Customer Reviews

Sacred Geography: A Tale of Murder and Archaeology in the Holy Land

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Telling the history of Albert Glock is a vehicle for 1) an understanding of the ideology behind archaeology in the Holy Land, 2) a broader explanation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. By looking at Glock's work and murder and running through the possible suspects, the reader can better understand the various groups in Palestine and Israel, how their interpretation of the archaeological record is influenced, and the difficulties of occupation and in particular of "curfew". It's an interesting trip, but more like a tour bus than a home stay.

A well-written, compelling account of the politics and various agendas of two centuries of archaeology in Palestine and Israel, as well as as a troubling and eye-opening study of social, political, and crime issues in Israel and the Occupied Territories in the '90s.

How important can archeology be today? Unbelievably crucial. In this part of the world it is the justification for worldview, religion, the meaning of life. It seems all of the parties involved come off are charlatans, awful human beings, and trying to justify their own criminality via archeology. This poor Dr Glock gets ineptly kmixed up in it and gets himself killed.

No matter how complex the issues of Palestine/Israel appear, they are clearly more complicated. And they are international, national, and LOCAL.

The book is clearly written and fun to read. Do not expect an answer.

I would have liked even more archeology.

Fox does a great job of blending biography, history and crime novel in his short account of Glock's life and assassination. He also blends archaeology with criminal forensics, which I really admired. The writing isn't terribly exciting, but its enough to hold one's attention for 200 pages, and this book offers a lot more than thrills.

The murder of the archaeologist, Albert Glock,proved the setting for this book's multifacted investigation into turbulent Palestine and Israel. It is an engrossing tale, and excellently written. The author considers a number of credible explanations before, on the balance of probabilities, linking the murder to rogue young Palestinian militants.

It is a fair minded work, concentrating on the cultural storm surrounding archaeology in the region. Fox points out quite convincingly the importance of archaeology as a handle to crank out authenticity certificates for the many cultures of the region. The paranoiac sense of two communities under siege and fearful of every aspect of each other's existence and intentions is drawn carefully and with scrupulous regard for opposing views. Some measure of Fox's commitment to unearthing the facts of the matter is conveyed by his sojourning in the occupied terrorities for several months while investigating the various accounts of the murder.

The subject of the book is notionally Glock, but he is a tragic bit player in terms of the overall thrust of the book. He is portrayed as a man of uneviable character. Socially impaired in his understanding of people and indifferent to other points of view. These traits, it is conjectured, are ultimately what contribued to his demise.

If the work has any dissatisfying structure it must be the way itis hurried along somewhat to a conclusion. We are given tantalisingly frustrating glimpses of the actions of people inth months leading up to Glock's murder, but never enough to stand up a prolonged analysis. The book is pool of tragic stories and uncertain endings retold in the prose of a quiet factuality. Don't pass over the opportunity to read it.

Fox can't decide whether to write an academic book on the politics of archeology, or a mystery novel, so it makes for slow reading. He makes factual errors about Albert Glock's religious affiliations--makes me wonder what other factual errors he includes.

If I were a member of Glock's family, I think I would regret giving Fox access, as he paints yellow-journalism's sensationalist and negative portrait of this good man. Then after shifting through a lot of complicated evidence, he draws a silly conclusion: Hamas did it. Please!--how politically convenient! The preponderance of the evidence he himself offers supports the more plausible view that Israelis did it--either army or Mossad-like agents--as Palestinian archeology is a basic threat to the Israeli state's official narrative of who has claims to the land.

Most disappointing. Fox, you took on an admirable and courageous task, but dropped the ball in the end.

The phenomenon that catalyzes - and paralyzes -- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to be the riddle of our age. By reopening this 1992 murder investigation, journalist Fox reveals how much wider a puzzle it is. Why has this patch of earth attracted so much political, cultural, and religious investment?

Investigating the murder of Dr. Albert Glock, director of the Palestinian Institute of Archaeology, Fox uncovers the key role Biblical archaeology, an opportunistic subdiscipline founded on the idea that the Bible is a true chronicle of history, has played in Palestine's tumultuous history.

Since the age of the Holy Roman Emperor Constantine, the field has been replete with religious charlatans and swashbuckling adventurers, generals and statesmen, all mining Palestine for biblical wonders to advance their own causes. Fox calls this "negative cosmopolitanism", meaning the identification of many people with one place -- the region's most insoluble problem.

Making the landscape fit the map has served the modern state of Israel, Fox claims, yet soon enough he admits his bias, writing that he "took to rooting for the Palestinian underdog."

Regarding the Hague Convention's 1954 prohibition of excavation in occupied territories, the author gleefully reports Professor Glock's circumventions, while reminding us "all respectable archaeologists" refrained from excavating, "except the Israelis."

A fantastic book that outlines the field of Palestinian archeology. How successive generations of the decendents of Ka'annan lived off the same land. How history destroys a people when it is written by outsiders & unchallenged for 2000 years & finally adopted in tragic irony by the very people it eventually dispossesses. It is therefore fitting that the founder of Palestinian archeology, Albert Glock, is a non-Palestinian who was probably murdered by a Palestinian. Face the facts: the Israelis didn't do it. It is the obscurantism of religion that is at the heart of the Palestinian problem, of the "Holy Land" Archeology problem and the murder of Albert Glock.

Caveat Emptor.

The fascinating world of Albert Glock is wasted in this wretched display of "yellow" journalism. The first 25 pages tempt the reader with Glock's difficult and languid childhood. After chapter 3, the author loses perspective of his topic, instead providing us with a hackneyed description of Glock's revolutionary methods to find the Palestinian's common ancestors.

Part two of "Sacred" squanders what could have been a fascinating study into the mind of the radical archaeologist. Instead we are presented with Fox's opinionated and, at times, churlish investigation of Glock's murder.

If Fox remembered the Birzeit professor's suggestion that the "answer lies in the archaeology", than perhaps he would have foraged deeper into the cultural and intellectual historical influences that formed his eccentric archeological methods.

All I have to say is-

I've read it, and it's good, but I recommend this book's original version- Palestine Twilight. For some reason, the title was changed when it came to America, and some elements were edited out.