The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (Paperback)

by Keith Whitelam (Author) "The conceptualization and representation of the past is fraught with difficulty, not simply because of the ambiguities and paucity of data but because the construction..." (more)
Key Phrases: incipient nation state, settlement shift, biblical specialists, Iron Age, Hebrew Bible, Late Bronze Age (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"... fascinating ... This is a timely, pioneering study ... ... author is to be congratulated for producing an extremely provocative and, for the most part, faithful mirror in which the discipline of biblical studies may behold its unflattering reflection." -- Journal of Biblical Literature

"The Invention of Ancient Israel is a remarkable work of scholarship, certainly audacious enough, despite its painstaking manner, to undermine many unthinking presuppositions about ancient biblical history . . . the book possesses that keen independence of spirit and vision that is so rare and so invigorating when one encounters it." -- Edward Said, The Times Literary Supplement

"This is a brave, fascinating and important book." -- Sunday Times

'An important contribution to the history of scholarship.' - Expository Times

'Anyone who feels K's work 'can be safely ignored' will only show himself up as a fool.' - History Geography and Society

'It is a masterly, courageous work, the result of careful reading, focused reflection and the appropriate moral passion, which richly deserves wide exposure and will surely prompt siginificant discussion.' - Heythrop Journal

'Keith Whitelam's work serves to remind us what a vital if fraught exercise it still is to engage explicitly with the unique cultural influence of the Old Testament on the contemporary world.' - The Friend

'This is a brave, fascinating and important book ... constantly thought provoking and controversial.' - Sunday Times

'Whitelam can (and will) be criticized for introducing politics into 'ancient Israel', he is merely exposing it - and the Palestinians are after all the major victims of a zionizing European and American biblical scholarship. This book should be in paperback, and compulsory reading.' - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

An important contribution to the history of scholarship. - Expository Times

Anyone who feels Ks work can be safely ignored will only show himself up as a fool. - History Geography and Society

It is a masterly, courageous work, the result of careful reading, focused reflection and the appropriate moral passion, which richly deserves wide exposure and will surely prompt siginificant discussion. - Heythrop Journal

Keith Whitelams work serves to remind us what a vital if fraught exercise it still is to engage explicitly with the unique cultural influence of the Old Testament on the contemporary world. - The Friend

This is a brave, fascinating and important book ... constantly thought provoking and controversial. - Sunday Times

Whitelam can (and will) be criticized for introducing politics into ancient Israel, he is merely exposing it - and the Palestinians are after all the major victims of a zionizing European and American biblical scholarship. This book should be in paperback, and compulsory reading. - Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Product Description
A controversial and provocative work, The Invention of Ancient Israel chronicles how the true history of ancient Palestine has been obscured. Keith W. Whitelam reveals how ancient Israel has been invented by scholars in the image of a European nation state; one that resembles the state of Israel created in 1948.

This book explores the prospects for developing the study of Palestinian history as a subject in its own right, divorced from the history of the Bible, and argues that Biblical scholars, through their traditional view of this area, have contributed to dispossession both of a Palestinian land and a Palestinian past.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; New edition edition (May 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415107598
• ISBN-13: 978-0415107594
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #462,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 181 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, April 30, 2000

By	[e-mail] (Jordan) - See all my reviews

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.

151 of 226 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An objective Reading of History, August 11, 2000

By	Fred (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This is one of the very few objective accounts one can find in the western world about the history of Palestine. The Creation of the so-called "Ancient Israel" is really but a Western literary idea. The Arabic historical reality of Palestine is confirmed in this fascinating Book. The conclusion of the book is that the Now-Israel is just a Myth which is enforced on the rest of the world through Western domination. A must read for any student of history and anyone who search for truth.

73 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Work!, January 10, 2000

By	Amazed (Tempe, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

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.