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Edward Fox

Edward L. Fox

Sacred Geography: A Tale of Murder and Archaeology in the Holy Land Hardcover – November 7, 2001

by Edward Fox (Author)

3.2 12 ratings

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A compelling, true murder mystery, that unfolds in the astonishing world of Biblical archeology, a field rife with skullduggery and intrigue

Biblical archeology has for centuries been subject to the manipulations of adventurers, generals, and statesmen, all seeking to further their own aims. Now more than ever, digging into the land of the Bible is a weapon as two rival nations seek to prove their claims to its treasures.

The most recent casualty in this bloody tug-of-war is Albert Glock, a prominent American archeologist, shot dead in the West Bank in 1992, who devoted his life to helping Palestinian archeologists find evidence of their historic roots. Edward Fox investigates the puzzle of Glock's murder and its background in the explosive cultural politics of archeology in the Holy Land. Fox reveals the strange sub-discipline of biblical archeology--a field rich in obscure mystics, greedy opportunists, and religious charlatans. He pursues the various suspects in Glock's death--Islamic zealots, Jewish extremists, and rival archeologists--only to find himself caught in an expanding labyrinth of deceit.

A lively history and a riveting mystery, Sacred Geography is also the tragic story of a man who devoted himself to a cause that ultimately destroyed him.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Metropolitan Books
Publication date

November 7, 2001
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0805054936
ISBN-13

978-0805054934
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1994, British writer Fox, whose pieces appear in the London Times and other leading papers, stumbled upon a reference to an obscure incident in a footnote to an article in the Journal of Palestine Studies: On Jan. 19, 1992, Albert Glock, an American archeologist excavating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had been shot to death by an unknown assailant. The note's suggestion that Glock's death had come at the hands of an Israeli hit squad raised deep questions for Fox: Why would an Israeli hit squad kill an American archeologist? Why was an American teaching at Palestinian Birzeit University? Did his apparent Palestinian sympathies have anything to do with his death? Fox thus begins an investigation that takes him not only to the heart of the Israel-Palestine struggle, but also to the very contentious field of archeology. Fox discovers that early in his career, Glock had decided not to use excavations as a way to confirm biblical history like much of the archeological establishment but instead to aid Palestinians in recovering their antiquities. Glock was thus viewed with suspicion by his professional colleagues as well as by Palestinians, many of whom believed that this outsider had come to steal their valuable relics. Fox interviews both Israeli and Palestinian officials as he searches for clues about Glock's murder. In the end, he knows little more than he did when he began, and to date, the murder remains unsolved. But Fox presents a spellbinding detective story, a fascinating account of the contentious nature of archeology in the Holy Land, and a sad but compelling look at Israeli-Palestinian relations. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW. (Nov. 6) Forecast: Holt will promote this in the religion press and will shoot for national media appearances and widespread reviews. Handselling will help this first-rate whodunit as will the hot topic of archeology in the Middle East.

From Library Journal

In the Holy Land, the boundaries separating archaeology, faith, and politics are blurred at best and indistinguishable at worst. This was the underlying dilemma facing Fox, a London-based journalist who has written for the Independent, the Sunday Telegraph, and the Times, when he attempted to investigate the 1992 murder of American archaeologist Albert Glock in the Occupied Territories. For centuries, different groups have used the archaeology of this region to support their own claims. As Fox writes, "One saw what one wanted to see in the sparse facts available," and he quickly came to realize that the same was true of the sparse facts surrounding Glock's death. Sacred Geography is divided into two parts. The first, unfortunately longer, section describes the events, characters, history, and political climate that lead up to Glock's murder. This background is necessary but less engaging than Fox's account in the second part of his efforts to investigate the crime. Here the narrative comes alive as the reader is drawn into a maze of the competing political, academic, and religious views that characterize the troubled region. Suitable for larger public libraries. Shauna Rutherford, Univ. of Calgary, Alberta
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books; First Edition (November 7, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805054936
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805054934
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,417,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,192 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)
- #8,415 in General History of Religion
- #11,088 in History of Religions

Customer Reviews:
3.2 12 ratings

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Alyssa A. Lappen

Ironically, Hamas probably did do it

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015

This book is intolerably biased, which, I will agree with other reviewers, makes it very hard to read. The writing is steeped, almost from page one, with a hard-core animosity for Israel and Israelis, while everything to do with Arab Palestinians is bathed in a florid, almost sickeningly sweet adoration. One does not find here any hint of objectivity.

Despite his self-confessed bias for Arab Palestinians, however, the author correctly concludes that probably Hamas committed the murder of the archaeologist Albert Glock.

According to Fox, Muhammad Salah, convicted in 1993 of funding Hamas, admitted that Hamas terrorist Adel Awadallah "gave information about the assassination of a doctor from Bir Zeit university" for reportedly having cursed Moslems. (p. 204)

The author lauds not only Salah, a known terrorist funder, but also Musa Abu Marzouq, listed in 1995 by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a Specially Designated Terrorist, and early associate of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and indicted by a federal grand jury in 2002 for alleged terrorist funding. (pp. 209-214)

The book would have been so much better without the fawning and scraping over all things Arab and the open disgust for all persons and things Israeli. Without the fawning over terror-funding murderers as well.

And yet, even this author, sympathetic as he is with people and groups that fund terrorism and murder, correctly concludes that Hamas probably did it.

3 people found this helpful

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Anastasia Ashman

Digging Up Conflict, Fascinating and Biased

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2006

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."

One person found this helpful

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KR Kamp

Conclusion unwarranted

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2010

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.

2 people found this helpful

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meg woods

a vehicle

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2002

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.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

propaganda

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2002

The Pro-Palestinian propaganda filling the pages of this book makes it very difficult to read and to trust anything in it. The author tries suggest that it was an Israeli hit squad who murdered Dr. Glock the primary bit of evidence being that the car the assailant drove away in had Israeli license plates and the gun used was Israeli. To me that proves the opposite. Does anyone think that Israelis would be stupid enough to use an Israeli army gun and a car with Israeli plates to kill an American citizen? Here is a quote from a Jerusalem Post article about the book dated January 14, 2002.
"Alas, even Fox has to eventually admit that there is not much evidence, or likelihood, of that. The "eyewitness accounts" that the assassin drove away in an Israeli car prove spurious, and even more to the point, if the Israeli authorities ever found Glock to be any kind of threat, they could have just deported him - by not renewing his tourist visa - at any time. It is ludicrous to think that the Shin Bet would risk killing an American citizen over archeology, especially when very few people either in Israel or abroad had ever heard of him, or his work."
Further on in the article there's this. "It turns out in the end that The Jerusalem Post most likely got it right about Glock's death 10 years ago. Fox relates that Musa Abu Marzouq, an Arab-American arrested by Israeli police in 1995 while bringing in funds intended for Hamas coffers, related during his interrogation that Hamas terrorist Adel Awadallah "gave information about the assassination of a doctor from Bir Zeit university" who was said to 'curse Moslems.'"

8 people found this helpful

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Sacred Geography: A Tale of Murder and Archaeology in the Holy Land Hardcover – November 7, 2001

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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About the authors

Edward Fox

Edward L. Fox

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