Jerusalem: The Biography

Jerusalem: The Biography – by Simon Sebag Montefiore

This sucker is one thick, dense tome.  Sadly, 550 pages for a history (or ‘biography’) for a place like Jerusalem isn’t nearly enough. One feels as though this work should have been 4 or 5 volumes instead of 1. This is the book’s main hindrance.  There’s just too much story, especially in the early days, to tell.  Therefore, each and every page is packed with names, places, religions, leaders, and events that swim past you with breathtaking speed. I simply couldn’t remember who was who.  Imagine you’re in a room shaking hands with 500 people in the span of 10 minutes. Could you remember whose hand you shook 7 minutes and 23 seconds ago?  I didn’t think so.  This is how I felt when I was reading the first half the book. The first half starts about 3,000 years ago. The second half about 300 years ago.  So that’s 2,700 years of history during the first half.  Fortunately, I found I thoroughly enjoyed the second half since it was more digestible, and was glad I stuck with the book. I finally felt the narrative finally had room to breathe. I was sorely tempted, though, to give up after the first few hundred pages.

If there was one place on the face of the earth that demands such a history, it would be Jerusalem. A place with a solid biblical background that has served as the home of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A land fought over, mauled over, ransacked, pillaged, and yet still perseveres in the hearts and minds of many of the faithful. As much as I found the first half a bit of a chore, I’m not sure anyone else could have done a better job. There’s an awful lot to cover here.

After a brief forward describing the burning of the city in 70 A.D., we start out smack dab in the time of Abraham in the Old Testament. This book is a history book, not a religious book, and the author acknowledges the events from the Bible as fact. What the author’s spiritual beliefs are about God and Jesus, the reader has no idea. I think that’s a good thing. It provides the reader with a very objective view of the place and time and I would imagine both the faithful and secular would find the narrative rewarding. At least if they have an open mind.

The same probably can’t be said for the author’s nationality as a Jew  (‘Jewish’ is a religion as well as a nationality. It’s not an oxymoron to refer to one as an Atheist Jew).  The last 150 pages take place from 1898 to present day and focus on the Zionist movement. Therefore, the narrative focuses mostly on the conflict between Jews and Moslems. The author seems to take a very pro Zionist slant, although he does make a very good argument for the Jewish cause.  I’ve never been able to figure out why the nation of Israel is hated by so many around the world when their only crime seems to be that they win wars that other nations wage against them. Anti-Semitism has always been alive and unwell.

My overall recommendation, if you’re a tad impatient such as I am, is to go through this book slowly and not give up.  If the first half is overwhelming, the second half more than makes up for it.  I really do think, though, that this book probably should have been broken down into two volumes.