Customer Reviews

Jerusalem: The Biography

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I came to this book as an Arab reader, growing up with songs, poems, and books written about beloved Jerusalem, but never have I come across a book offering such a luxurious detailed and honest view and at such a scale! Written with remarkable neutrality and taking us through the diverse and rich history of the most disputed and news making region in the world! This comprehensive, and unpatronising treatment of Jerusalem's past is neither overwhelmingly scholarly to gloss over the gory (and fascinating) details, nor too hurried as to miss out important facts. Simon Sebag Montefiore combines the rare talent of total political and cultural understanding with a great and most eloquent narrating skill!

"Jerusalem, the Biography" is a new sort of History, written as a biography, through the people who made Jerusalem, starting with King David and ending with Barrack Obama, over a span of 3000 years. Each section is about a person who, made, destroyed, believed in, or fought for Jerusalem, some are ordinary people, some are monsters and dictators. There is massacre, siege, blood, violence, but also beautiful poetry.

The story of Jerusalem, is truly (as the author expressed) the story of the world, as well, of the Middle East, of religion, of holiness, of empire! I was thrilled to read about one of the greatest philosophers, the Arab historiographer "Ibn Khaldoon", about Suleiman the Magnificent, Caliph Muawiya, Saladin Dynasty, Druze princess and angelic voiced Singer "Asmahan", the Hashemite (Sherifian) Dynasty, and most exciting to read was some poignant poetry by Nizar Qabbani.

One can read it as an adventure story, or as an explanation of why the Middle East is what it is today, I felt infused with great knowledge, one that I could never acquire if I read a thousand books. The book offers correct answers and honest background of many of the issues of the region today such as, Israel vs. Palestine, America vs. Iran, written without an agenda, and with remarkable impartiality. And I must not forget the most fascinating details over the Apocalypse-the End of Days.

To fit such a swathe of history into a 650-page-turner is a bit of an art form in itself. The book also offers wonderfully informative illustrations and photographs, family trees, and even maps.

I thoroughly enjoyed three of Simon Sebag Montefiore's previous books (or rather masterpieces), but this has to be my most enjoyable read of a history, I have no words to do the author nor the book justice, well-paced and absolutely gripping, this book is a treasure -trove, and I highly recommend it for all readers of different faiths, political, cultural backgrounds, well versed in the Middle East or not.

Simon Montefiore has already proven himself as a superb biography writer in his works on Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsarand Catherine the Great and Potemkinamong others, he then made the very difficult transition of writing a novel - Sashenka: A Novel which once again impressed with a beautiful story and yes, the attention to historical detail that only a true expert is capable of.

In Jerusalem he surpassed himself. This was a true masterpiece - a biography of a city yet so much more. This isn't just a retelling of facts - through stories, anecdotes, and pages and pages of researched history you really feel as if you are stepping back through time and experiencing Jerusalem's history first hand.

Jerusalem is never boring, like the city itself it is vibrant, mysterious, and occasionally controversial. Yet even as I found myself disagreeing with the author - I was still enjoying the book. I could not put it down.

When discussing Jerusalem there will always be more than one voice, and more often than not those voices are raised, but Montefiore's Jerusalem tries to bring as many voices as possible and include them in the narrative. That is just one of the things that make Jerusalem unique.

I cannot recommend Jerusalem enough, it is a 'Must Read' - absolutely brilliant, I feel privileged to have read it and as always, wait impatiently to read what Simon Montefiore has in store.

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When I first started to read this book I was often quite irritated. The author clearly knew so much about the pre 19th century world of and around Jerusalem that I was frustrated that he did not go into more detail. The long succession of characters, the leaping over large gaps in time, all led me to put aside the book repeatedly. Yet I persevered and thank goodness I did. As it ran into the 19th and 20th centuries and the detail seemed to come more into view (or possibly I could see it just as one reads a book, identifying the shapes without having to recognise each letter).

And the object of the book began to become clearer (maybe I am none too bright and should have seen this earlier). It became more and more apparent that Jerusalem is almost a metaphor for human kind's frailties, faiths and prejudices. While many of the characters throughout history have been wise enough to realise that compromises and accommodation are possible without necessarily sacrificing all the principles they adhere to, regrettably there are others who can only see the world in a binary black and white, whether they be fundamentalist Christians, Islamists or Jews or whatever. These often use a very selective view of history to justify prejudice and religiously inspired mayhem.

I am in admiration of this remarkable work and wish to thank the author for providing many hours of enjoyable stimulation.

I'd be happier with closer proof reading. The Mediterranean isn't eastward of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar didn't take Jerusalem 100 years before he was born, and Jesus isn't the Aramaic for Joshua. Yes, it's a well written book, but these clinkers make me unwilling to accept it as authoritative.

This book is a real page turner! The violence depicted Is very graphic,and is not for the faint of heart. The author does not pull punches about the city's blood filled past, nor does he promote any one's religous viewpoint. All of the historical figures are covered without romanticism.It may make many uncomfortable by the time they finish reading It.Sure to stir controversy, this book is hard to put down, highly recomended!!!

I am not an expert on the subject, but I know a bit.

On the positive side, it's pretty thorough. On the negative side, it's boring at times as the text recites the battles and kings with minimal interpretation of their impact. But what really bothered me is the little errors that even someone like me, who is not an expert, noticed. For example, in chapter 7 Sebag talks about the revolt of Mattathias, and says that he "fled into the mountains, joined by extremely pious Jews known as the Righteous - Hasidim". The Hasidim didn't come about for another 18 centuries or so - it was the Hasideans who fled with Mattathias. Another place in the text referred to Rosh Ha Ayim (where it should be Rosh Ha Ayin) - a small typo, but one that indicates that Sebag either isn't familiar with Hebrew (which should be a precondition for writing about Jerusalem) or his editor was making changes that Sebag didn't proofread. There are other errors too - I just offer these as examples.

Maybe there will be a revised version - or at least an errata page.

This is an outstanding book and one that you almost can not put down! It is well written, factual and a tremendous source on one of most controversial cities in the world. The writer makes the history of this City come alive and has each section (written in a chronological sequence) flow to the next. Great job!

Jerusalem has perhaps more history than any other city in the world. Montefiore's JERUSALREM is a gripping and fluent narrative of three thousand-year history of Jerusalem's multiple rulers and ruled. The author deserves recognition for his efforts to chronicle so much daunting detail, in a non-biased way. Many events in the book pertaining to ancient history of JERUSALEM are quite revealing, but not based on historically reliable documents and not supported by archeological evidence. Still, not knowing much history, I learned from this book as much as I could absorb. The footnotes were very helpful. Depicted events that took place in my life time are, to best of my memory and judgment, accurate. The Arab-Jewish conflicts during the British mandate, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel and the Israeli- Arab conflict since then are all relayed objectively. Israel had been constantly threatened by Arab-States "with the openly stated object of annihilation"; with another Holocaust. The point of view from Jews, Christians and Moslems are fairly and candidly portrayed, in the book.

During WWII, I experienced and witnessed Nazis' looting, expropriating, deporting, mocking, beating, torturing, shooting, hanging, starving and other unimaginable acts of extreme wickedness carried out against innocent men, women and children (as reflected in From a Name to a Number). Reading about the graphically depicted atrocities, taken place hundreds or thousands of years ago, is perhaps educating but simultaneously saddening to see how inhumane people could be. Well written JERUSALEM to me is informative, thought provoking and reminiscent of my own encounters with senseless discrimination, persecution and deportation.

For those of us who know Jerusalem, including myself, this is a wonderful, colorful narrative of constant war and destruction, building and rebuilding. I am halfway through the book and cannot put it down. One could write down the sites and dates described in the book and spend weeks referring to notes in current Jerusalem east and west, not to mention all of Israel and Palestine. There is no western logic, nor historic truth or moral to the story. Jerusalem belongs to all, Arabs, Jews, Christians, Turks,Byzantines, Latins and all the subdivisions of every group, but it especially belongs to those who conquer it, build it, rule it the best they can, and don't lose it. Negotiations? Imagine looking back to Saladin and Richard the Lionhearted in the 1200s or thereabouts. Most Israelis and Palestinians probably don't even know the history, the entire history, and it might not make the jobs of the people running the show on both sides any easier if they did read this book and learn the history. But nobody has ever told it better than Simon Sebag Montefiore. Kadima!!! Foward...into the past!!!
Shipping the book through Amazon USA here to Paris, France took forever and was costly. Go through Amazon in local country for faster, cheaper results.

The historical scope of the book is immense and, in 600+ pages, not much depth is given to any one era. However, what one learns is that the city's basic religious factions have unceasingly clashed and any possible resolution is mythical.