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Jerusalem: The Biography
The epic history of three thousand years of faith, fanaticism, bloodshed, and coexistence, from King David to the 21st century, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the Israel–Palestine conflict, from thebestselling author of The Romanovs • "Impossible to put down…. Vastly enjoyable." —The New York Times Book Review
How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world” and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs, and revelations of the men and women who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan.
In this masterful narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore brings the holy city to life and draws on the latest scholarship, his own family history, and a lifetime of study to show that the story of Jerusalem is truly the story of the world.
How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the “center of the world” and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs, and revelations of the men and women who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan.
In this masterful narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore brings the holy city to life and draws on the latest scholarship, his own family history, and a lifetime of study to show that the story of Jerusalem is truly the story of the world.
752 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Simon Sebag Montefiore
64 books2,892 followersSimon Sebag Montefiore is the author of the global bestsellers 'The Romanovs' and 'Jerusalem: the Biography,' 'Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar' and Young Stalin and the novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter and "Red Sky at Noon." His books are published in 48 languages and are worldwide bestsellers. He has won prizes in both non-fiction and fiction. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD).
'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself.
Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-...
"A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard
"Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times
"Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times
"The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman
“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out
“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books
"Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National
"Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph
" "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer
“Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian
“Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of
'The Romanovs' is his latest history book. He has now completed his Moscow Trilogy of novels featuring Benya Golden and Comrade Satinov, Sashenka, Dashka and Fabiana.... and Stalin himself.
Buy in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Winter-...
"A thrilling work of fiction. Montefiore weaves a tight, satisfying plot, delivering surprises to the last page. Stalin's chilling charisma is brilliantly realised. The novel's theme is Love: family love, youthful romance, adulterous passion. One Night in Winter is full of redemptive love and inner freedom." Evening Standard
"Gripping and cleverly plotted. Doomed love at the heart of a violent society is the heart of Montefiore's One Night in Winter... depicting the Kafkaesque labyrinth into which the victims stumble." The Sunday Times
"Compulsively involving. Our fear for the children keeps up turning the pages... We follow the passions with sympathy... The knot of events tugs at a wide range of emotions rarely experienced outside an intimate tyranny." The Times
"The novel is hugely romantic. His ease with the setting and historical characters is masterly. The book maintains a tense pace. Uniquely terrifying. Heartrending. Engrossing. " The Scotsman
“Delicately plotted and buried within a layered, elliptical narrative, One Night in Winter is also a fidgety page-turner which adroitly weaves a huge cast of characters into an arcane world.” Time Out
“A novel full of passion, conspiracy, hope, despair, suffering and redemption, it transcends boundaries of genre, being at once thriller and political drama, horror and romance. His ability to paint Stalin in such a way to make the reader quake with fire is matched by talent for creating truly heartbreaking characters: the children who find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy, the parents…. A gripping read and must surely be one of the best novels of 2013. ” NY Journal of Books
"Not just a thumpingly good read, but also essentially a story of human fragility and passions, albeit taking place under the intimidating shadow of a massive Stalinist portico." The National
"Seriously good fun... the Soviet march on Berlin, nightmarish drinking games at Stalin's countryhouse, the magnificence of the Bolshoi, interrogations, snow, sex and exile... lust adultery and romance. Eminently readable and strangely affecting." Sunday Telegraph
" "Hopelessly romantic and hopelessly moving. A mix of lovestory thriller and historical fiction. Engrossing." The Observer
“Gripping. Montefiore’s characters snare our sympathy and we follow them avidly. This intricate at times disturbing, always absorbing novel entertains and disturbs and seethes with moral complexity. Characters real+fictitious ring strikingly true.It is to a large extent Tolstoyan …..” The Australian
“Enthralling. Montefiore writes brilliantly about Love - from teenage romance to the grand passion of adultery. Readers of Sebastian Faulks and Hilary Mantel will lap this up. A historical novel that builds into a nail-biting drama … a world that resembles… Edith Wharton with the death penalty.” Novel of
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,373 reviews
March 25, 2018
This is one of those non-fiction books that you read as fiction... And this is one of those books that I'm most proud of being its editor... It took us two years to complete it... I don't know anymore how many times I've reread it, worrying about every detail with my team... Beautiful book about biography of Jerusalem, for those who love history... And they don't have to be scholars to enjoy this book...
I can call myself the Serbian editor of Montefiore family, since I'm Santa's editor as well... :)
And this book published right in time for Belgrade Book Fair in October 2012 just went for second printing... First edition is sold out! :) Miracle that rarely happens in Serbia with non-fiction titles... :)
I can call myself the Serbian editor of Montefiore family, since I'm Santa's editor as well... :)
And this book published right in time for Belgrade Book Fair in October 2012 just went for second printing... First edition is sold out! :) Miracle that rarely happens in Serbia with non-fiction titles... :)
March 13, 2011
City of the Book
My first sight of Jerusalem was in a taxi, driving up from the airport at Tel Aviv. It was a winter afternoon in late November, with the sun well down on the horizon. The colour tones were all light-grey, not drab, just grey upon grey, dramatically punctuated by a brilliant flash of gold from the Dome of the Rock: it was almost as if I had been allowed the briefest glimpse of the celestial city, Zion itself!
It was the new city we drove into, with the old beyond, the Turkish walls prominent on the horizon. My first impression was of sheer ordinariness, all a bit anti-climatic. After all, Jerusalem is a place that one has visited countless times in the imagination - the city of David, the city of Jesus, the city of Mohammed, the city of God. It was only gradually that the reality caught up with the romance. Yes, this is an ordinarily extraordinary place; here I am walking on the flagstones of history itself, on the paths of destiny.
I’ve now visited the city again through the pages of Simon Sebag Montefiore's Jerusalem; the Biography. What a story he has to tell, tragic and bloody, exhilarating and uplifting; how well he tells it, with style, ease and a superb eye for detail, for the artist’s colourful vignettes that bring the place to life.
It’s the story of us all: it’s the story of civilization itself, of the rise and fall of empires and dynasties; but it is the particular story of the Jews, the people who might be said to be defined by a place that for so long existed only in prayer and longing – “Next year in Jerusalem.” Largely driven out by the Romans in AD 70 and again in AD 135, they began an epic wandering of exile and return, one that has an almost mythic and Biblical quality, a greater Exodus.
In place of the Jews came so many others – the Romans and their Byzantine inheritors, the Persians, the Arabs, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Crusaders, the Seljuk Turks the Kurds, the Mamaluks, the Mongols, the Ottomans and, in 1917, the British, General Allenby achieving something that had proved too much even for Richard the Lionheart. Jerusalem is not so much a place, more an obsession. It was obsession, faith and persecution that finally saw the return of the first people of the Book.
Montefiore’s ‘biography’ is a stunning achievement given the range of time and the vastness of detail that has to be covered, given the stages of the life. History has been laid down here layer by layer, one civilization building on the stones of another, one religion laid down on the beliefs of another, the sediments of time and faith. But given the sensitivity of the place, given its importance in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the kind of archaeology that would uncover so much of what is hidden has always been problematic, particularly around the area of the Temple Mount.
In this particular regard the author touches on the story of one Captain Monty Parker, a louche Englishman, a sort of Flashman-like figure, whose archaeological explorations in the city before the First World War in search of the Ark of the Covenant were carried out with an Indiana Jones lack of finesse. He is the only man in history to have caused a riot that united Muslims and Jews!
The other thing about this deeply impressive and lucid book is that Montefiore manages to pack in so much so effortlessly without seeming to overwhelm one with detail; but there is detail and detail aplenty, from high history to the comically Rabelaisian. I found myself laughing out loud at certain parts, not just his account of Captain Monty but also his sketch of some of the earlier pilgrims, who did not always arrive filled with holy purpose and celestial thoughts.
It’s important to remember that Jerusalem is on so many ways a city of sinners rather than saints (Chaucer’s Wife of Bath visited three times!) There is Arnold von Harff, a German knight, who visited the city in the fifteenth century, armed with a few phrases in Arabic and Hebrew, which leave little doubt as to his profane intentions;
How much will you give me?
I will give you a gulden.
Are you a Jew?
Woman, let me sleep with you tonight.
Good madam, I am ALREADY in your bed.
Yes, there are moments of comedy but it’s heavily outweighed by the tragedy of a place where so much suffering and death has been caused by zealotry and fanaticism. There is the madness of the city during the siege of Titus; the horror of the mass crucifixions that followed its capture; there is the massacre that took place after it fell to the Crusaders in 1099, which caused the streets to stink with decomposing flesh for months after; massacre, mayhem and murder, century after century.
The tragedy, and the pettiness, has even invaded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the supposed site of Christ’s crucifixion, where the various Christian sects acted out ancient debates and hatreds, not stopping, on occasions, short of murder.
Montefiore is an excellent historian, the writer of superb biographies of people as diverse as Prince Potemkin and Josef Stalin. I expect the highest degree of accuracy from him, which makes the occasional minor lapses all the more annoying. It was Louis IX and not Louis XI, the treacherous Spider King, who led the last effective crusade (the idea of the latter on Crusade is more than ridiculous!).
I can excuse that, a mere slip of the Roman digits, but what I find more difficult to overlook is the contention that General Charles Gordon helped to suppress the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, which took place fifteen years after his death! But this is a minor quibble that did next to nothing to stop my enjoyment of a work of history that also manages to transform itself into a superlative work of literature. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
My first sight of Jerusalem was in a taxi, driving up from the airport at Tel Aviv. It was a winter afternoon in late November, with the sun well down on the horizon. The colour tones were all light-grey, not drab, just grey upon grey, dramatically punctuated by a brilliant flash of gold from the Dome of the Rock: it was almost as if I had been allowed the briefest glimpse of the celestial city, Zion itself!
It was the new city we drove into, with the old beyond, the Turkish walls prominent on the horizon. My first impression was of sheer ordinariness, all a bit anti-climatic. After all, Jerusalem is a place that one has visited countless times in the imagination - the city of David, the city of Jesus, the city of Mohammed, the city of God. It was only gradually that the reality caught up with the romance. Yes, this is an ordinarily extraordinary place; here I am walking on the flagstones of history itself, on the paths of destiny.
I’ve now visited the city again through the pages of Simon Sebag Montefiore's Jerusalem; the Biography. What a story he has to tell, tragic and bloody, exhilarating and uplifting; how well he tells it, with style, ease and a superb eye for detail, for the artist’s colourful vignettes that bring the place to life.
It’s the story of us all: it’s the story of civilization itself, of the rise and fall of empires and dynasties; but it is the particular story of the Jews, the people who might be said to be defined by a place that for so long existed only in prayer and longing – “Next year in Jerusalem.” Largely driven out by the Romans in AD 70 and again in AD 135, they began an epic wandering of exile and return, one that has an almost mythic and Biblical quality, a greater Exodus.
In place of the Jews came so many others – the Romans and their Byzantine inheritors, the Persians, the Arabs, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Crusaders, the Seljuk Turks the Kurds, the Mamaluks, the Mongols, the Ottomans and, in 1917, the British, General Allenby achieving something that had proved too much even for Richard the Lionheart. Jerusalem is not so much a place, more an obsession. It was obsession, faith and persecution that finally saw the return of the first people of the Book.
Montefiore’s ‘biography’ is a stunning achievement given the range of time and the vastness of detail that has to be covered, given the stages of the life. History has been laid down here layer by layer, one civilization building on the stones of another, one religion laid down on the beliefs of another, the sediments of time and faith. But given the sensitivity of the place, given its importance in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the kind of archaeology that would uncover so much of what is hidden has always been problematic, particularly around the area of the Temple Mount.
In this particular regard the author touches on the story of one Captain Monty Parker, a louche Englishman, a sort of Flashman-like figure, whose archaeological explorations in the city before the First World War in search of the Ark of the Covenant were carried out with an Indiana Jones lack of finesse. He is the only man in history to have caused a riot that united Muslims and Jews!
The other thing about this deeply impressive and lucid book is that Montefiore manages to pack in so much so effortlessly without seeming to overwhelm one with detail; but there is detail and detail aplenty, from high history to the comically Rabelaisian. I found myself laughing out loud at certain parts, not just his account of Captain Monty but also his sketch of some of the earlier pilgrims, who did not always arrive filled with holy purpose and celestial thoughts.
It’s important to remember that Jerusalem is on so many ways a city of sinners rather than saints (Chaucer’s Wife of Bath visited three times!) There is Arnold von Harff, a German knight, who visited the city in the fifteenth century, armed with a few phrases in Arabic and Hebrew, which leave little doubt as to his profane intentions;
How much will you give me?
I will give you a gulden.
Are you a Jew?
Woman, let me sleep with you tonight.
Good madam, I am ALREADY in your bed.
Yes, there are moments of comedy but it’s heavily outweighed by the tragedy of a place where so much suffering and death has been caused by zealotry and fanaticism. There is the madness of the city during the siege of Titus; the horror of the mass crucifixions that followed its capture; there is the massacre that took place after it fell to the Crusaders in 1099, which caused the streets to stink with decomposing flesh for months after; massacre, mayhem and murder, century after century.
The tragedy, and the pettiness, has even invaded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the supposed site of Christ’s crucifixion, where the various Christian sects acted out ancient debates and hatreds, not stopping, on occasions, short of murder.
Montefiore is an excellent historian, the writer of superb biographies of people as diverse as Prince Potemkin and Josef Stalin. I expect the highest degree of accuracy from him, which makes the occasional minor lapses all the more annoying. It was Louis IX and not Louis XI, the treacherous Spider King, who led the last effective crusade (the idea of the latter on Crusade is more than ridiculous!).
I can excuse that, a mere slip of the Roman digits, but what I find more difficult to overlook is the contention that General Charles Gordon helped to suppress the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, which took place fifteen years after his death! But this is a minor quibble that did next to nothing to stop my enjoyment of a work of history that also manages to transform itself into a superlative work of literature. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
November 9, 2023
There is no time for dawdling as this history gallops from the time of King David, around 3000 years ago, up to 1967. I read all these vastly impressive 500 pages ten years ago and I wanted to reread the 20th century part now, as the latest tragedy unfolds in Gaza. All history is painful – as Gibbon rightly said “History is indeed little more than the register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind”- but the history of Israel and Palestine is still an open wound.
A history of Jerusalem can’t avoid spilling over into a history of Israel, a history of the Jewish people and a history of the Palestinian people; they are all intertwined. And the historian knows his words will be fiercely scrutinised for distortion, exaggeration, selective reporting and axe grinding. This history is as contentious as it gets, so I was surprised at the very few 1 or 2 star reviews here.
He uses a method of overlapping biographies in many parts – I see why, each life adds to the rich tapestry and all that, but it can overwhelm the poor innocent reader. So in the early 20th century part we have the life stories of Herzl, Ben Gurion, Captain Monty Parker, Jemal Pasha, T E Lawrence, Arthur Balfour, Chaim Weitzmann… and so on.
SOME RANDOM THINGS I LEARNED
1) IT DIDN’T HAVE TO BE PALESTINE
Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, was by no means fixated on the Holy Land as the place Jews should have their nation state. He suggested Cyprus or El Arish in Sinai (then part of British Egypt). When he talked with British politicians David Lloyd George and Arthur Balfour they suggested Uganda. Herzl tried to sell Uganda to the Jews at the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1905 but there weren’t many takers. An Austrian plutocrat was simultaneously financing Jewish colonies in Argentina. , then there was something called the Galveston Plan, an idea for Russian Jews to settle in Texas. Everyone had their own ideas. Before he hit on the idea of murdering them all, Hitler thought Madagascar would be just the place. Churchill was all for Libya.
2 ) A SAD QUOTE
P 383 : “Ben-Gurion believed, like most of his fellow Zionists at this time (1910) that a socialist Jewish state would be created without violence and without dominating or displacing the Palestinian Arabs… he was sure they would cooperate.”
Can people really have thought that?
3) TWO REASONS FOR THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
The British government believed that the Americans might be encouraged to join the Great War if they knew that part of British war aims was to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Montefiore points out that they had discovered the Germans were considering a Zionist declaration of their own – “after all, Zionism was a German-Austrian idea, and until 1914 the Zionists had been based in Berlin”.
Also, check this out :
The Declaration was designed to detach Russian Jews from Bolshevism but the very night before it was published, Lenin seized power in St Petersburg. Had Lenin moved a few days earlier, the Balfour Declaration may never have been issued.
4) THE ZIONISTS DIDN’T WANT JERUSALEM FOR THEMSELVES
When those two rascals Sykes and Picot were drawing borders of future countries on the maps of the Middle East they specified that Jerusalem should be an “international city” and the Zionists agreed . Weitzmann wrote : “We wanted the Holy Places internationalised”.
5) THE TWO STATE SOLUTION, 1937 STYLE AND THE ONE STATE SOLUTION, 1939 STYLE
The British government (they were the colonial overlords following the end of World War One) proposed a partition of Palestine into an Arab area (70% of the land) to be joined to the Kingdom of Transjordan and a Jewish area (20% of the land). Jerusalem to remain under British control. The Zionists accepted. King Abdullah of Transjordan accepted. All other Arab Palestinians rejected it. Two years later, with the next world war looming, the British came up with another proposal : Jewish land purchases limited; Jewish immigration capped at 15,000 per year for 5 years after which the Arabs would get a veto; Palestinian independence within 10 years; no Jewish state.
This was the best offer the Palestinians were to receive from the British or anyone else during the entire twentieth century, but the mufti, displaying spectacular political incompetence, rejected it from his Lebanese exile
All of this is very interesting, and there is of course so much more, but it is only tangentially to do with Jerusalem itself, and this is the nature of this massive beast, forever shapeshifting into a general history of the state of Israel and an account of all the bitter wars.
I give it 4 fairly over-ambitious stars
A history of Jerusalem can’t avoid spilling over into a history of Israel, a history of the Jewish people and a history of the Palestinian people; they are all intertwined. And the historian knows his words will be fiercely scrutinised for distortion, exaggeration, selective reporting and axe grinding. This history is as contentious as it gets, so I was surprised at the very few 1 or 2 star reviews here.
He uses a method of overlapping biographies in many parts – I see why, each life adds to the rich tapestry and all that, but it can overwhelm the poor innocent reader. So in the early 20th century part we have the life stories of Herzl, Ben Gurion, Captain Monty Parker, Jemal Pasha, T E Lawrence, Arthur Balfour, Chaim Weitzmann… and so on.
SOME RANDOM THINGS I LEARNED
1) IT DIDN’T HAVE TO BE PALESTINE
Theodor Herzl, founder of Zionism, was by no means fixated on the Holy Land as the place Jews should have their nation state. He suggested Cyprus or El Arish in Sinai (then part of British Egypt). When he talked with British politicians David Lloyd George and Arthur Balfour they suggested Uganda. Herzl tried to sell Uganda to the Jews at the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1905 but there weren’t many takers. An Austrian plutocrat was simultaneously financing Jewish colonies in Argentina. , then there was something called the Galveston Plan, an idea for Russian Jews to settle in Texas. Everyone had their own ideas. Before he hit on the idea of murdering them all, Hitler thought Madagascar would be just the place. Churchill was all for Libya.
2 ) A SAD QUOTE
P 383 : “Ben-Gurion believed, like most of his fellow Zionists at this time (1910) that a socialist Jewish state would be created without violence and without dominating or displacing the Palestinian Arabs… he was sure they would cooperate.”
Can people really have thought that?
3) TWO REASONS FOR THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
The British government believed that the Americans might be encouraged to join the Great War if they knew that part of British war aims was to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Montefiore points out that they had discovered the Germans were considering a Zionist declaration of their own – “after all, Zionism was a German-Austrian idea, and until 1914 the Zionists had been based in Berlin”.
Also, check this out :
The Declaration was designed to detach Russian Jews from Bolshevism but the very night before it was published, Lenin seized power in St Petersburg. Had Lenin moved a few days earlier, the Balfour Declaration may never have been issued.
4) THE ZIONISTS DIDN’T WANT JERUSALEM FOR THEMSELVES
When those two rascals Sykes and Picot were drawing borders of future countries on the maps of the Middle East they specified that Jerusalem should be an “international city” and the Zionists agreed . Weitzmann wrote : “We wanted the Holy Places internationalised”.
5) THE TWO STATE SOLUTION, 1937 STYLE AND THE ONE STATE SOLUTION, 1939 STYLE
The British government (they were the colonial overlords following the end of World War One) proposed a partition of Palestine into an Arab area (70% of the land) to be joined to the Kingdom of Transjordan and a Jewish area (20% of the land). Jerusalem to remain under British control. The Zionists accepted. King Abdullah of Transjordan accepted. All other Arab Palestinians rejected it. Two years later, with the next world war looming, the British came up with another proposal : Jewish land purchases limited; Jewish immigration capped at 15,000 per year for 5 years after which the Arabs would get a veto; Palestinian independence within 10 years; no Jewish state.
This was the best offer the Palestinians were to receive from the British or anyone else during the entire twentieth century, but the mufti, displaying spectacular political incompetence, rejected it from his Lebanese exile
All of this is very interesting, and there is of course so much more, but it is only tangentially to do with Jerusalem itself, and this is the nature of this massive beast, forever shapeshifting into a general history of the state of Israel and an account of all the bitter wars.
I give it 4 fairly over-ambitious stars
December 24, 2014
Let me explain my rating. This book was extremely hard for me - all the way through. I knew if I took a break with another book, I would never pick it up again. Nevertheless, the book IS informative and I AM glad I read it, but:
-Books of non-fiction do NOT have to be this hard to get through. It is non-fiction books like this that make people think the genre is difficult. I protest. It need not be so, and say this with my one star rating! (Later changed to two because I did learn about the city's history. It was not a total waste of time.)
-The book is extremely dense and portions should have been cut by the editor. One example: the very end, the “lyrical” ending of the epilog, which otherwise rapidly recounts all the historical events from the Six Days War to the present.
-There are numerous derogatory statements that are completely unnecessary. These sweeping judgments are not suitable. Just one example: Truman is introduced as the "mediocre senator" from Missouri.
-The author's personal relationship to characters of history should have been better clarified and irrelevant people with family connections to the author removed. I am not reading this book to learn about the author's family.
-History's violence is on the verge of being graphically depicted in the book.
-Even though this book is so extensive, it is best understood if you know a lot before you even open its covers.
A word about the audiobook's narration by John Lee. I have absolutely loved Lee's narration of other books, but his narration here was a huge disappointment. The pacing is wrong, and by that I mean that the words in a sentence are not correctly emphasized. It is easy to follow, yes, but it is almost sung! So strange and so inappropriate for a book of non-fiction. In that every single sentence holds so much information, it is a book hard to listen to. I didn't need the pictures or maps included in the paper book since such is easily found on the internet. You do need access to internet when listening to the audiobook.
It seems to me that the book's presentation of the three religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) is balanced. Perhaps I am not the best judge since I read this book to learn.
Yes, you have to be a martyr to get through the whole book. It is over. Thank God, which ever one you happen to choose. I personally adhere to no religion. Look at the problems they cause.
**************************************
In chapter 11:
It isn't getting easier. If I say this is dense, I really mean it is d-e-n-s-e! I am going to be proud of myself when it is done.
All the difficult names and places and boy what violence. What does it say about the human species?! Phew. Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to learn from this book, but I instead see it as a textbook at university where you spend a semester on it. (I in fact did take a semester on the the birth of Christianity and the facts that are known about Jesus, but that was years ago.) That is why I need this book.
I like that in the audiobook the notes are read as part of the text. They are very helpful.
What I am getting is history. Straight history. Too me it seems as a balanced view of the different religions/events, but I am perhaps not a good judge. I have heard complaints that if you have faith, well you just don't see the facts this way. Maybe I am wrong about it being balanced?!
I don't yet have a feel for the city, but I assume that will come later as we reach modern times. You have to understand the history and the growth of the three religions to understand the city, so we are starting at the right end. Of course, this is not a book just about the city but also of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Chronologically speaking I am at the point where Jesus has been crucified and Christianity is developing from Judaism. Islam is of course far ahead. I liked that the book went back even to Moses, King David and the construction of the first temple by Solomon.
I have no intention of stopping, but it is NOT an easy read. DAUNTING to say the least.
*********************************
A few chapters in:
This is hard for me on audio. It moves rather fast and you have to immediately know where old places and peoples are, like Thrace and the Samaritans and Phoenicia. I suppose if you know all this BEFOREHAND it is easier.
I have to rewind incessantly. John Lee is the narrator and I thought, "He is great; this will be no problem!" Wrong, wrong wrong. He sort of sings the words. I want slow, clear, strong narration for a non-fiction book since I want to pick up every fact. It will probably get a bit easier when we get out of the early biblical times.
I like that the book moves chronologically forward.
-Books of non-fiction do NOT have to be this hard to get through. It is non-fiction books like this that make people think the genre is difficult. I protest. It need not be so, and say this with my one star rating! (Later changed to two because I did learn about the city's history. It was not a total waste of time.)
-The book is extremely dense and portions should have been cut by the editor. One example: the very end, the “lyrical” ending of the epilog, which otherwise rapidly recounts all the historical events from the Six Days War to the present.
-There are numerous derogatory statements that are completely unnecessary. These sweeping judgments are not suitable. Just one example: Truman is introduced as the "mediocre senator" from Missouri.
-The author's personal relationship to characters of history should have been better clarified and irrelevant people with family connections to the author removed. I am not reading this book to learn about the author's family.
-History's violence is on the verge of being graphically depicted in the book.
-Even though this book is so extensive, it is best understood if you know a lot before you even open its covers.
A word about the audiobook's narration by John Lee. I have absolutely loved Lee's narration of other books, but his narration here was a huge disappointment. The pacing is wrong, and by that I mean that the words in a sentence are not correctly emphasized. It is easy to follow, yes, but it is almost sung! So strange and so inappropriate for a book of non-fiction. In that every single sentence holds so much information, it is a book hard to listen to. I didn't need the pictures or maps included in the paper book since such is easily found on the internet. You do need access to internet when listening to the audiobook.
It seems to me that the book's presentation of the three religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) is balanced. Perhaps I am not the best judge since I read this book to learn.
Yes, you have to be a martyr to get through the whole book. It is over. Thank God, which ever one you happen to choose. I personally adhere to no religion. Look at the problems they cause.
**************************************
In chapter 11:
It isn't getting easier. If I say this is dense, I really mean it is d-e-n-s-e! I am going to be proud of myself when it is done.
All the difficult names and places and boy what violence. What does it say about the human species?! Phew. Don't get me wrong. There is a lot to learn from this book, but I instead see it as a textbook at university where you spend a semester on it. (I in fact did take a semester on the the birth of Christianity and the facts that are known about Jesus, but that was years ago.) That is why I need this book.
I like that in the audiobook the notes are read as part of the text. They are very helpful.
What I am getting is history. Straight history. Too me it seems as a balanced view of the different religions/events, but I am perhaps not a good judge. I have heard complaints that if you have faith, well you just don't see the facts this way. Maybe I am wrong about it being balanced?!
I don't yet have a feel for the city, but I assume that will come later as we reach modern times. You have to understand the history and the growth of the three religions to understand the city, so we are starting at the right end. Of course, this is not a book just about the city but also of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Chronologically speaking I am at the point where Jesus has been crucified and Christianity is developing from Judaism. Islam is of course far ahead. I liked that the book went back even to Moses, King David and the construction of the first temple by Solomon.
I have no intention of stopping, but it is NOT an easy read. DAUNTING to say the least.
*********************************
A few chapters in:
This is hard for me on audio. It moves rather fast and you have to immediately know where old places and peoples are, like Thrace and the Samaritans and Phoenicia. I suppose if you know all this BEFOREHAND it is easier.
I have to rewind incessantly. John Lee is the narrator and I thought, "He is great; this will be no problem!" Wrong, wrong wrong. He sort of sings the words. I want slow, clear, strong narration for a non-fiction book since I want to pick up every fact. It will probably get a bit easier when we get out of the early biblical times.
I like that the book moves chronologically forward.
February 7, 2021
Simon Sebag-Montefiore's acclaimed and bestselling history of Jerusalem is an intriguing read, full of interesting lesser known facts, personages and new angles. At times, it reads almost like a well-paced novel, and is as hard to put down. Certainly, it provides a timely, as well as carefully balanced, account of this extraordinary city's long history, from the earliest times to the present day.
The prologue of this heavy volume begins with the destruction of the Second Temple and genocide of Jerusalem's Jewish population by the Roman legions commanded by Titus.
The first chapter proceeds with the period of Jerusalem's beginnings The father of the Israelite nation, Abraham who travelled to Canaan was greet by Melchizedek the priest-king of Salem in the name of El-Elyon the Most high God. This was the city's first mention in the Bible, suggesting Jerusalem was already a Canaanite shrine, ruled by priest-kings.
He continues with the capture of the town by King David of Israel who made the city great and made it is capital. Continuing through the
saga of the city and of the Land of Israel. The glorious reign of King Solomon was followed by the disastrous division of his kingdom into the realms of Judah and Israel and the two destruction of the two kingdoms-most catastrophically the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. Following on the growth of the Samaritans and the return of the Jews to their homeland at the behest of Persian Emperor Cyrus.
An incorrect bit is his referral to the ancient Land of Israel as Palestine , when speaking Irael in Biblical times
The term "Palestine" came from the name that the conquering Roman Empire gave the ancient Land of Israel in an attempt to obliterate and de-legitimize the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The name "Palestine" was invented in the year 135 C.E. Before it was known as Judea, which was the southern kingdom of ancient Israel. The Roman Procurator in charge of the Judean-Israel territories was so angry at the Jews for revolting that he called for his historians and asked them who were the worst enemies of the Jews in their past history. The scribes said, "the Philistines." Thus, the Procurator declared that Land of Israel would from then forward be called "Philistia" [further bastardized into "Palaistina"] to dishonour the Jews and obliterate their history. Hence the name "Palestine."
Following on the return is the Hellenic period, the Maccabees and the coming of the Romans, together with the tyranny and bloody intrigues of the Herodian dynasty. The author has a controversial and interesting view of Jesus and the origins in Israel of Christianity. Then again Montefiore takes us the to Jewish Wars, the destruction by Titus of Jerusalem and exile of Jews from that city.
After the crushing of the Bar Kochba rebellion of 130 CE, Cassius Dio wrote of the Jews in that are that 'Very few survived. fifty of their outposts and 985 villages were raised to the ground and many more and many more by starvation, disease and fire' Roman Emperor Hadrian expunged the name Jerusalem and renamed it Aelia Capitolina
"Seventy five known Jewish settlements simply vanished" continues the author "So many Jews were enslaved at the Hebron slave market that they fetched less than a horse. Hadrian not only enforced the ban on circumcision but banned the Jews from even approaching Aelia on pain of death. Jerusalem had vanished. Hadrian wiped Judea off the map, deliberately naming it Palestina after Jews ancient enemies, the Philistines"
Interesting episodes in this digest include the brief return of Jerusalem to the Jews in 614 by Persian Emperor Shabaraz, known as the Royal Boar who two years later expelled the Jews and restored Christian rule.
In the section of the book on Mohammed it is interesting to note that in persecuting the Jews for refusing to adopt Islam, after expelling the Jews from Medina, executing the men and enslaving the women and children, then changed the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. "God had destroyed the Jewish Temple because the Jews had sinned so they have not followed your qibla Jerusalem"
This has two very pertinent implications. by rejecting Jerusalem Mohammed was ironically confirming Jerusalem's Jewish essence. And one cannot therefore in all fairness affirm Jerusalem as being as central to Islam as it is to Judaism.
This relates the quibbles I have with Montefiore about this book. Montefiore espouses the thesis that Jerusalem belongs equally to Jews, Christians and Muslims. However it is self-evident in the history covered here that Mohammed rejected Jerusalem and made Mecca the Islamic centre. Jerusalem was later conquered by invading Arabs and absorbed into their empire. All Islamic rule of Jerusalem being an occupied part of the various Arab, Mamluk, and Ottoman Empires.
In the section on the Mamluks there is a discussion on the great Torah scholar Rabbi Moses ben Nachmann known as Nachmanides or the Ramban. Ramban believed that the Jews should not merely mourn Jerusalem, but return, settle and rebuild before the coming of the Messiah. In other words the Ramban was a pioneer of religious Zionism. Zionism is a movement that has existed ad developed since the Romans exiled the Jews from Jerusalem.
The reader can discover more in this volume about the Islamic persecution of Jews in Jerusalem and the Levant. It is a myth and pro-Islamic propaganda that that the Jews were well treated in this land during Islamic rule. In this period Jews in Jerusalem were prohibited from wearing white on their Sabbath or Muslim headgear or to wear nails in their shoes. Christian lived under similar ordinances. Both had to make way for Muslims in the streets. Oppressive fees were enforced with cruel violence.
"When a stray dog wondered onto the Temple Mount, the qadi ordered the killing of every canine in Jerusalem. As a special humiliation, every Jew and Christian had to deliver a dead dog to a collection point outside the Zion Gate. Gangs of children killed dogs and then gave their carcasses to the nearest infidel". The Jews were extorted and robbed and many left the city for this reason.
"The Polish Ashkenazis were broken finally in 1720 forcing imprisonment, banishment and bankruptcy, the synagogue burned down-this became known as the Ruin-the Hurva Synagogue. and remained a wreck for over a century. It was reconstructed in the 19th century but destroyed by the Jordanians in 1967".
In the 19th century the plight of the Jews under Ottoman rule was made worse. In April 1854 Karl Marx wrote in the New York Daily Tribune after a visit to Jerusalem "None equals the misery and suffering of the Jews of Jerusalem, inhabiting the most filthy quarter
constant objects of Musulman oppression and intolerance, insulted by the Greeks, persecuted by the Latins".
The British vice-consul James Finn reported that a Jew who walked past the gate leading to the Holy Sepulchre was beaten because it was illegal for a Jew to pass it. Another was stabbed by an Ottoman soldier and Finn reported that a Jewish funeral was attacked by Arabs.
The idea of Jews in the Middle East being sovereign in an independent state, and not subjugated to Muslim rule and humiliated under Dhimni status is what was intolerable to the Arabs and the roots of the violent Arab rejection of the state of Israel, and before that of migration of Jews into the Land of Israel. This was anathema to the demand for Arab supremacy and dhimnitude. With the coming of the Zionist movement Arabs were enraged by the prospect of having to live with the Jews as equals after centuries of being masters of the Jews. This is one of the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues to this day.
The first real challenge in centuries to Muslim dominance was carried out by General Napoleon Bonaparte who entered Palestine in 1799 from Egypt, conquered Jaffa and laid siege to Acre. At Ramle, 25 miles from Jerusalem on 20 April 1799 Napoleon issued a call for the restoration of Jewish rule in their ancient homeland, the Jews being the rightful heirs in the Holy Land.
Interesting chapters on the restoration of Zionism in the 19th century, when there was already a considerable Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, and a Jewish majority in Jerusalem from 1860.
Fascinating chapters on the British mandate period and the pogroms carried out by Arabs against Jews in Jerusalem, under the instigation of Amin el Husseini in 1920 and 1929. As well as the Nazi backed 1936 Arab Revolt. In 1936 the mufti called the German consul in Jerusalem to state his support for Nazism and wish to co-operate.
The closing chapters discuss Jerusalem during World War II, when the Jewish community of pre-State Israel was threatened with the Nazi conquest of the Holy Land, given German advances in Egypt under Rommel and and Nazi penetration of the Soviet Union into the Caucuses.
This is followed by the Dirty War by the British colonial forces of the Jews of the Palestine Mandate, the War of Independence, the first 20 years of the restored State of Israel and there-unification of Israel after the Arabs forced the Six Day War on Israel.
The Epilogue discusses the conflict until today and the author's views on it. While Montefiore saliently points out "It is often forgotten that all the suburbs outside the Jerusalem walls were new settlements built between 1860 and 1948, by Arabs as well as Jews and Europeans. The Arab areas such as Sheik Jarrah are no older than the Jewish ones and no more or less legitimate".
Given this point I cannot understand why he should then oppose the growth of Jewish communities in East Jerusalem and Judea after 1967 as an 'obstacle to peace'
I cannot agree that is illegitimate for Jews to build anywhere in the City of David or Judea. But the author seems to aim in some of his conclusions to please everybody. He however pertinently points out the absurdity of the claims by the PLO, Palestinian Authority and Hamas et al that the Jewish Temple never exited in Jerusalem easily disproved by architecture and recorded history. The denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and Israel should be regarded as equally offensive to the Jewish people as Holocaust denial and no less dangerous. So should the diabolical claim that the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland is somehow an act of 'colonialism'.
The prologue of this heavy volume begins with the destruction of the Second Temple and genocide of Jerusalem's Jewish population by the Roman legions commanded by Titus.
The first chapter proceeds with the period of Jerusalem's beginnings The father of the Israelite nation, Abraham who travelled to Canaan was greet by Melchizedek the priest-king of Salem in the name of El-Elyon the Most high God. This was the city's first mention in the Bible, suggesting Jerusalem was already a Canaanite shrine, ruled by priest-kings.
He continues with the capture of the town by King David of Israel who made the city great and made it is capital. Continuing through the
saga of the city and of the Land of Israel. The glorious reign of King Solomon was followed by the disastrous division of his kingdom into the realms of Judah and Israel and the two destruction of the two kingdoms-most catastrophically the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. Following on the growth of the Samaritans and the return of the Jews to their homeland at the behest of Persian Emperor Cyrus.
An incorrect bit is his referral to the ancient Land of Israel as Palestine , when speaking Irael in Biblical times
The term "Palestine" came from the name that the conquering Roman Empire gave the ancient Land of Israel in an attempt to obliterate and de-legitimize the Jewish presence in the Holy Land. The name "Palestine" was invented in the year 135 C.E. Before it was known as Judea, which was the southern kingdom of ancient Israel. The Roman Procurator in charge of the Judean-Israel territories was so angry at the Jews for revolting that he called for his historians and asked them who were the worst enemies of the Jews in their past history. The scribes said, "the Philistines." Thus, the Procurator declared that Land of Israel would from then forward be called "Philistia" [further bastardized into "Palaistina"] to dishonour the Jews and obliterate their history. Hence the name "Palestine."
Following on the return is the Hellenic period, the Maccabees and the coming of the Romans, together with the tyranny and bloody intrigues of the Herodian dynasty. The author has a controversial and interesting view of Jesus and the origins in Israel of Christianity. Then again Montefiore takes us the to Jewish Wars, the destruction by Titus of Jerusalem and exile of Jews from that city.
After the crushing of the Bar Kochba rebellion of 130 CE, Cassius Dio wrote of the Jews in that are that 'Very few survived. fifty of their outposts and 985 villages were raised to the ground and many more and many more by starvation, disease and fire' Roman Emperor Hadrian expunged the name Jerusalem and renamed it Aelia Capitolina
"Seventy five known Jewish settlements simply vanished" continues the author "So many Jews were enslaved at the Hebron slave market that they fetched less than a horse. Hadrian not only enforced the ban on circumcision but banned the Jews from even approaching Aelia on pain of death. Jerusalem had vanished. Hadrian wiped Judea off the map, deliberately naming it Palestina after Jews ancient enemies, the Philistines"
Interesting episodes in this digest include the brief return of Jerusalem to the Jews in 614 by Persian Emperor Shabaraz, known as the Royal Boar who two years later expelled the Jews and restored Christian rule.
In the section of the book on Mohammed it is interesting to note that in persecuting the Jews for refusing to adopt Islam, after expelling the Jews from Medina, executing the men and enslaving the women and children, then changed the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. "God had destroyed the Jewish Temple because the Jews had sinned so they have not followed your qibla Jerusalem"
This has two very pertinent implications. by rejecting Jerusalem Mohammed was ironically confirming Jerusalem's Jewish essence. And one cannot therefore in all fairness affirm Jerusalem as being as central to Islam as it is to Judaism.
This relates the quibbles I have with Montefiore about this book. Montefiore espouses the thesis that Jerusalem belongs equally to Jews, Christians and Muslims. However it is self-evident in the history covered here that Mohammed rejected Jerusalem and made Mecca the Islamic centre. Jerusalem was later conquered by invading Arabs and absorbed into their empire. All Islamic rule of Jerusalem being an occupied part of the various Arab, Mamluk, and Ottoman Empires.
In the section on the Mamluks there is a discussion on the great Torah scholar Rabbi Moses ben Nachmann known as Nachmanides or the Ramban. Ramban believed that the Jews should not merely mourn Jerusalem, but return, settle and rebuild before the coming of the Messiah. In other words the Ramban was a pioneer of religious Zionism. Zionism is a movement that has existed ad developed since the Romans exiled the Jews from Jerusalem.
The reader can discover more in this volume about the Islamic persecution of Jews in Jerusalem and the Levant. It is a myth and pro-Islamic propaganda that that the Jews were well treated in this land during Islamic rule. In this period Jews in Jerusalem were prohibited from wearing white on their Sabbath or Muslim headgear or to wear nails in their shoes. Christian lived under similar ordinances. Both had to make way for Muslims in the streets. Oppressive fees were enforced with cruel violence.
"When a stray dog wondered onto the Temple Mount, the qadi ordered the killing of every canine in Jerusalem. As a special humiliation, every Jew and Christian had to deliver a dead dog to a collection point outside the Zion Gate. Gangs of children killed dogs and then gave their carcasses to the nearest infidel". The Jews were extorted and robbed and many left the city for this reason.
"The Polish Ashkenazis were broken finally in 1720 forcing imprisonment, banishment and bankruptcy, the synagogue burned down-this became known as the Ruin-the Hurva Synagogue. and remained a wreck for over a century. It was reconstructed in the 19th century but destroyed by the Jordanians in 1967".
In the 19th century the plight of the Jews under Ottoman rule was made worse. In April 1854 Karl Marx wrote in the New York Daily Tribune after a visit to Jerusalem "None equals the misery and suffering of the Jews of Jerusalem, inhabiting the most filthy quarter
constant objects of Musulman oppression and intolerance, insulted by the Greeks, persecuted by the Latins".
The British vice-consul James Finn reported that a Jew who walked past the gate leading to the Holy Sepulchre was beaten because it was illegal for a Jew to pass it. Another was stabbed by an Ottoman soldier and Finn reported that a Jewish funeral was attacked by Arabs.
The idea of Jews in the Middle East being sovereign in an independent state, and not subjugated to Muslim rule and humiliated under Dhimni status is what was intolerable to the Arabs and the roots of the violent Arab rejection of the state of Israel, and before that of migration of Jews into the Land of Israel. This was anathema to the demand for Arab supremacy and dhimnitude. With the coming of the Zionist movement Arabs were enraged by the prospect of having to live with the Jews as equals after centuries of being masters of the Jews. This is one of the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict which continues to this day.
The first real challenge in centuries to Muslim dominance was carried out by General Napoleon Bonaparte who entered Palestine in 1799 from Egypt, conquered Jaffa and laid siege to Acre. At Ramle, 25 miles from Jerusalem on 20 April 1799 Napoleon issued a call for the restoration of Jewish rule in their ancient homeland, the Jews being the rightful heirs in the Holy Land.
Interesting chapters on the restoration of Zionism in the 19th century, when there was already a considerable Jewish presence in the Land of Israel, and a Jewish majority in Jerusalem from 1860.
Fascinating chapters on the British mandate period and the pogroms carried out by Arabs against Jews in Jerusalem, under the instigation of Amin el Husseini in 1920 and 1929. As well as the Nazi backed 1936 Arab Revolt. In 1936 the mufti called the German consul in Jerusalem to state his support for Nazism and wish to co-operate.
The closing chapters discuss Jerusalem during World War II, when the Jewish community of pre-State Israel was threatened with the Nazi conquest of the Holy Land, given German advances in Egypt under Rommel and and Nazi penetration of the Soviet Union into the Caucuses.
This is followed by the Dirty War by the British colonial forces of the Jews of the Palestine Mandate, the War of Independence, the first 20 years of the restored State of Israel and there-unification of Israel after the Arabs forced the Six Day War on Israel.
The Epilogue discusses the conflict until today and the author's views on it. While Montefiore saliently points out "It is often forgotten that all the suburbs outside the Jerusalem walls were new settlements built between 1860 and 1948, by Arabs as well as Jews and Europeans. The Arab areas such as Sheik Jarrah are no older than the Jewish ones and no more or less legitimate".
Given this point I cannot understand why he should then oppose the growth of Jewish communities in East Jerusalem and Judea after 1967 as an 'obstacle to peace'
I cannot agree that is illegitimate for Jews to build anywhere in the City of David or Judea. But the author seems to aim in some of his conclusions to please everybody. He however pertinently points out the absurdity of the claims by the PLO, Palestinian Authority and Hamas et al that the Jewish Temple never exited in Jerusalem easily disproved by architecture and recorded history. The denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and Israel should be regarded as equally offensive to the Jewish people as Holocaust denial and no less dangerous. So should the diabolical claim that the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland is somehow an act of 'colonialism'.
February 18, 2018
Jerusalem is a masterpiece. 10 stars. Read this book.
In Jerusalem Simon Sebag Montefiore presents not just a history of the city but of the region and much of the western world. One finds that virtually every prophet and charlatan, king, queen, prince and despot, priest, politician, conquerer and crusader in recorded history has some connection to the city and has often trod its streets. Jerusalem is the center of three of the world’s religions yet until the 1900s was rarely larger than a small town (<30,000 inhabitants). It has been fought over, raised, and rebuilt countless times, more than any other city in history. It has known little peace and remains a city in conflict today. All of this history from Biblical times to the present Montefiore chronicles in clear, concise and importantly balanced detail—the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Egyptian, European, Turk, Persian, and Arab experience all presented without favoritism, warts and all—with a novelist’s eye for character and narrative that makes Jerusalem a brisk and captivating read.
Montefoire’s balanced approach presents some very interesting contrasts. For example, while most identified with the Jewish people, Jerusalem prior to the 1880s often saw its worse days when ruled by Jews, infighting between various sects and nationalities often producing terrible unrest and blood shed. Adding Christians to the mix typically made matters worse.
Western literature describes the Crusades as an attempt to free the Holy City from tyranny and persecution by unbelievers. The Crusades were in fact a land grab; European rulers seeking to expand their realms into North Africa and the Middle East with the Catholic church providing justification. Contrary to the crusader narrative, history shows that Jerusalem’s Egyptian, Turk, Persian and Arab rulers where often more tolerant of other beliefs than its Jewish and Christian rulers. Saladin and Suleiman not Richard the Lion Heart saved the city from squalor and turned it into one of the most treasured of the age.
Montefoire clearly shows that from the 1500’s to today European and later US rulers are largely responsible for much of the conflict between Jews, Christians and the Arab world, granting there is certainly a long line of Egyptian, Turk, Persian and Arab rulers who have also contributed. Much of this conflict results from attempts to create a Jewish homeland beginning in the 1900s which I was shocked to learn was initially intended not to protect Jews from persecution but rather to provide a base to convert them to Christianity to bring about the Rapture. Ill treatment by the British and French in particular at this time caused many Arabs to side with anti-Semite leaders in WW I (Kaiser Wilhelm) and WW II (Hitler), giving birth to many of the militant organizations we read about today.
Sadly many reasonable proposals for peaceful Jewish-Arab coexistence have been made and rejected over the years, often for selfish reasons. In the end one finds that Jerusalem, a city that commands so much of the worlds attention for its size (only 1MM people and 48 square miles, less 1/10 the population and over 100x times smaller than most US and European capitals), is unlikely to ever be the city of peace that Jews, Christians and Muslims wish it to be. Too many people with competing visions for its future will continue to hold it hostage. The Bible and Koran teach that the final battle between good an evil will take place at Jerusalem. Reading Montefoire’s Jerusalem one can argue that battle began two millennia ago and continues today.
On my buy it, borrow it, skip it scale: Buy ten copies, keep one and give the other nine to family, friends, acquaintances and or strangers on the street. Jerusalem is that good. Enjoy!
In Jerusalem Simon Sebag Montefiore presents not just a history of the city but of the region and much of the western world. One finds that virtually every prophet and charlatan, king, queen, prince and despot, priest, politician, conquerer and crusader in recorded history has some connection to the city and has often trod its streets. Jerusalem is the center of three of the world’s religions yet until the 1900s was rarely larger than a small town (<30,000 inhabitants). It has been fought over, raised, and rebuilt countless times, more than any other city in history. It has known little peace and remains a city in conflict today. All of this history from Biblical times to the present Montefiore chronicles in clear, concise and importantly balanced detail—the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Egyptian, European, Turk, Persian, and Arab experience all presented without favoritism, warts and all—with a novelist’s eye for character and narrative that makes Jerusalem a brisk and captivating read.
Montefoire’s balanced approach presents some very interesting contrasts. For example, while most identified with the Jewish people, Jerusalem prior to the 1880s often saw its worse days when ruled by Jews, infighting between various sects and nationalities often producing terrible unrest and blood shed. Adding Christians to the mix typically made matters worse.
Western literature describes the Crusades as an attempt to free the Holy City from tyranny and persecution by unbelievers. The Crusades were in fact a land grab; European rulers seeking to expand their realms into North Africa and the Middle East with the Catholic church providing justification. Contrary to the crusader narrative, history shows that Jerusalem’s Egyptian, Turk, Persian and Arab rulers where often more tolerant of other beliefs than its Jewish and Christian rulers. Saladin and Suleiman not Richard the Lion Heart saved the city from squalor and turned it into one of the most treasured of the age.
Montefoire clearly shows that from the 1500’s to today European and later US rulers are largely responsible for much of the conflict between Jews, Christians and the Arab world, granting there is certainly a long line of Egyptian, Turk, Persian and Arab rulers who have also contributed. Much of this conflict results from attempts to create a Jewish homeland beginning in the 1900s which I was shocked to learn was initially intended not to protect Jews from persecution but rather to provide a base to convert them to Christianity to bring about the Rapture. Ill treatment by the British and French in particular at this time caused many Arabs to side with anti-Semite leaders in WW I (Kaiser Wilhelm) and WW II (Hitler), giving birth to many of the militant organizations we read about today.
Sadly many reasonable proposals for peaceful Jewish-Arab coexistence have been made and rejected over the years, often for selfish reasons. In the end one finds that Jerusalem, a city that commands so much of the worlds attention for its size (only 1MM people and 48 square miles, less 1/10 the population and over 100x times smaller than most US and European capitals), is unlikely to ever be the city of peace that Jews, Christians and Muslims wish it to be. Too many people with competing visions for its future will continue to hold it hostage. The Bible and Koran teach that the final battle between good an evil will take place at Jerusalem. Reading Montefoire’s Jerusalem one can argue that battle began two millennia ago and continues today.
On my buy it, borrow it, skip it scale: Buy ten copies, keep one and give the other nine to family, friends, acquaintances and or strangers on the street. Jerusalem is that good. Enjoy!
February 3, 2023
„Suntem cu o oră înaintea zorilor, într-o zi la Ierusalim. Domul Stâncii este deschis: musulmanii se roagă. Zidul este întotdeauna deschis: evreii se roagă. Biserica Sfântului Mormânt este deschisă: creștinii se roagă în mai multe limbi. Soarele răsare deasupra Ierusalimului, razele lui făcând ca pietrele irodiene ale zidului, deschise la culoare, să pară aproape ca neaua – exact așa cum le-a descris Iosif Flavius cu două mii de ani în urmă – pentru ca apoi să surprindă aurul splendid al Domului Stâncii care scânteiază în soare. Esplanada divină unde se întâlnesc Cerul și Pământul, unde Dumnezeu îl întâlnește pe om, se află încă într-un tărâm situat dincolo de cartografia umană. Doar razele soarelui pot să facă acest lucru și în sfârșit lumina cade pe cel mai desăvârșit și misterios edificiu din Ierusalim. Scăldându-se și răsfățându-se în lumina soarelui, el își merită numele aurit. Dar Poarta de Aur rămâne încuiată, până la venirea Zilei de Apoi.”
July 10, 2017
Jerusalem is a fascinating city. Holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims it has at times been the center of internaational intrigue, conflict, and reverence and at other times a forgotten backwater pile of rocks. Its history stretches over thousands of years and has been the subject of countless prayers, hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It has inspired awe of the divine and hatred for our fellow human. Its history is the history of East meeting West, of religion and realpolitik, of imperialism and indigenous rights. It is a messy, complicated, and bloodstained city that has at times been Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. It is, simply put, as complicated a place as it is holy.
Jerusalem: The Biography sets out the very ambitious task of telling the story of this embodiment of contradictions. It presents an unbroken account of what was happening to the city and the surrounding area from its founding through the present day. I think in some ways the book succeeds in relating the events of Jerusalem but fails in telling the story of Jerusalem.
What I mean by that is Montefiore does a very thorough job cataloging the important events and happenings of Jerusalem but for much of the book I felt like I was reading one long Wikipedia article. The writing, for most of the book, was very dry and had a very simple structure of A happened then B happened then C happened. It was not terribly engaging and I didn't feel as though Montefiore provided much added value to the narrative of events. This did diminish as the narrative approached contemporary times and my guess is there just wasn't a ton of sources for a lot of Jerusalem's early history for Montefiore to draw upon.
But lackluster writing aside the story of Jerusalem is fascinating. It has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times. It has fluctuated in importance over the course of its existence. Sometimes having massive amounts of wealth poured into it to beautify it, sometimes ignored as an inconsequential town. Its population has likewise fluctuated significantly over the period from a bustling metropolis to a ghost town.
While I consider myself an appreciator of history there was much that I was surprised to learn such as:
-The early Jewish dynasties and ruling families (Macabees and Herodians for instance) were just as petty, scheming, shortsighted, and conniving as Western aristocrats (I guess we all are human underneath, warts and all).
-Even at the height of its power as an independent kingdom Jerusalem was very much a small fish in a pond with much, much bigger fish and had to play them off against each other to maintain some degree of independence.
-The aforementioned fluctuation of Jerusalem's importance and size over the years. It was as though Christian Bale's amazing power of losing and gaining weight for movie roles was manifested as a city.
-I had no idea how serious the Russians took Jerusalem and how important of a role Jerusalem played in international power politics of the Ottoman era. Heck, a French (Catholic)/Russian (Eastern Orthodox) dispute over control of the Church of the Holy Sepluchre basically started The Crimean War
-Speaking of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the many churches that maintain it violently hate each other: (from Wikipedia) "On a hot summer day in 2002, a Coptic monk moved his chair from its agreed spot into the shade. This was interpreted as a hostile move by the Ethiopians, and eleven were hospitalized after the resulting fracas." Last time I checked a "fracas" does not end in ELEVEN hospitalizations. And compared to historic HS "fracases" detailed in the book this fracas was a relatively timid affair.
-Apparently for a good chunk of time under the Ottomans Jerusalem was a wretched hive of scum and villainy in so far as it was a crass tourist trap AND a freewheeling/anything goes city. Sort of the wild west in the middle east. Montefiore quotes a bunch of people's experiences there as being completely turned off or disgusted by the state the city and holy places are in. Having visited this ancient city twice I have a very difficult time reconciling that version of Jerusalem withe modern, holy, and religious city it is now.
And those were just some of the many nuggets of history I uncovered with this book. This book does not lack for historical insights, I just wish the writing was up to the monumental task of telling this complex and unique story of humanity and the divine.
February 21, 2015
To try and tackle the history of one of the most famous cities in the world, in one book, is not the easiest of writing challenges, but Montefiore has had a pretty good go at it. He has tried to cover from the very earliest references to relatively recent events, and this has made this a very substantial book indeed.
I won't try and surmise all 600 plus pages into a couple of paragraphs would be nigh on impossible, but suffice to say Montefiore has filled these pages with immense amounts of detail and history of the lives of the people that have occupied this city. It has played a significant role in many world events and is considered one of the holiest places by the three abrahamic religions. He sets the context for each of the eras and highlight the movers and shakers of that time.
All good stuff, or so you would think. But this amount of detail makes this so difficult to read at times, along with literally a cast of thousands over the millennia, it did feel like I was wading through it at times. Jerusalem has been the place where much blood has been shed, and there is almost too much detail with regards to this. My other big bugbear with it was footnotes. These should be a small piece of information that adds to the main body of text, but some of these were huge. A foot note that long should be in the main body, but if that were the case then it would have been more unreadable. The author does add in some personal opinions too, not the done this for a history book, which should be impartial and non judgemental.
That said is a book I'm glad I have now read, and I feel a sense of achievement having done so, but I will be unlikely to pick it up again.
I won't try and surmise all 600 plus pages into a couple of paragraphs would be nigh on impossible, but suffice to say Montefiore has filled these pages with immense amounts of detail and history of the lives of the people that have occupied this city. It has played a significant role in many world events and is considered one of the holiest places by the three abrahamic religions. He sets the context for each of the eras and highlight the movers and shakers of that time.
All good stuff, or so you would think. But this amount of detail makes this so difficult to read at times, along with literally a cast of thousands over the millennia, it did feel like I was wading through it at times. Jerusalem has been the place where much blood has been shed, and there is almost too much detail with regards to this. My other big bugbear with it was footnotes. These should be a small piece of information that adds to the main body of text, but some of these were huge. A foot note that long should be in the main body, but if that were the case then it would have been more unreadable. The author does add in some personal opinions too, not the done this for a history book, which should be impartial and non judgemental.
That said is a book I'm glad I have now read, and I feel a sense of achievement having done so, but I will be unlikely to pick it up again.
January 10, 2015
Review to follow...when I have the energy to compile all my feelings, beyond the fact that i didn't like it.
A month later...I still don't have the energy to write a full review for this book.
There are some good points:
- the sheer amount of research,
- the wealth of facts,
- the non bias of religion.
The bad points:
- it reads like a textbook,
- there is too much information at times and it needed condensing,
- other parts felt dealt with too swiftly and left me wanting more,
- the bits I enjoyed best were not really to do with Jerusalem (bible stories, Anthony and Cleopatra etc)
- despite being such a dense book I never got a proper feel of the city (often needed to look up facts/pictures online)
- I thought this was an account of Jerusalem's rulers and religions, rather than a description of the city, it's people, or it's culture
That's it. There are other good reviews of this book out there. Some praising it, some finding the same faults as me. I appreciate the sheer amount of work that Simon Sebag Montefiore put into the book, but I had too many problems with it and ended up not finishing the book.
I can only rate it 1 star - did not like it.
A month later...I still don't have the energy to write a full review for this book.
There are some good points:
- the sheer amount of research,
- the wealth of facts,
- the non bias of religion.
The bad points:
- it reads like a textbook,
- there is too much information at times and it needed condensing,
- other parts felt dealt with too swiftly and left me wanting more,
- the bits I enjoyed best were not really to do with Jerusalem (bible stories, Anthony and Cleopatra etc)
- despite being such a dense book I never got a proper feel of the city (often needed to look up facts/pictures online)
- I thought this was an account of Jerusalem's rulers and religions, rather than a description of the city, it's people, or it's culture
That's it. There are other good reviews of this book out there. Some praising it, some finding the same faults as me. I appreciate the sheer amount of work that Simon Sebag Montefiore put into the book, but I had too many problems with it and ended up not finishing the book.
I can only rate it 1 star - did not like it.
February 11, 2016
A very detailed, in-depth history of one of the most complex, troubled, emotionally and religiously intense cities of the world, the ideological center of all three Abrahamic religions.
An emotionally exhausting tour, spanning across millennia of war, pilgrimage, cooperation and coexistence, fanaticism, corruption, mysticism and enlightenment. The history of Jerusalem is the history of the World, it has been stated, and I definitely see some merit in this statement. The weight of history feels overwhelming here, it really is a very special place.
It is also the city where these religions and people are forced to live very close together, and as such it is a litmus test for the maturity of human kind - a test that currently, considering the political situation in the Middle East, is far from delivering flattering results.
The author provides a well-researched, balanced history of this ancient city, providing an amazingly detailed overview of Jerusalem: its history, people, religions, and architecture. The book is well written, but I think that some of the author's selection choices are a bit questionable: there is too much focus on the personal idiosyncrasies and histories of specific individuals (who cares if the wife of some mid-rank British officer had so many affairs), at the expenses of the coherence and explanatory depth of the main historical patterns and developments. I think the author, who is certainly passionate about Jerusalem and its history, tried hard to keep the reader's interest alive, but in doing so he create something that occasionally feels disjoint and uneven.
I must admit though that for me reading this book has been at times an enlightening and occasionally even an exhilarating experience. I have learned a lot about what Jerusalem is about, and the deep emotional, cultural, political and religious links that tie this unique city to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions. It is inseparable part of the DNA of all three religions, and only solutions that take into account this historical truth can be viable in the longer term. Jerusalem is a treasure of the world.
I personally learned a lot by reading this book: I already knew about the deep links between Christianity, the Muslim religion and Jerusalem, but only by reading this book I came to the full appreciation of the very profound links between Jerusalem and the Jewish culture, identity and tradition. I think that now I have a more complete perspective of things. And, while I knew that the history of Jerusalem and of the overlapping networks of conflicting claims to this city were something complex and difficult to accommodate, I did not know that it was so maddeningly complex.
I also learned about the important relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and Jerusalem, and the important part played by the Russian Jewish immigrants.
And, most importantly, I also learned that there were periods when the three different religions happily coexisted together.
I wish we could learn from these enlightened periods, rather than using history as a means to justify exclusivity and extremism.
An emotionally exhausting tour, spanning across millennia of war, pilgrimage, cooperation and coexistence, fanaticism, corruption, mysticism and enlightenment. The history of Jerusalem is the history of the World, it has been stated, and I definitely see some merit in this statement. The weight of history feels overwhelming here, it really is a very special place.
It is also the city where these religions and people are forced to live very close together, and as such it is a litmus test for the maturity of human kind - a test that currently, considering the political situation in the Middle East, is far from delivering flattering results.
The author provides a well-researched, balanced history of this ancient city, providing an amazingly detailed overview of Jerusalem: its history, people, religions, and architecture. The book is well written, but I think that some of the author's selection choices are a bit questionable: there is too much focus on the personal idiosyncrasies and histories of specific individuals (who cares if the wife of some mid-rank British officer had so many affairs), at the expenses of the coherence and explanatory depth of the main historical patterns and developments. I think the author, who is certainly passionate about Jerusalem and its history, tried hard to keep the reader's interest alive, but in doing so he create something that occasionally feels disjoint and uneven.
I must admit though that for me reading this book has been at times an enlightening and occasionally even an exhilarating experience. I have learned a lot about what Jerusalem is about, and the deep emotional, cultural, political and religious links that tie this unique city to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions. It is inseparable part of the DNA of all three religions, and only solutions that take into account this historical truth can be viable in the longer term. Jerusalem is a treasure of the world.
I personally learned a lot by reading this book: I already knew about the deep links between Christianity, the Muslim religion and Jerusalem, but only by reading this book I came to the full appreciation of the very profound links between Jerusalem and the Jewish culture, identity and tradition. I think that now I have a more complete perspective of things. And, while I knew that the history of Jerusalem and of the overlapping networks of conflicting claims to this city were something complex and difficult to accommodate, I did not know that it was so maddeningly complex.
I also learned about the important relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and Jerusalem, and the important part played by the Russian Jewish immigrants.
And, most importantly, I also learned that there were periods when the three different religions happily coexisted together.
I wish we could learn from these enlightened periods, rather than using history as a means to justify exclusivity and extremism.
December 27, 2016
List of Illustrations
List of Family Trees
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on Names, Transliterations and Titles
--Jerusalem
Family Trees
Maps
Bibliography
Index
(The full and extremely extensive references for this book are available in the hardback edition and also on the author's website at: http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com.
In order to make the paperback a manageable and readable size, the author and publishers have decided not to include the notes in the paperback. We hope readers will agree that, for most, the balance of convenience is best served by this policy.)
List of Family Trees
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgements
Notes on Names, Transliterations and Titles
--Jerusalem
Family Trees
Maps
Bibliography
Index
(The full and extremely extensive references for this book are available in the hardback edition and also on the author's website at: http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com.
In order to make the paperback a manageable and readable size, the author and publishers have decided not to include the notes in the paperback. We hope readers will agree that, for most, the balance of convenience is best served by this policy.)
March 8, 2023
Thorough
This is a magnificent document about the continuous struggles of one of the most holy cities for Christians, Jews and Islamic faiths. This, it is a history of struggle and wars.
It meant a lot to me because I recently visited the holy land sites in Jerusalem for a week.
Well written and extremely long but worth ones time.
This is a magnificent document about the continuous struggles of one of the most holy cities for Christians, Jews and Islamic faiths. This, it is a history of struggle and wars.
It meant a lot to me because I recently visited the holy land sites in Jerusalem for a week.
Well written and extremely long but worth ones time.
July 13, 2018
This is one of those books with so much sheer information packed into such a small space (even running at 600+ pages) that it is enough to induce mental whiplash. The narrative is relatively readable, but for such a high-profile work I was actually surprised at the occasional sloppiness with well known facts and even the number of editing errors that it contained. Trying to pack whole life stories into a page and a half is never easy and gets rather tiresome for the reader after about 300 pages. Having said that, there are a number of gems that the book contains and as a whole it provides enjoyable depth for those who love the city. The author tells the story of the great families of Jerusalem, much of which he seems to have gotten from primary sources and which is definitely unknown to most people. I was interested that Jews were allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in the first decades after the Islamic conquest, and also that Charlemagne paid the jizya tax of the city's Christians during his time. Also the footnotes about Samuel ibn Nagrela, a Jewish commander of Islamic armies, and the battles between the Abbasids and the Chinese Tang Dynasty were also fascinating. Because of some other obvious errors though (including mischaracterizing or at least very poorly explaining the death of Hazrat Ali) I was not always sure of the exact veracity of everything I read. Worth reading for those very interested in Jerusalem and the three monotheistic faiths, but maybe not for everyone.
May 26, 2021
نویسنده مستندی سه قسمته بر اساس کتاب ساخته که از اینجا می تونید ببینید:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u...
April 18, 2024
Let me begin with something that the author wrote about his great grand uncle who raped a teenage girl (his servant): "... while in his eighties, [Moses Montefiore] fathered a child with a teenage maid, yet another sign of his astonishing energy ." Yes, for Simon Sebag Montefiore rape is a sign of astonishing energy!
Although his pro-rape approach would have been enough for me to give this book a 1star review, I must say there are a lot more problems with this book than this. There are issues with historicity, issues with his pro-Israeli bias, issues with his embarrassing references and more. I found exactly ten really bad historical mistakes in the chapters on Crusades, and that's because of my limited knowledge about Medieval times. My knowledge of the Ancient times and the Modern period is too limited so I couldn't find mistakes at those parts of the book but judging by the fact that he made no less than ten mistakes only in the chapters relating to Crusades shows that there must be such mistakes elsewhere too. Now, let me mention just two of these embarrassing mistakes here:
1) The most moronic thing I read in this book is his opening line on the start of the First Crusade. He writes "The Crusade had been the idea of one man" (p. 248). Yes! He really says this and by "one man" he means Pope Urban II. I don't know what to make of this... Is Simon Sebag Montefiore actually a moron? Hasn't he ever heard of Pope Gregory VII? What about all the events between the Gregorian reformation and the Council of Piacenza? Does he know of Alexios Komnenos and his roles on the shaping of the idea of crusading? I was shocked when I read that opening line.
2) He mentions Al-Ghazali in a footnote (p. 243) and introduces him as a figure who single-handedly ended the Golden Age of Islamic science and philosophy! In a book written in the 21st Century, he speaks of one person and gives him the credit to personally have put an end to a wide and vast stream of knowledge! Some high school teachers in Iran do sometimes say things like that but I really didn't expect to read something of this kind in an acclaimed book published so recently.
Now let me speak about some of the disgusting lies he tells to feed false information to readers who have limited knowledge about the historical events. I do believe he has an agenda that even thinking about it makes me want to puke:
a) On page 244 he first mentions the sack of Jerusalem by the First Crusader which was a horrific event and then in a footnote he shamelessly says that it couldn't have been that bad because the reports are all by Muslims who have exaggerated when giving the numbers of casualties. Then he goes on to randomly accept the least possible number (10,000... which still is huge!) and then says it's considerably less than what Muslims did at Edessa and Acre. What he doesn't mention is that the reports about Edessa and Acre are as varied as the reports about Jerusalem and some are more exaggerated than others. Something else that he doesn't mention at all, however, is that Muslims did also put Jerusalem under siege and they also (re-)conquered Jerusalem, and as opposed to killing at least 10,000 people they captured the city without shedding the blood of the citizens of that city. Here I'm not defending Muslims; I don't have a favourite side in this story and I think both sides were barbaric but both sides were fighting for something that mattered to them dearly. And I don't care about what either side took to be the absolute truth... I frankly don't give a damn about their gods. I'm just quite angry at this blatant lie, this stupid comparison that Sebag Montefiore commits to at this point. If you want to compare the two side, compare them on the same point: Jerusalem.
b) On page 283 he mentions the pulpit that Nur-al-Din orders to be built so it could one day be placed in Al-Aqsa. He later mentions that Saladin places it there. What he intentionally doesn't mention, neither in the main text nor in any of his lengthy footnotes, is that a Christian fundamentalist from Australia burnt this work of absolute beauty down in 1967. He never mentions this crime against humanity. He doesn't and it really is sad that he doesn't. Because it shows that he has no interest in humanity and culture. The only thing that matters to him is his Zionist apologist agenda.
c) Speaking of atrocities that he doesn't care about, in the nauseating Epilogue of the book he mentions the destruction of Maghrebi Quarter in 1967 after the Six Days War. He writes about it in a very positive tone. He says the angelic Zionists came and wiped a very dirty neighbourhood to open a nice area in front of the Western Wall. Okay... I don't disagree that there should have been a bigger area in front of the Western Wall but not so big that a whole quarter should be demolished. Now, what was this quarter that you are so happy about its destruction Mr Sebag Montefiore? You never told us! It was a historically significant area of the city, rife with Ayyubid and Mamluk architectures. A mosque was demolished at Maghrebi Quarter which was one of a very few examples of buildings remaining from Saladin's reign. These were demolished and no authority at the time could do anything about it. But today, we can remember crimes of the Israeli government. Sebag Montefiore, however, is joyous about these atrocities.
Although his pro-rape approach would have been enough for me to give this book a 1star review, I must say there are a lot more problems with this book than this. There are issues with historicity, issues with his pro-Israeli bias, issues with his embarrassing references and more. I found exactly ten really bad historical mistakes in the chapters on Crusades, and that's because of my limited knowledge about Medieval times. My knowledge of the Ancient times and the Modern period is too limited so I couldn't find mistakes at those parts of the book but judging by the fact that he made no less than ten mistakes only in the chapters relating to Crusades shows that there must be such mistakes elsewhere too. Now, let me mention just two of these embarrassing mistakes here:
1) The most moronic thing I read in this book is his opening line on the start of the First Crusade. He writes "The Crusade had been the idea of one man" (p. 248). Yes! He really says this and by "one man" he means Pope Urban II. I don't know what to make of this... Is Simon Sebag Montefiore actually a moron? Hasn't he ever heard of Pope Gregory VII? What about all the events between the Gregorian reformation and the Council of Piacenza? Does he know of Alexios Komnenos and his roles on the shaping of the idea of crusading? I was shocked when I read that opening line.
2) He mentions Al-Ghazali in a footnote (p. 243) and introduces him as a figure who single-handedly ended the Golden Age of Islamic science and philosophy! In a book written in the 21st Century, he speaks of one person and gives him the credit to personally have put an end to a wide and vast stream of knowledge! Some high school teachers in Iran do sometimes say things like that but I really didn't expect to read something of this kind in an acclaimed book published so recently.
Now let me speak about some of the disgusting lies he tells to feed false information to readers who have limited knowledge about the historical events. I do believe he has an agenda that even thinking about it makes me want to puke:
a) On page 244 he first mentions the sack of Jerusalem by the First Crusader which was a horrific event and then in a footnote he shamelessly says that it couldn't have been that bad because the reports are all by Muslims who have exaggerated when giving the numbers of casualties. Then he goes on to randomly accept the least possible number (10,000... which still is huge!) and then says it's considerably less than what Muslims did at Edessa and Acre. What he doesn't mention is that the reports about Edessa and Acre are as varied as the reports about Jerusalem and some are more exaggerated than others. Something else that he doesn't mention at all, however, is that Muslims did also put Jerusalem under siege and they also (re-)conquered Jerusalem, and as opposed to killing at least 10,000 people they captured the city without shedding the blood of the citizens of that city. Here I'm not defending Muslims; I don't have a favourite side in this story and I think both sides were barbaric but both sides were fighting for something that mattered to them dearly. And I don't care about what either side took to be the absolute truth... I frankly don't give a damn about their gods. I'm just quite angry at this blatant lie, this stupid comparison that Sebag Montefiore commits to at this point. If you want to compare the two side, compare them on the same point: Jerusalem.
b) On page 283 he mentions the pulpit that Nur-al-Din orders to be built so it could one day be placed in Al-Aqsa. He later mentions that Saladin places it there. What he intentionally doesn't mention, neither in the main text nor in any of his lengthy footnotes, is that a Christian fundamentalist from Australia burnt this work of absolute beauty down in 1967. He never mentions this crime against humanity. He doesn't and it really is sad that he doesn't. Because it shows that he has no interest in humanity and culture. The only thing that matters to him is his Zionist apologist agenda.
c) Speaking of atrocities that he doesn't care about, in the nauseating Epilogue of the book he mentions the destruction of Maghrebi Quarter in 1967 after the Six Days War. He writes about it in a very positive tone. He says the angelic Zionists came and wiped a very dirty neighbourhood to open a nice area in front of the Western Wall. Okay... I don't disagree that there should have been a bigger area in front of the Western Wall but not so big that a whole quarter should be demolished. Now, what was this quarter that you are so happy about its destruction Mr Sebag Montefiore? You never told us! It was a historically significant area of the city, rife with Ayyubid and Mamluk architectures. A mosque was demolished at Maghrebi Quarter which was one of a very few examples of buildings remaining from Saladin's reign. These were demolished and no authority at the time could do anything about it. But today, we can remember crimes of the Israeli government. Sebag Montefiore, however, is joyous about these atrocities.
January 20, 2012
Jerusalem: The Biography is Simon Sebag Montefiore’s sprawling history of the world’s holiest and possibly most cursed city. Sacred to the three Abrahamic religions and the current centre of an ongoing religious/political/military dispute which shows no sign of ever being resolved, Jerusalem’s history is a mad mix of devastation, pilgrimage, hucksterism and blood-drenched fanaticism. Montefiore does an excellent job of stringing it all together, weaving a tale of considerable complexity into something eminently enlightening.
My Knopf hardcover edition is a weighty 544 pages, not including notes, maps, etc. which sounds like an impressive tome, but it covers over 5000 years of history, starting in the early Bronze Age and continuing right to the present day. There is so much material that it at times feels a bit rushed – many of the episodes and character sketches (and oh what characters!) are all too brief. This epic history could easily have been expanded into two volumes. I suspect the editing process must have been a particularly difficult experience for Montefiore and his editors, no doubt having to leave out so many historical jewels.
Still, the book is comprehensive enough to leave the reader agog at the sheer magnitude of sanguinary history pressing down on this “most illustrious of cities.” Established as a small defensible hill fort c. 3000 B.C., Jerusalem eventually became modest Canaanite village, stuck in a remote but strategic location between the major Bronze Age empires of the Egyptians, Hittites and the Akkadians and their successors. For centuries the town was more often than not under the Pharaohs’ protection if not direct rule. Jerusalem came into its own with the rise of the Israelite kingdom which flourished in the power vacuum heralded by the advent of the Iron Age, c. 1000 B.C.
This was the time of the ‘City of David,’ that the biblical Book of Samuel chronicles. The Bible is a less-than-reliable history of the region, but in recent decades intriguing bits of evidence dug up by archaeologists have indeed confirmed the historicity of David. However, the good times didn’t last long; the kingdom itself soon split into two acrimonious rival Jewish states, and they were both eventually conquered by the resurgent Assyrian and Babylonian empires in turn. The Babylonian Exile of the Jewish elite lead to the first real compilation of the books of the Bible, but the trauma of the Exile also sharpened their faith into fanaticism. When the Exiles’ descendents were returned to Jerusalem by the Persian liberation, it marked the beginning of a long history of fanatical devotion to place that has marked Jerusalem ever since, and subsequently affected both Christianity and Islam as well.
Montefiore relies heavily on the account of the Jewish historian Josephus in the chapters covering the story of Herod the Great’s modernization of Jerusalem into a great city and the subsequent Roman period which culminated in its savage destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Emperor Hadrian eventually rebuilt it as a small classical Roman town named Aelia Capitolina, and despite occasional Jewish rebellions it remained so until the Christian era. It was then that the Emperor Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, journeyed to Jerusalem and ‘miraculously’ found the True Cross, and consecrated new churches. Thus the city became a place of Christian pilgrimage. Only a few years later it was lost to the rising power of Islam, the record of which Montefiore describes as “mysterious and contested.” But in essence the Byzantines were too weak to resist and, after negotiating a guarantee of religious toleration, surrendered the city to Omar, one of the Prophet Muhammad’s immediate successors.
With the exception of the brief and bloody rule of the Crusader kingdoms, thereafter the city was ruled by Islamic authorities of one stripe or another until the British conquest during the First World War campaign against the Ottoman Empire. For the most part the Caliphs and Sultans ruled with toleration, but like all other rulers of Jerusalem throughout the ages, they occasionally instituted repressions, massacres, and what we now call ‘ethnic cleansing.’
Jerusalem became a sleepy place of holy sites largely forgotten by the West until the 19th century. The rise of evangelical movements in America and Britain, and the growth of the early Zionist movement among the Jews of the West and the Russian Empire fostered a growing number of pilgrims who were apparently often disappointed by the dusty backwater where local entrepreneurs (including numerous brothels) and Ottoman officials did their best to extract every last penny from the visitors. The pilgrims themselves were regarded by the locals as creepy and disreputable. Many were (and still are to this day) subject to a psychosis called “Jerusalem Syndrome,” in which the pilgrim becomes convinced that they are a prophet reborn, their antics even causing civil disturbances.
In the 19th century official support for Zionism led to large numbers of Jews from the West emigrating to Jerusalem and its environs. Many more came fleeing Russian pogroms. Just a few years after British General Allenby walked through the Jaffa Gate in late 1917, Jews had again become the majority group in Jerusalem and Christian and Muslim Palestinians were thoroughly alarmed by their loss of land and power. During the British mandate inter-communal riots became frequent. Anti-Semitism, already assuming deadly proportions in Western Europe, infected Arab resistance. The aftermath of WWII led to massive Jewish immigration and amidst the chaotic British withdrawal and the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews and Arabs committed atrocities against the other.
Considering the shockingly brutal episodes presented in his book, Montefiore’s epilogue assesses the current state of the city as remarkably hopeful. People tire of war and hateful propaganda. Militants often mellow and have to admit their absolutist aims are simply impractical. Despite the forcible separation of Jews and Muslims by the building of the ‘security wall’, many Jerusalemites still understand that “the others” are only human and are in fact cultural brethren. He includes a quote from Palestinian writer and philosopher Sari Nusseibeh describing what can happen despite ‘mined and barbed barriers’: “Islam was no different for families like ours than I would learn later that Judaism was for (Israeli writer) Amos Oz a couple of hundred feet away , just beyond No-Man’s-Land.” Nusseibeh and Oz remain friends and opponents of fanaticism. While the wars and massacres command our attention, Montefiore’s remarkable book does show that these events have been the exceptions to a long history of different communities living side by side in peace.
My Knopf hardcover edition is a weighty 544 pages, not including notes, maps, etc. which sounds like an impressive tome, but it covers over 5000 years of history, starting in the early Bronze Age and continuing right to the present day. There is so much material that it at times feels a bit rushed – many of the episodes and character sketches (and oh what characters!) are all too brief. This epic history could easily have been expanded into two volumes. I suspect the editing process must have been a particularly difficult experience for Montefiore and his editors, no doubt having to leave out so many historical jewels.
Still, the book is comprehensive enough to leave the reader agog at the sheer magnitude of sanguinary history pressing down on this “most illustrious of cities.” Established as a small defensible hill fort c. 3000 B.C., Jerusalem eventually became modest Canaanite village, stuck in a remote but strategic location between the major Bronze Age empires of the Egyptians, Hittites and the Akkadians and their successors. For centuries the town was more often than not under the Pharaohs’ protection if not direct rule. Jerusalem came into its own with the rise of the Israelite kingdom which flourished in the power vacuum heralded by the advent of the Iron Age, c. 1000 B.C.
This was the time of the ‘City of David,’ that the biblical Book of Samuel chronicles. The Bible is a less-than-reliable history of the region, but in recent decades intriguing bits of evidence dug up by archaeologists have indeed confirmed the historicity of David. However, the good times didn’t last long; the kingdom itself soon split into two acrimonious rival Jewish states, and they were both eventually conquered by the resurgent Assyrian and Babylonian empires in turn. The Babylonian Exile of the Jewish elite lead to the first real compilation of the books of the Bible, but the trauma of the Exile also sharpened their faith into fanaticism. When the Exiles’ descendents were returned to Jerusalem by the Persian liberation, it marked the beginning of a long history of fanatical devotion to place that has marked Jerusalem ever since, and subsequently affected both Christianity and Islam as well.
Montefiore relies heavily on the account of the Jewish historian Josephus in the chapters covering the story of Herod the Great’s modernization of Jerusalem into a great city and the subsequent Roman period which culminated in its savage destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. The Emperor Hadrian eventually rebuilt it as a small classical Roman town named Aelia Capitolina, and despite occasional Jewish rebellions it remained so until the Christian era. It was then that the Emperor Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, journeyed to Jerusalem and ‘miraculously’ found the True Cross, and consecrated new churches. Thus the city became a place of Christian pilgrimage. Only a few years later it was lost to the rising power of Islam, the record of which Montefiore describes as “mysterious and contested.” But in essence the Byzantines were too weak to resist and, after negotiating a guarantee of religious toleration, surrendered the city to Omar, one of the Prophet Muhammad’s immediate successors.
With the exception of the brief and bloody rule of the Crusader kingdoms, thereafter the city was ruled by Islamic authorities of one stripe or another until the British conquest during the First World War campaign against the Ottoman Empire. For the most part the Caliphs and Sultans ruled with toleration, but like all other rulers of Jerusalem throughout the ages, they occasionally instituted repressions, massacres, and what we now call ‘ethnic cleansing.’
Jerusalem became a sleepy place of holy sites largely forgotten by the West until the 19th century. The rise of evangelical movements in America and Britain, and the growth of the early Zionist movement among the Jews of the West and the Russian Empire fostered a growing number of pilgrims who were apparently often disappointed by the dusty backwater where local entrepreneurs (including numerous brothels) and Ottoman officials did their best to extract every last penny from the visitors. The pilgrims themselves were regarded by the locals as creepy and disreputable. Many were (and still are to this day) subject to a psychosis called “Jerusalem Syndrome,” in which the pilgrim becomes convinced that they are a prophet reborn, their antics even causing civil disturbances.
In the 19th century official support for Zionism led to large numbers of Jews from the West emigrating to Jerusalem and its environs. Many more came fleeing Russian pogroms. Just a few years after British General Allenby walked through the Jaffa Gate in late 1917, Jews had again become the majority group in Jerusalem and Christian and Muslim Palestinians were thoroughly alarmed by their loss of land and power. During the British mandate inter-communal riots became frequent. Anti-Semitism, already assuming deadly proportions in Western Europe, infected Arab resistance. The aftermath of WWII led to massive Jewish immigration and amidst the chaotic British withdrawal and the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews and Arabs committed atrocities against the other.
Considering the shockingly brutal episodes presented in his book, Montefiore’s epilogue assesses the current state of the city as remarkably hopeful. People tire of war and hateful propaganda. Militants often mellow and have to admit their absolutist aims are simply impractical. Despite the forcible separation of Jews and Muslims by the building of the ‘security wall’, many Jerusalemites still understand that “the others” are only human and are in fact cultural brethren. He includes a quote from Palestinian writer and philosopher Sari Nusseibeh describing what can happen despite ‘mined and barbed barriers’: “Islam was no different for families like ours than I would learn later that Judaism was for (Israeli writer) Amos Oz a couple of hundred feet away , just beyond No-Man’s-Land.” Nusseibeh and Oz remain friends and opponents of fanaticism. While the wars and massacres command our attention, Montefiore’s remarkable book does show that these events have been the exceptions to a long history of different communities living side by side in peace.
June 25, 2022
4.5/5
Quis ler “Jerusalém” (2011/2021) de Simon Sebag Montefiore para tentar compreender um pouco melhor um fascínio que desconheço. Queria perceber como é que uma cidade que não contribuiu com qualquer ideia para o avanço da humanidade, conseguiu manter-se sempre presente nas agendas do mundo ao longo de mais de 3 mil anos. A leitura, apesar de muito boa, deixou-me ainda mais perplexo. Montefiore faz um trabalho brilhante de inclusão que se sintetiza numa frase: "Naquele momento, o conceito de santidade no mundo judaico-cristão-islâmico encontrou o seu lar eterno". E assim podemos perceber que todo o fascínio da humanidade por esta cidade assenta numa fábula de Origem. A eterna indagação interior, “quem somos e de onde vimos?”, fez rumar ali, ao longo de milhares de anos, das mais altas personalidades de todas as três grandes religiões — reis, imperadores, califas, imãs, rabinos, papas. Muitos levaram consigo os seus exércitos, tendo Jerusalém sido sitiada, capturada, recapturada e atacada dezenas e dezenas de vezes, incluindo duas vezes em que foi completamente arrasada, não restando pedra sobre pedra. Jerusalém nunca foi além do punhado pedras num deserto, mas a sua resiliência demonstra o poder humano do contar de histórias.
continua no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
Quis ler “Jerusalém” (2011/2021) de Simon Sebag Montefiore para tentar compreender um pouco melhor um fascínio que desconheço. Queria perceber como é que uma cidade que não contribuiu com qualquer ideia para o avanço da humanidade, conseguiu manter-se sempre presente nas agendas do mundo ao longo de mais de 3 mil anos. A leitura, apesar de muito boa, deixou-me ainda mais perplexo. Montefiore faz um trabalho brilhante de inclusão que se sintetiza numa frase: "Naquele momento, o conceito de santidade no mundo judaico-cristão-islâmico encontrou o seu lar eterno". E assim podemos perceber que todo o fascínio da humanidade por esta cidade assenta numa fábula de Origem. A eterna indagação interior, “quem somos e de onde vimos?”, fez rumar ali, ao longo de milhares de anos, das mais altas personalidades de todas as três grandes religiões — reis, imperadores, califas, imãs, rabinos, papas. Muitos levaram consigo os seus exércitos, tendo Jerusalém sido sitiada, capturada, recapturada e atacada dezenas e dezenas de vezes, incluindo duas vezes em que foi completamente arrasada, não restando pedra sobre pedra. Jerusalém nunca foi além do punhado pedras num deserto, mas a sua resiliência demonstra o poder humano do contar de histórias.
continua no VI:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...
April 18, 2018
Jerusalem: The Biography is a sweeping and meticulously researched biography and history of Jerusalem from the early biblical times of King David, Moses and the Canaanites, including the history and significance of Jerusalem to Judaism and Christianity as well as the Muslims over the expanse of history and time through the administration of President Barack Obama. This is an engrossing and all-encompassing narrative of the sweeping and volatile history of Jerusalem including the genesis and importance of Jerusalem to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
"The Dome has a power beyond all this: it ranks as one of the most timeless masterpieces of architectural art; its radiance is the cynosure of all eyes wherever one stands in Jerusalem. It shimmers like a mystical palace rising out of the airy and serene space of the esplanade which immediately became an enormous open-air mosque, sanctifying the space around it."
"It ranks with the temples of Solomon and Herod as one of the most successful sacred-imperial edifices ever built and, in the twenty-first century, it has become the ultimate secular touristic symbol, the shrine of resurgent Islam and the totem of Palestinian nationalism."
"If a land can have a soul, Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel."--David Ben-Gurion
"No two cities have counted more with mankind than Athens and Jerusalem."--Winston Churchill
"The Dome has a power beyond all this: it ranks as one of the most timeless masterpieces of architectural art; its radiance is the cynosure of all eyes wherever one stands in Jerusalem. It shimmers like a mystical palace rising out of the airy and serene space of the esplanade which immediately became an enormous open-air mosque, sanctifying the space around it."
"It ranks with the temples of Solomon and Herod as one of the most successful sacred-imperial edifices ever built and, in the twenty-first century, it has become the ultimate secular touristic symbol, the shrine of resurgent Islam and the totem of Palestinian nationalism."
"If a land can have a soul, Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel."--David Ben-Gurion
"No two cities have counted more with mankind than Athens and Jerusalem."--Winston Churchill
November 3, 2016
4 1/2 stars actually. This book was massive in it's scope and reach, the best sentence to summarize it and get a sense of The amount of work and the nuances that went into this book comes from the book itself "Jerusalem's history is a chronicle of settlers, colonists and pilgrims, who have included Arabs, Jews and many others, in a place that has grown and contracted many times. During more than a Millennium of Islamic rule, Jerusalem was repeatedly colonized by Islamic settlers, scholars, Sufis and pilgrims who were Arabs, Turks, Indians, Sudanese, Iranians, Kurds, Iraqis and Maghrebis, as well as Christian Armenians Serbs, Georgians and Russian Jews who later settled there for similar reasons. " this books tries to chronicle all of this migrations , and at the same time trying not to offer anyone's claim to the Holy City. It is a great work of study , but you will define get information overload and in a case as complex as Jerusalem even more so. Definitely recommend it , but remember this is a study of very different multitude of cultures, peoples and nationalities , so don't expect this to be an easy book.
August 5, 2021
This is a crackingly well-paced and well-written history of a city that is fairly saturated with it.
Montefiore is an engaging writer who faces the same problem as many other authors: The part of the city's history that many readers are interested in, i.e. the time between King David and the Prophet Mohammad, is very poorly represented in the historical record. If you're here looking for new information, there's nothing much there. To the author's credit, he is quite thorough in distinguishing what is well established vs. what is speculation based on scant and contradictory evidence. Most is in the latter category, unfortunately.
I would have preferred the book to be more weighted towards more modern times, when the historical record is much more complete. The place is not lacking for interest in modern times, and the whole process by which Israel became a state was given relatively short shrift -- not to mention everything that's happened since.
Minor complaint, though. If somebody asked me for one book to read on this topic, I'd send them here.
Montefiore is an engaging writer who faces the same problem as many other authors: The part of the city's history that many readers are interested in, i.e. the time between King David and the Prophet Mohammad, is very poorly represented in the historical record. If you're here looking for new information, there's nothing much there. To the author's credit, he is quite thorough in distinguishing what is well established vs. what is speculation based on scant and contradictory evidence. Most is in the latter category, unfortunately.
I would have preferred the book to be more weighted towards more modern times, when the historical record is much more complete. The place is not lacking for interest in modern times, and the whole process by which Israel became a state was given relatively short shrift -- not to mention everything that's happened since.
Minor complaint, though. If somebody asked me for one book to read on this topic, I'd send them here.
January 16, 2016
If there's one city that needs a biography, it must be Jerusalem. In a highly readable style, Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us on a tour from the earliest recorded history to today's Jerusalem.
The history of Jerusalem is a chronicle of colonists and pilgrims, whether they are Arab, Jew or Christians. The city itself witnessed a large amount of different masters, each with their own beliefs and each thinking they were the true and only religions. Nowhere in the world did so many people die on account of their beliefs and religion, and yet they kept coming to this Holy City. Nowadays, both the Arabs and the Jews have historical claims to the city.
According to the author, Jerusalem is on the crossroads on becoming a religious nationalistic state or the road to a liberal Western city. I really hope it's the last one, there have enough people died already whose sacrifices all have been in vain.
The history of Jerusalem is a chronicle of colonists and pilgrims, whether they are Arab, Jew or Christians. The city itself witnessed a large amount of different masters, each with their own beliefs and each thinking they were the true and only religions. Nowhere in the world did so many people die on account of their beliefs and religion, and yet they kept coming to this Holy City. Nowadays, both the Arabs and the Jews have historical claims to the city.
According to the author, Jerusalem is on the crossroads on becoming a religious nationalistic state or the road to a liberal Western city. I really hope it's the last one, there have enough people died already whose sacrifices all have been in vain.
August 21, 2014
Two distinct ideas came to mind as I listened to this one. Since I could not weave them into one coherent treatise I thought I’d share them both.
Commentary #1
- If you like John Lee as a narrator, this book is possibly for you.
- If you like your history dense, this book is probably for you.
- If you wonder why this area continues to be so f*ed up, this book is likely for you.
Sadly, Jerusalem’s history has been determined by dynamite, sword, and blood. It’s violent past has earned it the moniker, “The maim, rape, and pillage capital of the world”.
SO,. . .
- If you like beheadings, heads on poles, heads on gates, or mutilated bodies left rotting on the ground for years and/or enjoy the putrid odor as a result this book is for you.
- If you like eviscerations, bisections, slow dismemberments starting with fingers and toes and working your way through the body joint-by-joint, or dismemberments of noses, ears, hands, etc., for punishment, this book is for you.
- If you like hangings, garroting, fingernail pulling, or heads crushed in vices, this book is for you.
- If you like eye gouging, hacking of bodies until they are no longer recognizable as human and then kabobed, this book is for you.
- If you enjoy torture such as being forced to drink molten gold, or suicide bombings this book is for you.
I don’t know if it was the author’s intent but I interpret the overriding theme to be the historic brutal violence of this place. I had known of the Crusades and assumed there were military battles but never imagined the sickening degree of violence. It reminds me a quote from William Wilberforce (an English social reformer and abolitionist) that I referenced in my review of The Slave Ship, that sums it all up for me, “So much misery condensed in so little room is more than the human imagination has ever before conceived.”
Commentary #2
(George Burns speaking as God) “What in my name have you done? Yeah, you! I’m talking to all of you. Christians. Muslims. Jews. Arabs. Europeans. Palestinians. You know who you are. You, who invoke my name. This disgusting, vile, abhorrent behavior has gone on for over 2,000 years and must stop. What’s wrong with you people? Did you lose or misunderstand the tablets I sent down regarding your expected behavior? I have granted you dominion over all my creations and in return I ask you to follow 10 simple rules. Is that really too much to ask?
As your Father, I try to be understanding and patient. And, like a father, I am sometimes forced to discipline. Remember, the 40 days/nights of rain? Sodom and Gomorrah? The plagues of Egypt? How soon children forget. But, be forewarned! Know that I’m watching. Learn to play nice with the other children and stop justifying your actions in my name. I am a God of peace and love. Don’t make me bring all of you up here for your personal judgment. If that happens, let’s just assume I won’t be in a good mood.”
As-salamu alaykum. Shalom Aleychem. Peace.
Commentary #1
- If you like John Lee as a narrator, this book is possibly for you.
- If you like your history dense, this book is probably for you.
- If you wonder why this area continues to be so f*ed up, this book is likely for you.
Sadly, Jerusalem’s history has been determined by dynamite, sword, and blood. It’s violent past has earned it the moniker, “The maim, rape, and pillage capital of the world”.
SO,. . .
- If you like beheadings, heads on poles, heads on gates, or mutilated bodies left rotting on the ground for years and/or enjoy the putrid odor as a result this book is for you.
- If you like eviscerations, bisections, slow dismemberments starting with fingers and toes and working your way through the body joint-by-joint, or dismemberments of noses, ears, hands, etc., for punishment, this book is for you.
- If you like hangings, garroting, fingernail pulling, or heads crushed in vices, this book is for you.
- If you like eye gouging, hacking of bodies until they are no longer recognizable as human and then kabobed, this book is for you.
- If you enjoy torture such as being forced to drink molten gold, or suicide bombings this book is for you.
I don’t know if it was the author’s intent but I interpret the overriding theme to be the historic brutal violence of this place. I had known of the Crusades and assumed there were military battles but never imagined the sickening degree of violence. It reminds me a quote from William Wilberforce (an English social reformer and abolitionist) that I referenced in my review of The Slave Ship, that sums it all up for me, “So much misery condensed in so little room is more than the human imagination has ever before conceived.”
Commentary #2
(George Burns speaking as God) “What in my name have you done? Yeah, you! I’m talking to all of you. Christians. Muslims. Jews. Arabs. Europeans. Palestinians. You know who you are. You, who invoke my name. This disgusting, vile, abhorrent behavior has gone on for over 2,000 years and must stop. What’s wrong with you people? Did you lose or misunderstand the tablets I sent down regarding your expected behavior? I have granted you dominion over all my creations and in return I ask you to follow 10 simple rules. Is that really too much to ask?
As your Father, I try to be understanding and patient. And, like a father, I am sometimes forced to discipline. Remember, the 40 days/nights of rain? Sodom and Gomorrah? The plagues of Egypt? How soon children forget. But, be forewarned! Know that I’m watching. Learn to play nice with the other children and stop justifying your actions in my name. I am a God of peace and love. Don’t make me bring all of you up here for your personal judgment. If that happens, let’s just assume I won’t be in a good mood.”
As-salamu alaykum. Shalom Aleychem. Peace.
January 22, 2019
A striking history of a city from it's inception in prehistory, through its trials and tribulations, colonists, pilgrims and invaders up to its current precarious position.
It's mainly the story of the main players calling Jerusalem their home, or having a major role to play in the story, and as such there is a whistle stop feel to the book (11th Century? Oh, Crusades...) but so long as you're happy to accept that further reading will be required you'll be fine.
So... where it was good - it covers a lot of ground, and while often there's not much depth I didn't feel short changed. Given the scope of the book it's not biased against any group, and even the minefield of the first century AD avoids any issues... I thought. And it's a very breezy and easy read. With a few surprises.
And the bad.... some parts do feel rushed, and some people aren't really more than mentioned. And I didn't really ever get a feel for Jerusalem the place.
But I'm sure there's worse out there. And I did get a feel for the roots of the current problems (I think).
It's mainly the story of the main players calling Jerusalem their home, or having a major role to play in the story, and as such there is a whistle stop feel to the book (11th Century? Oh, Crusades...) but so long as you're happy to accept that further reading will be required you'll be fine.
So... where it was good - it covers a lot of ground, and while often there's not much depth I didn't feel short changed. Given the scope of the book it's not biased against any group, and even the minefield of the first century AD avoids any issues... I thought. And it's a very breezy and easy read. With a few surprises.
And the bad.... some parts do feel rushed, and some people aren't really more than mentioned. And I didn't really ever get a feel for Jerusalem the place.
But I'm sure there's worse out there. And I did get a feel for the roots of the current problems (I think).
March 6, 2014
Read by John Lee
Tel Dan Stele
Titus has just plundered then razed the city, a bit like the young one playing soldiers on the kitchen table: Anthony Hopkins
Wiki sourced: The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century honorific arch located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c. 82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
SUPERB! The best I have read on the city and will be retaining this file for a re-read in my rocking-chair years.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 28, 2020
Easy captivating book with objectivity that is so hard to see in a book about Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a home to three religions and a place of unstoppable struggle which can come into surface any moment; writing about her so that to offend any of the struggling sides is impossible. Yet, I think the author almost succeeded in avoiding the most painful confrontation. Especially in Epilogue, I saw an immense love for the city.
As for the book from a historical point of view, it's easy to read, with cliffhangers here and there to captivate a reader. Though it has more than 600 pages, I read it almost in one breath and never regretted the time I spent on it.
The best book of this month for me!
As for the book from a historical point of view, it's easy to read, with cliffhangers here and there to captivate a reader. Though it has more than 600 pages, I read it almost in one breath and never regretted the time I spent on it.
The best book of this month for me!
November 6, 2021
If my ambition was to learn everything that there was to learn from this book, my frustration would have had no limits. Fortunately I was perfectly satisfied with gliding through the thousands of years of history. Noticing or adding some detail here and there to the already known events, and letting loads of facts pass me by to avoid information overload.
Jerusalem is a place of such intense interest for so many, under such a long time, that it couldn't have been any other way. So Mr Montefiore has done a brilliant job - my brain didn’t, but then again, nobody's perfect.
Jerusalem is a place of such intense interest for so many, under such a long time, that it couldn't have been any other way. So Mr Montefiore has done a brilliant job - my brain didn’t, but then again, nobody's perfect.
October 24, 2016
A very interesting read which encompasses pretty much the entire historical scope of this unique city.
The main downside was pretty much due to that. Montefiore tried to write little about lots of events, even those who are not that important when looking on Jerusalem's broader history. It would have been better to write only about the major events and times.
That being said, this book is quite an achievement, and though I`m familiar with a lot of the history regarding Jerusalem this was quite an informative and enjoyable read, spiced with lots of small anecdotes. Also, it`s important to note (and this is a strong point in favor of this book) that it`s not just the chronicles of Jerusalem but rather a glimpse at the history of the entire region which allows the reader to really understand the role Jerusalem had (and still has today) in the history of the world.
The main downside was pretty much due to that. Montefiore tried to write little about lots of events, even those who are not that important when looking on Jerusalem's broader history. It would have been better to write only about the major events and times.
That being said, this book is quite an achievement, and though I`m familiar with a lot of the history regarding Jerusalem this was quite an informative and enjoyable read, spiced with lots of small anecdotes. Also, it`s important to note (and this is a strong point in favor of this book) that it`s not just the chronicles of Jerusalem but rather a glimpse at the history of the entire region which allows the reader to really understand the role Jerusalem had (and still has today) in the history of the world.
December 30, 2011
Ok, I am 250 pages in and I love every word. This is a book I will be sorry to finish.
I'm on page 410 now. I have to force myself to stop reading, as I want to eek out the last 100 pages slowly... very slowly.
It is that good.
I have now completed the book. It is, by far, one of the best books I have ever read. It is also only the second book I have ever read which I wanted to read again as soon as I finished it!
Every page was a delight.
I'm on page 410 now. I have to force myself to stop reading, as I want to eek out the last 100 pages slowly... very slowly.
It is that good.
I have now completed the book. It is, by far, one of the best books I have ever read. It is also only the second book I have ever read which I wanted to read again as soon as I finished it!
Every page was a delight.
November 8, 2016
كتاب مهم جدا ويغطي تاريخ القدس لمدة ثلاثة آلاف سنة مع أسلوب جميل وتقسيم رائع
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