182 of 189 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Fiction At Its Finest, June 11, 2001
This sweeping epic traces the fictitious history of Makor, a city in Israel, from prehistory to modern times. Starting in the 1960s, an archeological dig turns up artifacts in an ancient mound composed of the remains of successive settlements in Makor. Then, starting with the deepest, oldest artifact and moving forward in time, in successive chapters Michener chronologically describes the inhabitants (who are often descendants of characters in earlier chapters) and events in and around the city over thousands of years. In this way, he tells the fascinating story of the Jews and other local inhabitants, of Judaism and its role in the creation of Christianity and Islam, and of the establishment of the modern state of Israel.
This is the first book I have read by Michener, my interest having been piqued when a friend responded to my praise of Edward Rutherfurd's "London" by describing Rutherfurd as "a poor man's Michener". My friend's point was that Rutherfurd borrowed Michener's often-used story structure for historical fiction, a structure perhaps best exemplified by "The Source". As much as I enjoyed "London", it pales in comparison to "The Source", one of the classics of the genre. I recommend it without reservation.
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91 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Source" of my Middle East fascination, June 20, 2004
When I was in my early teens, back in the days of disco, fat ties, oil crises, and gaudy leisure suits (aka, the 1970s), I remember looking through my parents' book collection for the book with the most pages. At the time, I thought that the length of a book somehow corresponded to its difficulty level, and that if I could read a 1,000+ page book, then I must be REALLY smart and also grown up! Anyway, one of the first books I decided to read, based on these sophisticated criteria, was "The Source," by James Michener. Surprisingly, I found out that the book was actually easy to read, fascinating, and highly entertaining, and I whizzed right through it (boy, did I think I was smart afte that)! I remember being completely engrossed as the centuries flew past, as conquering armies marched, as cities rose and fell, as blood flowed through the streets of Jerusalem, and as the Jews wandered through the Middle East and Europe. I also remember thinking that the Middle East had an incredible history that I needed to learn a lot more about.
Well, almost 30 years later, with a Masters Degree in Middle East Studies, with a couple of trips to the region under my belt, and with a job dealing with the Middle East, I can blame it all, at least in part, on reading "The Source" at age 12 or 13. Seriously, though, I do believe that the seed of my life-long fascination with history, international relations, politics, and the Middle East was planted when I read "The Source" as a young teenager. Actually, come to think of it, another Michener book -- Centennial -- got me fascinated in the history of the West and the American Indian, while several others made me want to learn more about South Africa, Hawaii, the South Pacific, the Chesapeake region, and even outer space. So, definitely read James Michener, but be warned: you could become addicted to a lifetime of learning, travel, and adventure.
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74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
DO NOT BUY KINDLE VERSION!!!, October 4, 2010
I love Michener and wound up getting this book from the library. About 35% of the way through I decided to get it for my Kindle and finish reading it on there. The story is awesome but when I switched to the Kindle version I discovered an amazing number of typos in the text. Within the first two pages I read there were five. I guess the publisher isn't as picky with quality control for the Kindle folks.
UPDATE: After reading to 85% of this book I came across a section that is totally missing. I know because it repeated a previous chapter. I went BACK to the library to figure out what was going on and discovered that a whole page was replaced by a previous page. Now I wonder about previous chapters where they seemed to end without resolution. I will be asking for my money back. I would be more understanding if the Kindle version were free or maybe around a dollar but to have a book cost nearly as much as the paperback be obviously unedited is ridiculous! It appears that the text was scanned using OCR and no checking was done. Frequently odd characters appear in the text such as a ? instead of a letter in the middle of a word. Pathetic!
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