Customer Reviews

Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

(Review is based upon Uncorrected Proof)

While reading this book I felt at times like a field archaeologist, sifting through piles of rubble and dirt to find a few precious artifacts of gold. The gold is there, to be sure, in small nuggets. You just have to be willing to dig for it.

Part travelogue, part human interest story, part crime report, part reporter's notepad, the genre of this book is difficult to pin down. It reminded me in many ways of Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses (P.S.) (without the religious insight) or Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy(without the recipes). My initial annoyance and disappointment with "Unholy Business" was ultimately tempered when I realized that I was not reading a scholarly work on archaeology, history, linguistics or even criminal forensics, but a kind of breezy and highly personalized travelogue. In hindsight this is not surprising, as Nina Burleigh is listed as a staff writer for "People" magazine, which I dip into briefly during almost every visit to my doctor. The writing of "Unholy Business" fits precisely within the human-interest story found in "People." As a history, I would give the book a single star. As human-interest story cum travelogue, it deserves two stars, possibly the three awarded here.

Three supposed archeological artifacts figure prominently in this book: The James Ossuary (supposedly the repository for the bones of James, the brother of Jesus), the Joash Tablet (supposedly bearing an inscription which proved the existence of the First Temple) and a carved ivory pomegranate (supposedly an ornament for a small priest's scepter used in the First Temple). These are--or ought to be--the heart of the book. The problem is that Burleigh spends most of the book talking about background issues--the teeming and corrupt antiquities market in Jerusalem, the 30,000 archaeological sites in Israel, the tension between Orthodox Jews and American Evangelical Christians, and so forth--and only really gets to the crux of the matter in the latter half of the book. Hence, I feel like a digger on an archeological grid, sifting through sand, hoping to ultimately uncover the precious artifacts.

Some additional comments and observations:

1. My chief problem with this book was Burleigh herself and her decision to write this book. I kept asking myself, "What qualifies this person to write a book about the world surrounding the cradle of Judaism, Islam and Christianity?" I never found a satisfying answer. To be sure Burleigh is a fine reporter. Indeed, much of the book reads like a verbatim transcript of a reporter's notebook. But what really qualifies her to write this story? To her credit, Burleigh admits that she has virtually no background in the world of religion. "My own religious training was nonexistent," she says on page 19. Her only admitted contact with "believers" from any religious tradition came from Mennonite missionaries who visited her childhood home in the 1960's and 1970's. "From them I learned that there are some very decent people who live every waking minute in a state of unshakeable faith in an otherworldly power," she wrote. I question whether this fleeting contact with Mennonite missionaries in the United States qualifies her to get into the heads of any "believer" of any tradition. Her true bias against "believers" is revealed by her description of Jerusalem, as the location of "the death match between reason and superstition--monitored by laughing commerce." To her, belief is tantamount to "superstition." I am suspicious of any writer, reporter or otherwise, who presumes to understand a subject as complex as Jerusalem from that smug, self-satisfied height of self-delusional "reason."

2. I also question her understanding of the historical background of her subject. She exhibits a shallow understanding only--a reporter's understanding--of archaeology, of linguistics, of the Dead Sea Scrolls, of politics. For example she says innocently, "No one had ever found an archaeological object linked to the First Temple." (Page 17). My slack-jawed reaction was, "Uhhhh.. you mean, other than THE TEMPLE MOUNT ITSELF!!" Later she says of the Temple, "the remains of the platform that once supported this temple are known as the Wailing Wall or the Western Wall." (Pg. 16). This is ridiculously false and simplistic. The Temple Mount covers many acres. The western wall is only the smallest of the remains of a retaining wall--mostly Herodian--some distance removed from the actual foundation marks of the First Temple, plainly visible under the Dome of the Rock. Later she makes the wide-eyed claim that the purpose of the Temple was solely house the Ark of the Covenant. This is all very Indiana Jones-like in its simplicity, but it fails to do justice to the richness, the depth, the complexity and the profound significance of the First Temple, its environs, its service, its priesthood and everything that flowed out from it culturally, historically and spiritually.

3. On its face, the book appears well-organized. The chapters have appropriate titles, and even insightful and inviting quotations leading into the prose. The chapters are divided into distinct sections, usually focusing on personalities involved in the antiquities trade, scholars, archaeologists, police, etc. But the Prologue and Epilogue are rather jarring and disjointed. The Epilogue ought in some ways to be a satisfying culimination of the Prologue, or its mirror image. The Epilogue ought to bring us full circle, perhaps returning even slightly to the not unsympathetic portrait of Ada, the idiosyncratic epigrapher toiling in her fascinating home. But here Burleigh's epilogue seems unrelated stylistically or thematically with the strong Prologue. This Epilogue is more of a Joe Friday, Dragnet-style denouement: "In 2004 the Jerusalem District Attorney submitted Criminal File 482/04 with the District Court of Jerusalem..." (Page 243). We almost await Joe Friday's laconic voice intoning, "In a moment, the results of that trial."

4. Overall, her multitude of character sketches are beautifully done, but there is also much by way of very lazy description. Particularly annoying were the many character descriptions related to popular culture. When Burleigh gets lazy and can't come up with her own description, she uses the shorthand of popular movies and culture. Some examples of weak personal descriptions: "Her gap-toothed smile and sleepy eyes suggest the sultry actress Ellen Barkin" (Pg.1); "[A]n impish face reminiscent of Joel Grey in the movie Cabaret..." (Pg. 12); "an odd duck--lawyer, crank, P.T. Barnum, and Indiana Jones all rolled into one man" and comparable to "a Saul Bellow character" (Pg. 33); "Seeking a real-life Indiana Jones, one could do worse than visit Seymour Gitin...." (Pg. 91); and "A tanned, jocular man, he greeted us in the standard uniform of the dirt archaeologist--Indiana Jones hat, sweat-stained T-shirt, shorts and sandals" (Pg. 95). If Burleigh mentioned Indiana Jones one more time in her book, I was ready to jump off of the top of the Wailing Wall.

5. Really, this book reads much like the unredacted notepad of a newspaper reporter. We get too much here. There is too much Nina Burleigh here, and not enough James Ossuary. Her prejudices and quirks and likes and dislikes, continually obtrude themselves into the narrative. Examples: "In an interview over rugelach and black coffee at Morty's Deli in Washington..." (Pg. 54); He was "barely into his first cup of Nescafe when he received a call..." (Pg. 64). This is way too much information for my taste.

I read this book because I wanted a journalist's eyeview of the trade in looted and forged artifacts as well as the full story of the James ossuary that disappeared from the press after making such a splash in the early part of this century. In my opinion Nina Burleigh does a very good job of introducing the reader to the characters of the drama-- the scholars, the dealers, the buyers and the agents who are supposed to police them all. Far from finding them distracting, I thought the details she provided about the various people are entertaining and give good visual references. If this doesn't become a documentary then I will be very surprised.

She clearly showed the interests that individuals had in the various sites and the finds that might (or might not) connect them to the Bible-- monetary, reputation, political and religious. And then she brings her story back around to the detective work that led to the discovery of the hidden items, the scientific investigation of the various items that led to the prosecution.

She isn't terribly unkind to anyone, not even Hershel Shanks-- who I first read about when a misguided friend gave me a subscription to Biblical Archaeology Review-- a publication that is indeed quite shiny. Mr. Shanks at the time was being sued by Elisha Qimron, a scholar working on the Dead Sea Scrolls, for publication of his copyrighted work without permission. Mr. Qimron won, I later learned.

Anyway, I found this book informative and entertaining without sliding into the shrillness that can be found in a lot of discussions about religious claims on the Near East and its history. I can safely predict a few hackles will be raised anyway.

During my twenty-four years as an evangelical Christian I devoured anything remotely validating the Bible's authenticity, such as the Noah's Ark expeditions and other key archaeological findings in the Middle East like the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two recent discoveries came to light as I was leaving my faith: The James Ossuary and the Jehoash Tablet. After much debate and analysis it turned out that these controversial items were sophisticated fakes, and their rise and fall is smartly documented in this fascinating book.

"Unholy Business" takes us into the seamy underbelly of the Middle East antiquities trade, specifically within Israel and the Palestine territories. Nina Burleigh covers the recent period when the above finds were unearthed, tested, and found wanting. The James Ossuary, a stone burial box, was inscribed with a phrase that made it the first archaeological object to substantiate Christ's existence (not to mention his father Joseph and brother/cousin James). As for the Jehoash Tablet, it was touted as proof of Solomon's Temple, thus augmenting the Jewish claim to the Temple Mount.

Both artifacts generated religious and political firestorms while being subjected to the scrutiny of reputable scholars. After rigorous analysis, the experts came to the conclusion that both items were bogus due to various inconsistencies and anachronisms. The persons held responsible for the frauds were charged with "creating a series of forgeries and scheming to sell them," and were subjected to a drawn-out legal ordeal that further tainted the situation, thus enabling some quarters to still claim that the items are genuine. Indeed, the title "Unholy Business" is an apt description of the entire affair.

The author does a good job documenting this fascinating ride with a well-written whodunit style that keeps us guessing. She draws us into the antiquities world and highlights its impact on Israel's complicated past and tumultuous present. We meet and get to know a cast of rogues, saints, and those in-between: Shady collectors, obscure academics, true believers, fervent nationalists, and intrepid law enforcement agents. Although we see good folks of both religious and secular persuasions, it was troubling how faith, politics, and profit corrupted the search for truth in "Unholy Business."

As a former Christian and current agnostic, I was particularly affected by religion's quest for relevance via the antiquities trade. I still remember how stoked my Christian friends and I became when something was unearthed that confirmed the Biblical record, how we rationalized away other items that contradicted it, and even our fervent desire to visit "our" Holy Land. The author's interactions with various pilgrims showed that these trends continue within the ranks of believers. It was sad how easily persons of faith and those seeking a national identity allowed their rationality to be compromised by profiteers.

In the end, some Christians will probably not be thrilled with this book due to its stance on the non-authenticity of the Ossuary and Tablet. However, the author performs a necessary service by shining a harsh light on those engaged in historical fraud, as well as on people who are willing to forego rigorous scholarship in order to validate their religious or political beliefs. "Unholy Business" is a well-written detective story about how archaeology's quest for truth can be corrupted by outside agendas and the lust for mammon. Recommended.

How tempted I was to entitled this review "Unholy Mess."

Given that I grew up surrounded by a love of all archaeology including biblical era archaeology, this book should have had me at the title. I remember hearing about the James Ossuary and I confess my first reaction was, "No way." It struck me as incredibly unlikely that something associated with Jesus could have survived in such good shape not only this long, but this long undiscovered. That Biblical Archaeology magazine was involved puzzled me further. My mother subscribed to the magazine (along with many other archaeology magazines) for years until she one day announced it had "gotten too silly" but I still associated it with decent scholarship made accessible to a mass audience. In addition, I read and enjoyed Nina Burleigh's "A Very Private Woman" a few years ago, so if any reader should have been predisposed to be an audience for a book like this, it should be me.

There are several difficulties with this book. First, as others have noted, it tries to be too many things: travelogue of the Holy Land, investigation in a fraud, query into the nature of faith, musing on the continuing strife in the Middle East, expose of the "Proving the Bible" subculture, etc. Second, even without the multitude of goals this isn't quite a book, it's more a series of articles with each chapter being too independent of the rest for most of the book to the point of nearly repeating entire sentences in several chapters. Third, Burleigh is too present in the pages. If this were a travelogue or a personal quest to understand the nature of faith this might work but amid the other goals of the book it's jarring to go from Burleigh grappling with jetlag and Jerusalem traffic to the controversies over the Temple Mount. Fourth, while I don't consider Burleigh to be blatantly anti-religious her tendency to treat this as an extended magazine article instead of a book leads her to spend more time on "colorful" characters than on presenting a balanced view. So we're treated to a succession of charlatans who prey on Bible literalists (mostly in drive-by sentences) against three briefly mentioned players who make the case for those who pursue Bible Era archaeology to better understand the times as opposed to prove or disprove something. For a book about "faith" this rarely gets beyond stereotypes of the faithful. Ultimately, though, it was the lack of a single narrative focus that made this book heavy going for me. This book is too short to have so many threads running through it.

With all that this book isn't a waste of time. Burleigh does offer telling word portraits of several of her main characters - the billionaire collector, the shady pianist turned forger who keeps the James Ossuary on "on the toilet on the top of the roof", the antiquities cop - and she sketches in a few sentences the complexities of archaeology in a land where even a minor discover can be used by opposing sides to support political ends. And Burleigh raises a question early in the book that is never answered: why would faithful people want proof in the first place? We see the wealthy collectors motivated by avarice and power but never do we truly delve into the spiritual dimensions of what draws so many in search of elusive material proofs.

If you want an introduction to the world of archaeology for profit and archaeological fraud, this book is worth skimming.

Unholy Business is the story of a simple fraud that unfortunately takes place in so complex a milieu that no book-length treatment can adequately prepare a reader to make the kinds of judgments invited by the author. Reading this book like taking a 100 mph bus tour of a foreign country with the understanding that no stops are scheduled; one is continually faced with regret over an interesting idea, theme or person into which the author simply cannot delve. That said, the book betrays the skill of an author so overwhelmed with material that she is forced to identify and then abandon the plethora of issues presented by the story of an antiquities dealer who is charged by Israeli authorities with fraud.

The defining aspect of the Holy Land is the irreducible complexity of any issues pertaining thereto. Nothing about the Holy Land is simple and any author who tries to simplify is required to make indefensible decisions. Hence, Unholy Business ends up losing much of the richness that could have accompanied the story because it focuses on the shallow, all too common motivations of a con-artist who was able to bilk knowledgeable collectors out of millions of dollars and to persuade cautious scholars to lend credence to an unsupportable thesis.

One senses that the publisher wanted to avoid "religion and politics" in favor of a simple crime story. If so, that was a bad decision. Religion and politics drive this story--the author had a chance to embrace these issues and to take a chance to demonstrate that religion continues to inform and direct the lives of everyone on this planet regardless of the level or even existence of individual belief. It is the inextricable mix of religion and politics that made the premise of the book compelling; despite a chance to discuss the deepest and most meaningful issues in today's society, we are treated to a first-rate telling of a second-rate con. Instead of "faith, greed and forgery" we simply get "greed and forgery," which are all too familiar and hardly worth the effort.

This book's reckless and summary treatment of ideas as profound as the right of Israel to exist, the meaning and purpose of religion, the value of history, the historicity of the Bible, to name but a few, is as jarring as the climactic scene in which an artifact considered sacred by some is found stuck in an old bathroom on top of a toilet. Weighed in the balance, I found it wanting.

It is unfortunate that such topics as fraudulent presentation of artefacts and the history of spurious relics, which could be intriguing and have an element of humour as well, were presented in a mixed, poor quality bag reminiscent of a jumble sale. The style of writing reminded me of a tabloid, with irrelevant personal details about those interviewed diverting from the topic altogether, and religious or historical facts and poor conclusions combined as if they were hard facts.

The quality of the research is questionable from the very moment that one sees the author did not even know the date when the Romans sacked the temple at Jerusalem, and Geoffrey Chaucer's pilgrims (whose destination should be woefully clear in the title of his most famous work, which every English speaking schoolchild has read) are mentioned as having been en route to Jerusalem.

The "faith, greed, and forgery" are topics which span all of history, but the tabloid style presentation could lead one to think that the terms are invariably interchangeable. Even the main topic is very hard to follow because of the many irrelevant diversions, which seem to be inserted just to present an overall picture of fantastic situations always, deliberately presented as true.

Some of the citations about evangelical Christian efforts (such as a Christian theme park plan for Galilee) are deplorable, but there is no balance with the presentation of genuine scholarship. There are far too many works by distinguished Christian and Jewish scholars, which not only would be a far cry from the 'facts' presented here, which would show that literalist views of ancient texts and artefacts bear little resemblance to what, for example, even those in 1 AD would have held.

I had hoped this book would be very interesting, because its description included elements in which I have a particular interest. I found nothing to recommend. It had the flavour of an ill informed gossip who drags out the days 'dirt' without ever producing a coherent whole from the parts.

I give this 5 stars for Journalistic coverage of (p21) "an exotic crime story, The Maltese Falcon meets Raiders of he Lost Ark with a little bit of The Da Vinci Code thrown in".
There is quite a crowd of Characters to keep straight in this real life adventure:

Schlomo the billionaire collector.
Deutsch the Romanian-born son-of-holocaust dealer.
Golan the middleman collector/dealer.
Lemaire, sorbonne epigrapher, the expert.
Shanks the publisher "lawyer, crank, P.T. Barnum and indiana jones all rolled into one" (p.33).
Detective Ganor, Isreali Antiquities police.
Joe Zias, Isreali forensic pathologist and exposer of hoaxes.

The story zig-zags because it reports the real-life exploits of the antiquities forgers who have produced all the famous "evidence" of Christian and Jewish religious history.
As the Author documents, if the "James Ossuary" box had not been proven fake, it would have been the first and only historical evidence of Jesus.
Likewise concerning other antiquities the author points out that for Jews, evidence of "First Temple" artifacts would likwise be a first.
There are many great bits throughout the book:

"The Shroud of Turin was made by a mideval forger from used glass, paint, and an old piece of linen between 1260 and 1390."

"The Americans are the most gullible for this stuff" says Zias, p.79.

"King Soloman never lived" Isreali archaeologist Isreal Finkelstein p.85

I was fascinated by this expose of the whole underworld of biblical antiqity forgery in Isreal and not surprised to find out that Isreali authorities say 90% of the stuff is fake.
It is amazing to me that in the 21st century people still perpetuate all this biblical superstition in the first place.

The book covered among other topics: the fraud trial concerning the Jehoash tablet and the James ossuary. A problem with the book was the complexity of the case due to multiple defendants, multiple victims, multiple investigators, and multiple governments. By the time the author introduced everybody and their stake in the authenticity of the relics, I tended not to care. Since it was an ongoing case, not all the facts were presented.

I don't remember if she wrote about the photograph of the James ossuary that tends to vindicate the defendants.

The author's writing style is readable. There is only a few run-on sentences. She uses a few technical terms or references that are a little obscure and not well defined. The effect of the book on me is that I have a more cynical view about archaeology now. It is a more subjective science than what I originally thought. I do not think that the James Ossuary is real, but how the whole system is used to prey on people's faith is disturbing.

I recommend the book marginally, but I had to push myself to get through it.

My heading is a direct quotation from the book. In the interest of reader convenience I've chosen to write two reviews of this book, a brief one and a detailed version... pick your preference!

BRIEF REVIEW:

The story: In 2002 an ossuary (a sort of limestone mini-coffin for housing the bones of the dead, employed during the era of Jesus Christ) lauded as the "James Ossuary" captured the center of attention [especially] for Christians interested in an expanded validation of "The Holy Bible" and, indirectly, the existence of Christ himself. Shipped from Israel and placed on display in a Canadian Museum, this astonishing relic was purported to have held the mortal remains of the Apostle James, son of Joseph, and brother to Jesus Christ.

Within two years of the ossuary's emergence in public the owner, Oded Golan, and four others were arrested and formally charged with fraud and/or appurtenant criminal charges related to this and to other "created" Biblical antiquities. Due to the sluggishness of the Israeli justice system, the trial for two of the defendants drags on and charges against the other three have since been dropped. Oded Golan, the chief defendant, and one other man still face justice in the matter.

Author Nina Burleigh is an aggressive investigative reporter who has assembled the facts of this alleged unholy conspiracy and of the subsequent investigation by the Israeli authorities in this 260-page exposé. Unfortunately, the book doesn't really launch as a page-turner until one arrives at the final third of the story. Up to that point, the tale cries out for cohesiveness in tying together the principal characters and their nefarious activities. At the conclusion the reader is additionally left hanging to a large degree -- the story lacks finality due to the fact that two of the trials (as of this date) still linger. In her book, Burleigh maintains a certain level of vagueness on this important point.

If you have a definite interest in either the "James Ossuary," the "Jehoash Tablet" (a stone tablet which purportedly documents the existence of Solomon's Temple, now debunked as a fake), or the "Ivory Pomegranate" (also documenting the Temple, and apparently also forged), then you'll find this work to be a real eye-opener as to the often sleazy world of Biblical antiquities forgery and trading; however, it appears to me that Burleigh was a bit too close to her own aggregation of facts and characters -- her failure convey the linkage between these characters and incidents at an early point in the account may cause some readers to lay the book aside halfway through the narrative.


DETAILED REVIEW (Warning! Semi-spoilers ahead!):

Nina Burleigh is an aggressive investigative reporter who, early on in this chronicle, profiles herself as a "non-believer" (as opposed to an outright atheist) of Christianity or of any other religious faith. My view of this personal assertion is that she simply wished to convey to readers that she harbored no pre-investigative bias regarding the allegations against the five men who have been criminally charged with, essentially, "creating" (forging) Biblical antiquities.

Oded Golan, an Israeli antiquities collector-dealer, is the chief defendant in the matter and he is alleged to have been the prime conspirator in the so-called "James Ossuary" fraud. This ossuary, which is in essence a limestone "mini-coffin" designed as a repository for the bones of the dead and widely-employed during the time of Christ, was purported to have held the mortal remains of the Apostle James, son of Joseph, and brother to Jesus Christ, according to the now controversial writing which is inscribed on the side of the artifact. Oded Golan is the central focus of Burleigh's 260-page exposé but numerous other principals add to both the allure and the complexity of this sordid account.

The James Ossuary, along with other significant purported Biblical antiquities (including the "Jehoash Tablet," a stone relic which purportedly documents the existence of Solomon's Temple and the "Ivory Pomegranate," also documenting the Temple), was placed on display at a Canadian Museum in 2002 where it was first viewed by thousands of the faithful who subsequently streamed by, gazing at the artifact with absolute awe. Within two years after this initial exhibition, Golan and four other men were charged with "creating" the ossuary's astounding inscription and/or the creation and sale of other Biblical forgeries.

One of the most visible and renowned characters who Burleigh lauds as being responsible for the general promotion of the James Ossuary is Hershel Shanks, publisher of "Biblical Archaeology Review" (BAR). BAR is a magazine which target markets both the Christian and Jewish faithful and amateur archaeologists as well. While many legitimate and prominent archaeologists have published their work in BAR, the magazine is not recognized in the trade as particularly credible due to a lack of peer review of reported findings. The author points out that while Shanks is not a defendant in the case, he is still scorned by certain Israeli officials for his P.T. Barnum approach to generating sensation about so-called Biblical antiquities.

Burleigh dubbed Shanks, also a Washington D.C. attorney, as an "odd duck". I agree with her there as I personally got to know a great deal about Shanks and this story from the very start by having subscribed to BAR for quite a long time, a subscription which I have since terminated as the magazine's recent credibility has been egregiously eroded, mostly due to the James Ossuary controversy. In the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, Shanks still clings to the genuineness of the James Ossuary, an assertion which supports his financial agenda as well as his damaged reputation. He also has another notable investment at stake, having written a book about the now defamed artifact:

The Brother of Jesus: The Dramatic Story & Meaning of the First Archaeological Link to Jesus & His Family

While Burleigh mostly implies that Shanks is a semi-bad guy on the periphery of the James Ossuary matter, I feel compelled to bring to the attention of readers that Shanks has also done much good in regard to making important legitimate Biblical antiquities available for study to both scholars and to the general public as well. Most notably, the significant pressure he exerted over the years upon various officials and groups (through articles in BAR), helped to break the authoritarian and iron-fisted sequestration of the Dead Sea Scrolls by a few elitist and arrogant persons who controlled access to these important ancient documents - this effort was clearly in the public interest. I mention this episode in particular as an example of Shanks' work because I feel that Burleigh, who spent a lot of time discussing Shank's more dubious activities, shorted the publisher on his more constructive and notable achievements.

In any case, Burleigh takes the reader on a literary tour of the Holy Land which few Pilgrims ever get to see firsthand. She highlights and profiles many of the well-known archaeologists (both secular and Biblical), epigraphers, collectors, antiquities dealers, museum curators, and promoters. Some of the issues she raises are quite authentic, such as the concept of "Biblical archaeology," with its several negative implications.

Those who see themselves, and publish as, "Biblical archaeologists" generate a dilemma for the science. This is because they have, through their very job title, asserted a specific "agenda" which is essentially to prove the actuality of The Holy Bible as a historically pristine and correct document. The clear problem here is that the personal faith of such persons may well cloud the quality of interpretations of the fruits of their excavations. And regular, non-Biblical archaeologists are not necessarily immune from such allegations either -- their costly work is quite often funded by religious organizations and groups who are subject to ceasing any financial backing of digs which begin to yield results which contradict Bible scripture. So, as Burleigh astutely conveys through some of the people she interviews (paraphrasing), "Which is better (or worse) -- tainted scholarship, or NO scholarship?"

Burleigh also points out that this same question arises in regard to the refusal of some scholars to examine and evaluate the thousands of artifacts which materialize on the antiquities market and which turn up with no clue as to their origins -- thus the science of archeology fails to advance in the absence of investigation of such relics. A prime example of these important historical items includes the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered and removed from caves by Bedouins in the late 1940s, but which have now been validated as entirely genuine and which probably represent the most significant archaeological find since the unearthing of Tutankhamen's tomb. These are relevant controversial issues which Burleigh raises and they help to punctuate why the forgery of antiquities is so damaging to our ability to establish historical truth.

As I read "Unholy Business," I detected an unwritten undertone which conveyed to me that the author, while highly-educated and notably experienced in investigative reporting, had to teach herself much about religion, antiquities, and about religious people, all from the ground up. As a result I sensed that she inadvertently tags the faithful (particularly Evangelical Christians) as notably more naïve and ill-informed on the nefarious activities of forgers and religious charlatans than they actually are. This underestimation of certain readers' acuity concerning the forgeries of relics and inscriptions is a point which might possibly result in some folks experiencing a slight level of resentment toward her implied way of thinking.

In Burleigh's defense it is a point that in any discussion of religious issues, especially as in this instance where the faith of millions has been challenged, she was compelled to walk a difficult literary tightrope. And there is an evident level of over-sensitivity by some religious people, as Christianity in particular has endured recent occasional assaults by specific media outlets and from radical factions of various other faiths. In the end, numerous Christians have of late become much more proactive in defending their doctrines as such controversies have continued to escalate. For taking on the task of writing this story of religious deceit and unholy conspiracy I applaud Burleigh's efforts but, through her conveyance of the tale, she may still have rubbed the more exacting Christian Fundamentalists the wrong way by employing a slightly elitist tone. In the end, this unfortunate approach may inhibit some readers from being psychologically drawn into this fascinating story.

I should also mention that, in three instances, Burleigh cites the "F-word," mostly where someone is speaking -- in other words, a quotation. There are many of the faithful who simply do not wish to encounter this word and, while I think that the quotations were relevant in each case, they could have just as easily been omitted or implied. The insertions of this common but infamous obscenity will probably further limit the sales of Burleigh's work.

One astute conclusion which Burleigh draws from the James Ossuary saga is the unfortunate actuality that huge amounts of money and profit are clearly the well-defined nemeses which often taint high-quality archaeology today. She quotes one well-known and cynical antiquities collector, a billionaire by the name of Shlomo Moussaieff, who sums it up thus: "The world is full of fakers". She also praises the work of the hard-working Israeli detectives, including Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who continue to press on with the thankless task of bringing an end to these nefarious practices, but who are also faced with an almost impossible mission.

In summary, this is a well-researched and extensive investigative report of a fascinating topic; however, I can only recommend the book to those who are particularly interested in either Biblical antiquities or in this unique facet of global law enforcement. I think that the casual reader of such material would be better served by waiting for the case against Oded Golan to conclude. At that time the probability of the emergence of more cohesive and updated books on this topic for the more general consumers of non-fiction is surely probable.

While I did enjoy reading this book, I read it along with a religious expert, someone who teaches religion and studies history (but has an open mind) so I could get that extra insight. I felt I'd be less than fair in my review if I added only my perspective. However, I did discover that even without the extra input, I felt that the book was lacking. I actually knew enough to realize that the writer's perspective and background in this area was not strong enough to cover all the facets of the subject matter.

Was the book interesting? Yes, I found it interesting. However, I think it leaves much to be desired when it comes to combining religious thought, perspective and even history with the acts of forgery described in this book. The character studies at the beginning of the book are strong and I found them compelling. But right from the start, the religious expert was complaining about huge inaccuracies and information left out - noting that it was clear that the author had no background or expertise in religious studies. Sadly, I have to agree. This book came across almost as an essay or travelogue in book form.

I am not a snob or purist about these things. It is NOT always an issue when a person who is not an "expert" writes a book. In fact, a different perspective can even be refreshing.. But in this case I do think the lack of expertise raised some serious issues and resulted in a flawed book. I really wanted the book to focus on the actual artifacts but instead the author wrote many pages of background info about the people in the book, the thieves, forgers and the people who believed them...and while that was engaging, it wasn't what I'd consider the main point of a book like this....unless one wanted only to read character studies. In that case, the book might not disappoint.

I wanted to know more about the James Ossuary as well as actual historical information. Just about every other page, my friend was stopping me and saying things like "that is a major inaccuracy" or "that simply is not true." That really bothered me. If a book is going to be written as nonfiction and covers historical information, then I think that information ought to be correct. I took notes and researched the inaccuracies noted by my friend and they did raise serious questions about the author's research and the information in the book. If you read this, you can come to your own conclusions.