34 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring, January 16, 2006
This review is from: The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (Paperback)
Historical research is usually not the search for pure data, but the search for legitimacy. Professor Whitelam protests, in his refined manner, the use of history "to validate modern political stances."
This book is about the politicization of history. It does not intentionally engage in politics outside of the author's academic discipline. However, the subject matter cannot help but appear more broadly political in our time, when Israel's affairs loom so large in American government and media discussions. The title does inspire reactions in people with strong political feelings, some of whom very obviously do not read the book before making negative (even acerbic and wildly digressing) comments in order to discourage others from reading it.
Prof. Whitelam does not deny that Hebrew settlements existed in ancient times; rather he demonstrates in detailed examples that in some ways the archaeological record has been misinterpreted, or frankly shoe-horned, to fit literal Bible passages. The primary offenders have been European Christian archaeologists and historians via whom "political and religious attitudes of modern scholarship conspire to obscure the ancient politics of the past."
There is no hatred of Israel or Israelis evident anywhere in the book. The tone is consistently unemotional and scholarly. The author did not set out to write about ancient Israel per se but about ancient Palestine, whose history has been ignored and silenced because of the pressure to preserve "an ancient Israel conceived and presented as the taproot of Western civilization."
I must add that Whitelam does not single out Palestine as a unique or special case of the politicization of history. Consider this quote: "European nation states from the Industrial Revolution onwards constructed national histories to justify and idealize their positions in the world. This is particularly true of Great Britain [whose] antiquarians and politicians found vivid illustrations of the people's unique 'national character' that explained and justified Great Britain's unique position in the world."
On nearly every page I found both -
- valuable data, such as a discussion of Pharaoh Merneptah's stele, which has the earliest mention of Israel outside of the Bible; and
- invaluable insights, such as the revelation that "supposed rational results of Western scholarship have been part of a complex network of ideas and associations which are tied to relationships of power."
I recommend reading The Invention of Ancient Israel with a copy of the Old Testament handy for reference. Also, as you can imagine with an academic work that has a 15-page bibliography, a good dictionary will be vital to handle the vocabulary. I like the Merriam-Webster Collegiate, in paperback or electronic form.
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131 of 191 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, April 30, 2000
This review is from: The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (Paperback)
Employing a Foucauldian geneology of history, Whitelam finally exposed the reproduction of truths biblical scholars have resorted to in an attempt to bestow legitimacy on their cause. Although, I read the book in Arabic, I felt compelled to comment on the original version and commend Whitelam's systematic and scientific methodology in exposing the myths that shroud the existence of the Zionist movement. Whitelam clearly draws a lot from Said's efforts in Orientalism furthuring the need to situate biblical discourse in the context of imperialism and colonial discourses. It is enough to remember that Israeli historians themsevles are beginning to question the body of 'knowledge' that was created during the course of the 20th century especially in light of the archeological discoveries that have failed to lend credence to the claim an ancient Israeli kingdom existedin the West Bank. In fact, all discoveries so far are corroborating the version of history that stipulates the existence of an Arab and Philistine socieities at the end of the Iron age and the early Bronze agg. The old testement itself contains many contradictions in relation to the manufactured history of the Zionists which served as the main source for biblical reconstructions of history.
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80 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Work!, January 10, 2000
This review is from: The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (Paperback)
Keith Whitelam's construction is first rate. He provides a patient, disciplined, and thoroughly competent survey of the available evidence regarding the historicity and ethnological extraction of the modern populace of Israel. Though this book has aroused ire in the minds of some Zionists, the evidence cited by Whitelam is actually very mundane and thoroughly cognizable to those of us who are competent in the field. Those who have read Arthur Koestler's excellent works on the Medieval eradication of Jewry will find themselves on very familiar ground here. Definitely worth reading.
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