Herod's temple stood and now the Moslem Dome of the Rock and the El Aksah Mosque. The seven lower courses, giant stones with sculptured edges, are from Herod's time, while higher up is Moslem reconstruction of a wall which may once have towered even higher. What the visitor does not see, however, are 17 lower layers of the Herodian wall, now buried beneath the plaza in front of the wall. One can only wonder what else lies buried there.
The fifth chapter is titled "Older Jerusalem" and points our that originally the city was not where the Old City now stands, but on a mountain-spur to the south-east. Jews name this "The city of David," probably with justification. The Old City is on a mountain ridge, high and easier to defend, but devoid of water sources, apart from rainwater stored in cisterns (nowadays, of course, pumps can supply water anywhere). The City of David was less defensible, but it had a strong perennial spring, the Shiloah. Located at the edge of the city, where it faces the Temple Mountain, it was vulnerable to attack, and as mentioned in the bible, King Hezekiah built a water-tunnel from it into the city, and in the late 1800s a memorial to its excavation was also uncovered. It was dug from both ends (even though its course is quite winding), has been cleared of its debris and the modern visitor can wade its length, as I have done. Towers defending the spring are only now being uncovered, and seals mentioning biblical names were also found in this area of Jerusalem. So where did Solomon's Temple stand? Was it connected by walls to the city of David?
The 6th chapter deals with Victorian Jerusalem, a backwater town attracting pilgrims and curious visitors (see Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad"), missionaries, pious Jews and representatives of practically all Christian sects. The end of the book deals with modern Jerusalem, for many years a city divided and even now resisting reunification. Wisely, the book avoids politics.
All in all, this is a rich story, well illustrated, and will reward readers whether they plan to visit Jerusalem or just study its history from the comfort of an armchair. In either case, it may well whet their appetite for more--and there is much, much more, indeed.
He certainly knows his subject and has studied it in depth. The book consists of seven large chapters, the first three concerned with the holy sites of Christians, Jews and Moslems. He makes a commendable effort of trying to separate myth from fact, but guesswork abounds--not least because archeological excavation is all but impossible at such sites. Miracles are said to have occurred around them, but the author neatly sidesteps the issue by saying the truth makes little difference now (e.g., the true location of where Christ was crucified), the more interesting story is that of the people who believed those stories, fought over them and to this day strongly defend different accounts. We know very little, for instance, about the original second Jewish temple (and nothing about Solomon's, the first), because its magnificent reconstruction under king Herod obliterated and buried older traces. The older rubble is still there, but the site has been paved over for centuries, and trying to dig it up now would unleash enormous violence.
The fourth chapter is about what is now called the Old City, the area within the city walls. Those walls date to the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who built them in 1538, over much older foundations. Incidentally, the site of the crucifixion, now inside that wall, was indeed outside the walls of Roman Jerusalem, which archeologists also have found. Here and there archeologists have excavated small parts of he Old City, just enough to provide a tantalizing idea of what may still be buried. For old Jerusalem is largely built on rubble, from wars and also from earthquakes--from the biblical one under king Uziah (Amos ch.1, Zecharia ch. 14) to the most recent one of 1926.
Today's tourist can stroll the Cardo, excavated main street of Byzantine Jerusalem (also portrayed on an ancient mosaic map), and realize it lies up to 20' below the recent ground level The tourist can also wonder at the "Western Wall" ("wailing wall") of the Temple compound, actually part of a huge retaining wall enclosing the flat platform where Herod's temple stood and now the Moslem Dome of the Rock and the El Aksah Mosque. The seven lower courses, giant stones with sculptured edges, are from Herod's time, while higher up is Moslem reconstruction of a wall which may once have towered even higher. What the visitor does not see, however, are 17 lower layers of the Herodian wall, now buried beneath the plaza in front of the wall. One can only wonder what else lies buried there.
The fifth chapter is titled "Older Jerusalem" and points our that originally the city was not where the Old City now stands, but on a mountain-spur to the south-east. Jews name this "The city of David," probably with justification. The Old City is on a mountain ridge, high and easier to defend, but devoid of water sources, apart from rainwater stored in cisterns (nowadays, of course, pumps can supply water anywhere). The City of David was less defensible, but it had a strong perennial spring, the Shiloah. Located at the edge of the city, where it faces the Temple Mountain, it was vulnerable to attack, and as mentioned in the bible, King Hezekiah built a water-tunnel from it into the city, and in the late 1800s a memorial to its excavation was also uncovered. It was dug from both ends (even though its course is quite winding), has been cleared of its debris and the modern visitor can wade its length, as I have done. Towers defending the spring are only now being uncovered, and seals mentioning biblical names were also found in this area of Jerusalem. So where did Solomon's Temple stand? Was it connected by walls to the city of David?
The 6th chapter deals with Victorian Jerusalem, a backwater town attracting pilgrims and curious visitors (see Mark Twain's "The Innocents Abroad"), missionaries, pious Jews and representatives of practically all Christian sects. The end of the book deals with modern Jerusalem, for many years a city divided and even now resisting reunification. Wisely, the book avoids politics.
All in all, this is a rich story, well illustrated, and will reward readers whether they plan to visit Jerusalem or just study its history from the comfort of an armchair. In either case, it may well whet their appetite for more--and there is much, much more, indeed.
January 13, 2017
Whatever sense of longing one leaves with after reading Goldhill’s extensive, yet concise tour through Jerusalem, the reader will have probably felt a strange affinity to the complex system of buildings and ideologies, politics and religion, art and pious frauds. Goldhill taps into the imaginative abilities of his readers—the same imaginative abilities which often have endowed Jerusalem and its sites with so much significance—in order to guide them through a spiraling tour of Jerusalem. This tour encompasses the sights, the sounds, the oddities, but also the history, the religious traditions, the politics, and the ephemeral yet lasting complex cultural dynamics of Jerusalem.
Goldhill presents his writing for this exact reason: to take his readers on a tour of Jerusalem and its many layers. He walks his readers through the streets, with great attention to detail, in order to uncover the layers of stories which give and have given these places their significance. This book, he claims, is “a tour guide for the thinking visitor” (vii). Goldhill does not set out to give a comprehensive history of the political or theological or cultural influences which have shaped the Jerusalem that is seen today. Yet, as he paints a picture of the city’s architecture and quirks, he beautifully interweaves historical knowledge, religious reflection, and political powers into the story of Jerusalem. After finishing his book, one wonders how anyone could set out to describe Jerusalem without addressing its multifaceted history, as Goldhill does. While not exhaustive, he poetically combines histories to present a complicated and layered approach to viewing the great city.
His framework for the book is to move the reader through the city in one week. Each day, or chapter, is spent focusing on a different aspect of the city, although there is often overlap between chapters. The first day is spent at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The next day one wonders over to the Western Wall. On the third day, one goes up to the many domes of Haram al-Sharif. The fourth through seventh days are spent exploring the city more broadly instead of remaining at specific sites. The reader moves through the Old City, the Oldest City, the Victorian City, and the Modern City.
Any who have even vague interest in the city of Jerusalem as a tourist or pilgrim would find this book to be an enlightening read. However, even those who are interested in the complexities of the conflict raging there today will find that Goldhill has much to offer. What Goldhill achieves in this book is a generally nuanced and engaging view of Jerusalem that allows the reader to enter conflicts through story. By placing stories, pilgrims, families, and religions at the forefront, Goldhill does not shy from conflict but is also not defeated by it. The reader will most certainly have a better understanding of the long history of Jerusalem and a stronger longing for peace after reading Goldhill’s Jerusalem. A City of Longing.
Goldhill presents his writing for this exact reason: to take his readers on a tour of Jerusalem and its many layers. He walks his readers through the streets, with great attention to detail, in order to uncover the layers of stories which give and have given these places their significance. This book, he claims, is “a tour guide for the thinking visitor” (vii). Goldhill does not set out to give a comprehensive history of the political or theological or cultural influences which have shaped the Jerusalem that is seen today. Yet, as he paints a picture of the city’s architecture and quirks, he beautifully interweaves historical knowledge, religious reflection, and political powers into the story of Jerusalem. After finishing his book, one wonders how anyone could set out to describe Jerusalem without addressing its multifaceted history, as Goldhill does. While not exhaustive, he poetically combines histories to present a complicated and layered approach to viewing the great city.
His framework for the book is to move the reader through the city in one week. Each day, or chapter, is spent focusing on a different aspect of the city, although there is often overlap between chapters. The first day is spent at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The next day one wonders over to the Western Wall. On the third day, one goes up to the many domes of Haram al-Sharif. The fourth through seventh days are spent exploring the city more broadly instead of remaining at specific sites. The reader moves through the Old City, the Oldest City, the Victorian City, and the Modern City.
Any who have even vague interest in the city of Jerusalem as a tourist or pilgrim would find this book to be an enlightening read. However, even those who are interested in the complexities of the conflict raging there today will find that Goldhill has much to offer. What Goldhill achieves in this book is a generally nuanced and engaging view of Jerusalem that allows the reader to enter conflicts through story. By placing stories, pilgrims, families, and religions at the forefront, Goldhill does not shy from conflict but is also not defeated by it. The reader will most certainly have a better understanding of the long history of Jerusalem and a stronger longing for peace after reading Goldhill’s Jerusalem. A City of Longing.
September 2, 2017
I read this after my first trip to Israel, in July. I was there for a religious studies conference. In a week there I visited the Old City three times, got good and lost in the western part of the city (Karen Havesod Blvd., etc.), stumbled into an anti-Netanyahu demonstration, and was overwhelmed by the museum. We also visited Jaffa, Haifa, and Acre. And the day before I was set to leave I picked up the Goldhill in the little book store near the American Colony Hotel. The woman in the store knew every title, and the Goldhill was recommended instead of the widely-distributed Montefiore. I was not disappointed.
I relate this as a personal story because that's how you relate to the place. Jerusalem, as everyone tells you, grows on you. It seeps into your pores. And before you leave you begin to plan your next visit.
I've done my planning with the aid of Goldhill. Goldhill filled in many of the gaps, and revealed the wealth of new places I had blithely walked by. What Goldhill confirmed is that it's impossible to absorb everything of this city. The right way to approach Jerusalem, I'm convinced, is in spirals.
His book starts by introducing the key sites for the big three religions. He then follows a periodization scheme. These periods correspond generally to the city's stages of horizontal expansion. The exception is the pre-medieval city, which lies underneath; the Cardo, the main drag laid out in Roman times, lies six meters below ground. Within each chapter Goldhill mixes descriptions of sites with stories of the people walking through them--conquerors, pilgrims, patriarchs, generals and, from the late 1800s, hoards of tourists. A periodic organisation is inevitable in a short work. I was nevertheless overwhlemed right away, from Chapter One.
What Goldhill does well is to describe everything clearly, and to provide tons of maps. Each chapter starts with an orienting map. I knew where I was at every step.
Good thing, too, because each period seemed to be talking about a different place. The Victorian City and the Ottoman, the city of Suleiman and General Allenby, the site of today's convoluted arguments, grand institutions and magnificent illusions...just tying all these together is a challenge. No, an impossibility. Goldhill's methodical work is nothing less than a guide to the impossible.
I relate this as a personal story because that's how you relate to the place. Jerusalem, as everyone tells you, grows on you. It seeps into your pores. And before you leave you begin to plan your next visit.
I've done my planning with the aid of Goldhill. Goldhill filled in many of the gaps, and revealed the wealth of new places I had blithely walked by. What Goldhill confirmed is that it's impossible to absorb everything of this city. The right way to approach Jerusalem, I'm convinced, is in spirals.
His book starts by introducing the key sites for the big three religions. He then follows a periodization scheme. These periods correspond generally to the city's stages of horizontal expansion. The exception is the pre-medieval city, which lies underneath; the Cardo, the main drag laid out in Roman times, lies six meters below ground. Within each chapter Goldhill mixes descriptions of sites with stories of the people walking through them--conquerors, pilgrims, patriarchs, generals and, from the late 1800s, hoards of tourists. A periodic organisation is inevitable in a short work. I was nevertheless overwhlemed right away, from Chapter One.
What Goldhill does well is to describe everything clearly, and to provide tons of maps. Each chapter starts with an orienting map. I knew where I was at every step.
Good thing, too, because each period seemed to be talking about a different place. The Victorian City and the Ottoman, the city of Suleiman and General Allenby, the site of today's convoluted arguments, grand institutions and magnificent illusions...just tying all these together is a challenge. No, an impossibility. Goldhill's methodical work is nothing less than a guide to the impossible.
May 24, 2020
This book is a kind of tour of Jerusalem's architectural landmarks with lots of historical commentary thrown in, focusing heavily (but not exclulsively) on churches (although it does cover some Christian/Muslim/secular buildings as well).
I mostly found it interesting, but sometimes it had a bit too much architectural jargon for my taste. Some interesting facts I learned:
1. Christians have had a very mixed attitude towards the Temple Mount over the years. During the late Roman and early Byzantine eras, they left it unoccupied to stand as a monument to Jewish failure. However, after they took over the city in the Crusades, they changed their attitude. Instead of tearing down the Dome of the Rock (a mosque that sits on the Temple Mount site) they turned it into a church.
2. The Old City of Jerusalem really isn't that old; the streets are several centuries old but many of the buildings are post-1967 because much of it was destroyed in (or immediately after) the 1948 war. Rather than turning it into a showplace, the then-victorious Jordianians looted the area. After Israelis conquered the Old City in 1967, they redeveloped the area.
3. The First Temple "City of David", unlike the Second Temple, was not built in the most defensible or highest area. Why not? Because the early Jews built where the water was.
4. Much of 19th-c. Jerusalem was built by groups of idealists trying to create a community for their sect or group. For example, Mea Shearim was built as a gated community for Orthodox Jews.
I mostly found it interesting, but sometimes it had a bit too much architectural jargon for my taste. Some interesting facts I learned:
1. Christians have had a very mixed attitude towards the Temple Mount over the years. During the late Roman and early Byzantine eras, they left it unoccupied to stand as a monument to Jewish failure. However, after they took over the city in the Crusades, they changed their attitude. Instead of tearing down the Dome of the Rock (a mosque that sits on the Temple Mount site) they turned it into a church.
2. The Old City of Jerusalem really isn't that old; the streets are several centuries old but many of the buildings are post-1967 because much of it was destroyed in (or immediately after) the 1948 war. Rather than turning it into a showplace, the then-victorious Jordianians looted the area. After Israelis conquered the Old City in 1967, they redeveloped the area.
3. The First Temple "City of David", unlike the Second Temple, was not built in the most defensible or highest area. Why not? Because the early Jews built where the water was.
4. Much of 19th-c. Jerusalem was built by groups of idealists trying to create a community for their sect or group. For example, Mea Shearim was built as a gated community for Orthodox Jews.
October 23, 2021
Very good book on history and architecture of Jerusalem.
April 27, 2022
Deeply wish I had found this book before my visit to Jerusalem!
May 31, 2015
Review title: Stones crying out
I went to the library with a newer book on the history of Jerusalem on my wish list, but when I got to the shelf and saw how many pages it was I realized I didn't want to tackle it. Then I saw Gladhill's more compact combination of history, travel guide, archaeology and architecture, and I am glad I did.
I have never been to Jerusalem and am reaching the stage and age of life where (never say never but . . . ) all things still being possible, many things probably won't happen. So if I never get there, this book lets me feel and see the city from the perspectives as if I had been an experienced traveler there. I almost feel as if I had been there, or even f I had been without reading Gladhill I would be missing essential details about what I had seen.
He starts with chapters (each with simple maps and pictures of the highlighted places) on the central location for each of the three world religions that contest for the hearts and minds of Christians (the Church of the Holy Sepulchure), Jews (The Western Wall) and Muslims (the Dome of the Rock). The immediacy of Jerusalem (and this book) is that here, they also contend for streets, ruins, and rocks in very virulent and sometimes physically violent conflicts. He walks you around and through the monuments, the people who control them, and the history (often disputed) and archeology (sometimes dubious) that gives them spiritual meaning.
He then expands out to look at the city around the monumental centers, the "oldest" city underground still being discovered and mapped by archaeologists, and the Victorian and then the modern city that surrounds the City of David. I was surprised to learn of the 19th and 20th century interest in the city by Germany, Russia, France and of course England in building in and around Jerusalem. Gladhill calls it a surprisingly Victorian city.
I must confess to being serendipitously surprised at how much I enjoyed and how quickly I devoured this book. Finding it was a small testament to the power of browsing books on paper in even a moderately well stocked library or bookstore. Gladhill writes with quick simple pace and brings all the elements in to play in a way that always caught my attention, my eye, and my humor. If this is your only trip to Jerusalem, as it is likely to be mine, it will be a rewarding trip.
I went to the library with a newer book on the history of Jerusalem on my wish list, but when I got to the shelf and saw how many pages it was I realized I didn't want to tackle it. Then I saw Gladhill's more compact combination of history, travel guide, archaeology and architecture, and I am glad I did.
I have never been to Jerusalem and am reaching the stage and age of life where (never say never but . . . ) all things still being possible, many things probably won't happen. So if I never get there, this book lets me feel and see the city from the perspectives as if I had been an experienced traveler there. I almost feel as if I had been there, or even f I had been without reading Gladhill I would be missing essential details about what I had seen.
He starts with chapters (each with simple maps and pictures of the highlighted places) on the central location for each of the three world religions that contest for the hearts and minds of Christians (the Church of the Holy Sepulchure), Jews (The Western Wall) and Muslims (the Dome of the Rock). The immediacy of Jerusalem (and this book) is that here, they also contend for streets, ruins, and rocks in very virulent and sometimes physically violent conflicts. He walks you around and through the monuments, the people who control them, and the history (often disputed) and archeology (sometimes dubious) that gives them spiritual meaning.
He then expands out to look at the city around the monumental centers, the "oldest" city underground still being discovered and mapped by archaeologists, and the Victorian and then the modern city that surrounds the City of David. I was surprised to learn of the 19th and 20th century interest in the city by Germany, Russia, France and of course England in building in and around Jerusalem. Gladhill calls it a surprisingly Victorian city.
I must confess to being serendipitously surprised at how much I enjoyed and how quickly I devoured this book. Finding it was a small testament to the power of browsing books on paper in even a moderately well stocked library or bookstore. Gladhill writes with quick simple pace and brings all the elements in to play in a way that always caught my attention, my eye, and my humor. If this is your only trip to Jerusalem, as it is likely to be mine, it will be a rewarding trip.
August 7, 2010
A fascinating architectural/tour history of famous Jerusalem landmarks, as well as a sharp discussion of the highly contentious politics of archeology there. The last section, on modern Jerusalem, feels oddly truncated and slightly unbalanced, but his discussions of the growth and development of (as well as recent discoveries revealing the extent of truth in some bible stories) Jerusalem are great, and his section on the competing imperial building projects staining the Victorian city is outstanding. Great pictures as well, though color would have been ideal.
Read
June 26, 2016So I couldn't finish reading this. For one, it wasn't the most interesting book I've read, but probably more importantly, I had to cancel a trip to the Holy Land so it was just too depressing to read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews