Amazon.com Review
Jerusalem, a subject for photographers since the camera was invented, is a beautiful city with an intense history of complex struggles. It is both modern, with American-style malls in the western part, and ancient, with a labyrinthine Old City that is an alluring mix of middle eastern smells, sights and sounds. It is a holy place for three of the world's major religions, and yet often seems a center of fanaticism, not holiness. Even the 3000th anniversary celebration in 1996, commemorating the biblical conquest by King David, serves as a political statement, claiming the city as irrevocably Jewish. This collection of photographs ranging from the state visit of Kaiser Wilhelm, to battle pictures taken during the 1967 war, to scenes of daily life today, offers a pictorial history.
From Publishers Weekly
This breathtakingly beautiful photo-essay explores the image of Jerusalem as a city of peace, juxtaposing it with the bitter reality of centuries of conflict waged in the name of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. More than 400 color and black-and-white photographs are organized around such themes as ancient sites, the medieval period, British rule, the Holocaust, immigration, the city's architecture, the Knesset (Parliament), the birth of Israel and the 1967 Six-Day War. With sections on Christian Byzantium, Jesus in Jerusalem, Islamic rule, the Intifada, the Arab and Orthodox Jewish quarters, this is a memorable cornucopia of indelible images. The text is in English, German and French. Author/photographer Gidal, born in Munich, has lived in Jerusalem since 1970 and teaches the history of visual communication at Hebrew University.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
