From Beirut to Jerusalem

Book Description

Winner of the 1989 National Book Award for nonfiction, this extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, and now the Foreign Affairs columnist on the op-ed page of the New York Times, drew on his ten years in the Middle East to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called "a sparkling intellectual guidebook... an engrossing journey not to be missed." Now with a new chapter that brings the ever-changing history of the conflict in the Middle East up to date, this seminal historical work reaffirms both its timeliness and its timelessness. "If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it." -- Seymour Hersh. "From Beirut To Jerusalem is the most intelligent and comprehensive account one is likely to read." -- New York Times Book Review.

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Winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction, this extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Foreign Affairs Columnist for The New York Times, drew on his extensive experience in the region to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called "a sparkling intellectual guidebook . . . an engrossing journey not to be missed." As the conflict in the Middle East continues unabated, this seminal historical work reaffirms both its timeliness and its timelessness.

Customer Reviews:

From Beirut to Jerusalem.......2007-09-17

Best intellectual book on the Middle East that exists. Friedman is an experienced, thoughtful genius. A must read.

Still relevant.......2007-08-29

Tom Friedman occupies a unique place in the American Foreign Policy establishment elite. Not since Walter Lippman has the voice of a journalist been more influential in Washington DC. "From Beirut to Jerusalem" was his first foray into full-length treatment on critical international issues -- and it is still his best. Moreover, although it was written two decades ago and during a very different time, it is still incredibly relevant to current events.

What makes Friedman's narrative so powerful is his liberal use of personal anecdotes from his time as a New York Times coorespondent in the Middle East in the early 1980s. The story crackles with life as Friedman reconstructs the events of the Lebanonese civil war and Palestinian intifada from a broad spectrum of perspectives, from ultra-ortodox rabbis to American Jewish peace activists, Yasir Arafat and Palestinian schoolchildren, Washington policymakers and enlisted Marines. Friedman's description of life as a journalist at Beirut's Commodore Hotel is especially noteworthy and, on occasion, hilarious.

At the core of Friedman's analysis is the contrast between American naivete and the almost primordial savagery of tribal relations endemic to the Middle East. Friedman uses "Hama Rules" (after Syrian president Hafez al-Assad's brutal 1982 repression of a nascent Muslim Brotherhood insurgency in the Syrian city of Hama) as short-hand for the nature of power politics that shaped the flow of events in the region during his time there. The common demoninator in group identification is religion (by sect and by clan) and the gravest sin is to show weakness to your enemies. Friedman argues that the Reagan administration completely failed to understand this fundamental nature to life in Lebanon in the early 1980s when they committed Marines to help bolster the newly elected Maronite Christian president Gemayel, who was, in fact, more the leader of the Phalangist militia than true representative leader of the polyglot country.

Interestingly, Friedman writes that Israeli leaders often make the same mistakes as the US about the region, although some Israelis, such as Ariel Sharon, understand Hama Rules and act accordingly. Friedman describes the Israeli army reaction to the kaleidoscopic factional environment they found in Lebanon after their 1982 invasion as quite similar to the US army experience upon entering Baghdad in 2003.

Indeed, comparisons to Iraq are what struck me most when reading this book. After reading "From Beirut to Lebanon," I was amazed how optimistic Friedman was about the Iraq invasion in early 2003. He was relatively supportive of the war -- a position most likely held out of a deep desire and hope that it would succeed in bringing democracy to the Middle East, a position he passionately promotes, rather than any reasoned belief that the mixed Iraqi population would welcome a new US-installed regime. The civil war in Lebanon in many ways mirrors the intense factionalism of warfare in Iraq where religious identification -- Maronite, Druse, Shiite -- defines the membership of warring militias and undermines any attempt to use a national army to provide stability and bolster a central regime.

Many of the details about the war in Lebanon or the intifada make the book feel outdated, but the central underpinnings of conflict and discord in the region so lucidly explained by Friedman will not change anytime soon. The reader gets a sense of division and pure hatred that divides the people of that troubled land and seem to guarantee that the "peace process" is a meaningless charade.

Friedman's habitual "cuteness" thankfully absent here.......2007-06-28

As of this writing, 168 reviewers have reviewed this book, so I will be brief. Thomas Friedman, for all his real acumen and gifts with language (both spoken and written) tends to be cute or trite too much for comfort. That said, this book suffers from precious little of this. It is definitely in the genre of "New Journalism" now quite old, where the reporter is part of the story, maybe even the story itself at times, but this does not detract from the boldness of this work in the form of its written style, which is free, easy, yet complex, handling each topic with a certain grace and style and formal beauty. Friedman brings a complex topic to a general audience without sacrificing nuance (in fact, this is his main thrust) to show both Lebanon and Israel as cultures of almost impossibly subtle nuance, where small difference of sects and creeds can be the difference between war and peace, bliss and pain

Just not very good at all........2007-06-08

The writing wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't good either. Much of the book read as if it was filler and stories he heard from someone else. The author's account of his time in Beirut was not informative and rather bland. I have read other accounts that really go in depth into either the political, military or personal experiences of those on the ground, but this book did not add anything to what's been written. His analysis of the Beirut conflicts left much to be desired.

I remember a part of the book where Friedman writes about his time in the Commodore Hotel and how this hotel was the place to be for any journalist in Beirut, and then reading Robert Fisk's Pity the Nation where he talks about all the hack journalists hiding out in the Commodore writing their stories from second hand accounts instead of going out and reporting the story with their own accounts. I don't know if Fisk was right, but I thought his book was much better than Friedman's.

I did find his writing on Israel to be informative (still bland though). His analysis of the psychology of the Israeli people I found to be highly insightful, and it gave me a perspective which I had never seen before. The only way to understand the Israeli people is to try and understand how the Holocaust and being surrounded by hostile people has affected their national psyche. The Israeli perspective was the best thing I took away from this book, but not even this was able to redeem the work for me.

One of the reasons I like reading reporter's books is that they are usually well written, entertaining and written with a passion or flare that the academics usually lack. This book had none of that. I felt bored and found myself having to concentrate pretty hard to stay in touch with what I was reading. I would have been fine with the shoddy writing had the analysis or the history been better but it just wasn't. There are just many books out there that treat the subject with much more competency.

If you're looking for a good book to learn more about this topic, keep looking.

The Middle East Illuminated.......2007-06-05

Tom Friedman is a master at using charming, funny and fascinating anecdotes to illustrate broad historic events and cultural phenomena. His grasp of history is profound, and his observations are always spot on. The events he describes in this book may, indeed, be limited to only a very small part of the planet, but the human dynamics involved are universal and have profound implications for us all.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Coming Home To Jerusalem: A Personal Journey

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Great Read
Arab vs. Jew: Drama Without Ending?
Insightful and evocative
Excellent Book on Middle East
Great book for students in 12th grade or higher

Coming Home To Jerusalem: A Personal Journey
Wendy Orange
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000062UIE

Amazon.com

Coming Home to Jerusalem: A Personal Journey is an intelligent, entertaining, politically astute memoir by Wendy Orange, who from 1991 to 1997 was the Mideast correspondent for Tikkun, a leading American Jewish magazine. One autumn morning in 1990 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Orange realized that she would never feel at home where she lived--a feeling that she compared to "the claustrophobic awareness that you've just married the wrong person." Several months later, she realized that she was homesick for a place she had never been before: while watching CNN reports from Jerusalem at the outbreak of the Gulf War, she was struck with an awareness that "the Israelis on the streets ... all felt familiar. They looked and dressed like me and my friends, were the same age, had the same verbal intonations as they spoke." Shortly thereafter, she visited Israel for the first time. Not long after her visit, she packed eight cardboard boxes, left her job, and took her young daughter Eliza with her to Jerusalem, for what she imagined would be forever.

The story that follows, Coming Home to Jerusalem, is a tightly plotted play in a "theatre of incongruous, gruff, sexy, close-minded, religious, secular, cruel, funny, and excitable characters." Along the way, Orange offers plenty of insight on the political and religious conflicts that dominated Jerusalem's life during her time there. But the real strength of this book is its sprawling constellation of character studies of Holocaust survivors, famous writers, failed artists, politically elite people, and a cab driver with whom Orange falls in love. Coming Home to Jerusalem is essentially a travelogue, and it does what good travel writing should--it makes you want to go. --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

An American Jewish woman uproots her family to live in Jerusalem, searching for a new home. For Wendy Orange, a writer in her early forties, what starts as a ten-day conference in Jerusalem stretches into a six-year residence in one of the world's most captivating cities, where she undertakes an illuminating and evocative trip to both banks of this ancient land.

Amid language barriers, household drama, homesickness, and a halting job search, Wendy Orange strives to settle her small family in Israel for the long term. Her sociability and interest in her surroundings fast connect her to a wide assortment of Israel's varied personalities: famous authors, ob-scure artists, politicians, psychologists, journalists, American-Israeli housewives, evangelical Christian teachers. She meets a long-lost family friend who came to Jerusalem in the 1948 war, and she comes to know sabras who are wearying of the life she finds fascinating and compelling. She is introduced to Holocaust survivors who arrived shattered to work the land on farms. She meets therapists who blame her problems on American self-absorption, and rabbis obsessed with the Torah whose lectures she yearns to understand. She goes to a picnic with absolutist West Bank settlers. She falls in love with a Moroccan-Israeli cab driver and receives an education in Israel's class schisms.

When Orange gets a job as the Israel correspondent for an American magazine, she crosses the Green Line that separates Israelis from displaced Palestinians and she begins a journey through another country she comes to love. Crisscrossing from Israel to the territories, Orange confronts views of the world that are completely at odds and she experiences in a profound way the ancient conflicts as she becomes absorbed with people who are at polar extremes: peaceniks and settlers, the political elite and the downtrodden, high-profile intellectuals and young soldiers. She is drawn into subcultures that coexist, if barely, throughout Israel. In Coming Home to Jerusalem, Wendy Orange brings to life the extraordinary and the everyday in a country she tries to make her own.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read.......2003-06-03

As an Israeli living in Maui, I was drawn back to Israel through this book. "Coming Home to Jerusalem actually made me want to go back home, to the city where I was born. (I'm a fourth generation Jerusalemite.) I felt that the author, an American, knew Israel of the 1990's even better than I did. Now, I'm en route "home" after years abroad. And I thank Wendy Orange for getting me in touch with my Zionism, my love for Israel despite all the problems she shows and I know. 5 Stars.

Arab vs. Jew: Drama Without Ending?.......2003-04-24

"For hundreds of years large numbers of Arabs have lived in Palestine. Their fathers and fathers' fathers were born here. Palestine is their country where they want to live. We must acknowledge that fact with love."
The surprising author of these lines was David Ben-Gurion, the legendary Zionist leader who became the first prime minister of the State of Israel.
Ben-Gurion's compassionate words underscore one side of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis that has threatened for decades
to engulf not only the Middle East but the world. On the other
hand there is the claim of the much-tormented Jewish people,whose historic ties to the very same land are even
older.Surely they should be allowed to return to their homeland
and live at lastin peace?
Both claims are just. How can we judge justly between them? And
how soon can we judge, if ever?
Wendy Orange's memoir, "Coming Home To Jerusalem." is one
woman's attempt to answer these questions, at least to her own
satisfaction.

Orange grew up in an ardently Zionist American Jewish family,
but she did not share their enthusiasm for the idea of a Jewish
state. Instead, she studied the Holocaust with great intensity.
She became a professional therapist and, later, a journalist. In the early 1990s she was persuaded to attend a conference in
Jerusalem. As a result of hearing a talk by famed novelist
A.M.Yehoshua she decided to make aliya, or immigrate to Israel.
Yehoshua's impact was all the more extraordinary in that his
talk was delivered in Hebrew, a language whe did not yet
understand.
Working as a journalist in her adopted country, Orange made
contact with her Palestinian counterparts and began to do
stories from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. She
was distressed by evidence of brutality on the part of Israel
Defense Force soldiers. Such conduct does happen, as the writer
of this review saw on a bus in Jerusalem once; but it is
important to keep in mind the historical circumstances that have
bred this kind of behavior.
Orange kept her intellectual balance well--gazing at the
looming Golan Heights, formerly Syrian-occupied, she understood
what fear and physical suffering Syrian artillery once inflicted
on Jewish farmers and fishermen from those same heights. And she
felt a wave of sympathy for these victims, too, her own
people.In a soul-trying situation she is revealed as not a
hater of anyone.
As suggested earlier, Orange's work may be seen as a search for what Slovakian Holocaust heroine Gisi Fleischmann described
as "a better humanity." The search is pursued through a
landscape deeply scarred by history, and punctuated by depths
and heights almost impossible to imagine. An example of a height--a rare one--is the cautious euphoria generated by news of the
Oslo Accords, with their elusive hope of peace at last between
Israelis and Palestinians. The ultimate low may have been the
asassination of Israeli Prime Ninister Itzhak Rabin--by a fellow
Jew, albeit by one whose politics had nothing in common with
those of his famous victim. It is the murder of Rabin which,
even years later, seems to have been the most devastatingly
successful blow against the Middle East peace process.
Whether Wendy Orange's quest for justice and understanding will have a happier outcome than Gisi Fleischmann's remains to be
seen. Perhaps she herself does not believe in the possibility,
for at the end of her memoir she writes, "This drama has
everything but an ending, I think."
"Coming Home To Jerusalem" may be considered depressing by many.It is, on the other hand, an important read for those who wish to understand the human dimension of the Middle East
tragedy. And it is beautifully written.

Insightful and evocative.......2002-07-13

I really enjoyed this book. It was very well written and heartfelt, with unbiased, evocative descriptions of people and places. Made me want to hop on a plane and go there immediately!

Excellent Book on Middle East.......2002-05-27

As an author myself, I understand how what looks easy on the page in fact takes years to perfect. Wendy Orange's book, "Coming Home to Jerusalem" may read as effortless but I can well imagine the work that went into making this lovely book, a combination personal adventure, cultural odyssey and political update from Israel.

Given the current givens, some may think this is history. I prefer to think of this easy to read book as futuristic, what must eventually occur between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Especially I learned a lot from the dialogue groups she so vividly describes. Strangely, in the midst of a tortuous road, full of warring, I felt elated by her book because I saw what is inevitable, that the cycle of peace must return. Orange shows what that will look like. She also shows real characters which makes all the wanton violence now sadder. I hope most of her characters, and there are many, are still alive. High recommend.
Five Stars for sure.

Great book for students in 12th grade or higher.......2002-04-18

I teach high school in Brooklyn. The kids are sick of hearing about the Middle East on the news. They groaned when I said we were going to read some books about it. But I just ordered for my class "Coming Home to Jerusalem" because other teachers told me that their students learned so much and enjoyed this book.

Book Description

The Historia Ierosolimitana, attributed to Albert of Aachen, is the most complete, the most detailed and the most colourful of the contemporary narratives of the First Crusade and the careers of the first generation of Latin settlers in Outremer from 1095-1119. It comprises twelve books, the first six telling the story of the First Crusade through to the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 and its aftermath, and the final six describing the internal and external politics of the crusader states during the first two decades of settlement. Largely neglected by crusades scholarship, this modern edition and translation allows it to be studied alongside better known accounts. This volume has been prepared from a critical study of all the extant manuscripts, and features the definitive Latin account, with English translation. Edgington supports the translation and text with an authoritative introduction, extensive historical notes and critical study of the work. This volume will alter the focus of crusades studies, generating interest in previously disregarded aspects of crusade and settlement in the first decades of the twelfth century.

The Luke Reports: The Finger of God/the Journey to Jerusalem (Luke Reports, 3)

Average customer rating:

Good Drama

The Luke Reports: The Finger of God/the Journey to Jerusalem (Luke Reports, 3)
Paul McCusker
Manufacturer: Tyndale House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1589971221

Book Description

Follow Luke as he continues his assignment to report to the Roman senator, Theophilus, on the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In Finger of God, Luke, driven by his desire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, heads for Jerusalem. Once there, he winds up in a spiritual battle with a "magician," meets an old friend, and is swept up in the revolution against the Romans. The Journey to Jerusalem follows Luke as he discovers Elias's scrolls that tell much of the life and story of Christ. Original script, full cast, and sound effects.

Customer Reviews:

Good Drama.......2007-02-22

While it is fictional it does help bring the story of Luke to a new understanding. I found it exciting.

Let Me Create A Paradise, God Said to Himself: A Journey of Conscience from Johannesburg to Jerusalem

Average customer rating:

from the frying pan into the fire

Let Me Create A Paradise, God Said to Himself: A Journey of Conscience from Johannesburg to Jerusalem
Hirsh Goodman
Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1586482432
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Book Description

From Johannesburg to Jerusalem: A moving memoir and a controversial examination of a nation's conscience.

Hirsh Goodman's childhood in South Africa was white-and Jewish-in ways he did not initially appreciate. While the local culture brutally suppressed the black population, Hirsh and his friends marched off to Zionist Socialist meetings, full of rhetoric about equality, justice, and democracy-all within the context of Israel. By his mid-teens, Goodman could no longer ignore South Africa's anti-Semitism and racism. He soon left for Israel, never expecting that the promised land of his dreams would also prove to be riven by ethnic and religious conflict. It was after marching victoriously through the Sinai as a paratrooper in the Six-Day War that Goodman heard David Ben-Gurion on the radio warning that Israel must rid itself of its Arab territories lest it "become an Apartheid state," a warning that had a very specific meaning to the young soldier. Then, as a journalist, Goodman witnessed first-hand all of Israel's subsequent troubles, from frontlines, to occupied zones, to the summits that attempted to find even a temporary peace. Let Me Create a Paradise is a wise, warm, and wry memoir. It is one man's life story and the story of two divided nations in two different eras; the tragedies in their histories, and the hope that still exists for both of them.

Customer Reviews:

from the frying pan into the fire.......2005-09-07

Rebeccasreads highly recommends LET ME CREATE A PARADISE GOD SAID TO HIMSELF (long title notwithstanding!) as a memoir of an extraordinary journey from one country -- South Africa -- of extreme prejudice to another -- Israel, during the 1960s & onward.

An outstanding read, packed with vibrant memories of youthful bliss, immigrant confusion, war, politics, philosophies & love, offering a unique, mature & articulate inside look into this passionate region.

Al Kamsa: The Purebred Arabian Horse; a Study of Sixteen Years in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the Arabian Deserts & Journey From Jerusalem to Northern Najd; Carlo Guarmani's 1864-1866 Classic Works

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Al Kamsa: The Purebred Arabian Horse; a Study of Sixteen Years in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and the Arabian Deserts & Journey From Jerusalem to Northern Najd; Carlo Guarmani's 1864-1866 Classic Works

Manufacturer: A Tale of the Breed
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Flight without Wings: The Arabian Horse and the Show World

ASIN: 8460923657

Product Description

149 pages with index and blank notes. Hardback with jacket. Copyright 2004. A Tale of the Breed. Printed in Seville, Spain by Escandon Impresores. By Carlo Guarmani of Livorna. Carlo Guarmani's 1864-1866 Classic Works Introduced and Annotated by Andrew K. Steen. "About the Book: For the first time, both of Carlo Guarmani's classic works 'Al Kamsa' and 'Journey from Jerusalem to Northern Najd' are presented in the same volume. In 1863, Guarmani was commissioned by Emperor Louis Napoleon III and King Victor Emmanuel II to travel by camel from his home in the Holy Land deep into the unexplored Central Arabian desert to purchase Arabian stallions for the government studs of France and Italy. 'Journey from Jerusalem to Northern Najd' in the fascinating account of his perilous adventures living, riding, and fighting amidst the feuding Bedouin tribes, horse-trading with warlord Shaiks and dealing with the despotic Amirs that inhabited and ruled over the vast uncharted Najd, the hostile region that had been penetrated before by only a handful of other intrepid european explorers. His compelling narrative has been embellished with (often contradictory) notes and lengthy extracts that were derived from the works of his famous contemporaries: Burckhardt, Burton, Doughty, Palgrave, Layard and Lady Anne & Wilfrid Blunt. 'Al Kamsa' is the culmination of Guarmani's sixteen-year study of the origins and genesis of the purebred Arabian horse. Utilizing his profound knowledge of Oriental languages, the Koran, the Bible and other ancient sources, the author traces the etymology and explains the authentic significance of the breed's five traditional strains. In an analytical, reflective and scholarly style, Carlo Guarmani articulates how the Arabian horse in his opinion should be bred in order to maintain all of its celebrated qualities. At the same time he eliminates much of the confusion that has long shrouded these controversial topics and provides a wealth of..." (from front flap)

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A sense of distance.
Entrancing travel narrative
Cru-Saddle Sore
On the Trail of Godfrey of Bouillon

Crusader: By Horse to Jerusalem
Tim Severin
Manufacturer: Phoenix Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1842122789

Book Description

Nearly 900 years ago, Duke Godfrey de Bouillon set out on the First Crusade--and in our own time, author Tim Severin retraced his steps. The destination: Jerusalem, city of gold. For more than eight years, Severin followed the historic trail, riding through northern Europe's green countryside and into the heat of the Near East. In the process, he covered more than 2,500 miles by horse, past ruined Crusader settlements and ancient battlefields, over arduous mountain passes, and across Anatolian steppes. A dazzling synthesis of adventure, practical history, and exploration, told by one of our finest and most respected travel writers--illustrated with his own photographs.

Customer Reviews:

A sense of distance........2003-11-21

In a world where we can hop on a plane and jet off to the Holy Land in a matter of hours the enormity of the achievement of the first Crusade is difficult to appreciate.

Tim Severin set out to demonstrate what was involved in his own imimical way, by doing it. Combining good historical research with practical archeology he set out to recreate the journey of the knights of the first crusade.

Follow him as he chooses his horses in Ireland and France, and sets out from the home of the very first King of the Crusader Kingdom of Jereusalem. You travel with him down the ancient Roman Roads of Europe, as he narrates how the Byzantine emperor called for help from Frankish knights in his war against the Turks, and how the response he got was not at all what he had planned.

Trace the route across the plain of Hungary, through Bulgaria and into what was the Byzantine Empire, as you learn of the horrors of the peoples crusade, the depravation, the cannibalism and the impalings.

In Turkey Severin meets friendly locals and impassable mountains and narrates the possible reasons for the success in battle of the Frankish knights.

This is a fascinating journey that will interest any Crusade follower, horse lovers, travellers and historians alike!

Entrancing travel narrative.......2003-07-24

This is a very readable account of an unusual journey: to retrace the steps of the First Crusade, from Europe to Jerusalem, the author and a companion followed the old pilgrim trails on horseback, the same means of travel as the original Crusader knights used. The narrative of the travel is well-written and does not fail to "grab" the reader, whether describing the many local characters and land encountered in so many countries en route, the hardships and challenges of such a long equestrian venture, or the interesting passages of historical background interspersed with the ongoing travelogue. My only negatives were: (1) the book was obviously not proofread well before going to press and printing errors abound, and (2) inclusion of a map would have helped the reader to follow more easily the described route of travel as it occurred. These quibbles do not detract overall from a lovely story well-told, and of interest whether or not you have a horsey background.

Cru-Saddle Sore.......2002-09-23

I enjoy Severin's smooth prose style and didn't find this book hard going at all as a bedside table read. I would recommend it as a true life adventure rather than a history, however, because Severin does a poor job in blending the historical facts of the First Crusade with his experiences in retracing Duke Godfrey's path to Jerusalem. For the most part, he alternates a little history with a lot of travel details--heavy on the shoeing, feeding, and dealing with saddle sores. Note to the squeamish: chapter 21 has an especially colorful description of a pony's wounds and their treatment. Severin had little experience with horses prior to this journey and in spite of a more knowledgeable companion, the horses seem to have suffered because of it. I imagine that any horseloving reader would be pretty appalled. Two more notes: the book needs maps, and Phoenix Press needs better proofreaders (there were at least a dozen typos in my soft cover edition).

On the Trail of Godfrey of Bouillon.......2001-08-27

If you are reluctant to delve into the ideological controversy surrounding the crusades but would like to know more about the practical aspects of such an enterprise, this is one book you might enjoy reading. Irish travel writer Tim Severin largely avoids speculation about what motivated and sustained the crusaders (was it greed? religious fanaticism? pursuit of fame and glory? promise of salvation? a thirst for adventure and empire building?), although he consults and cites historical sources. Instead, he concentrates on the logistics of such an expedition. How was it organized and financed? Which routes were used? How much distance could be covered per day? How did the men and the horses cope with the challenges posed by terrain, climate, food supply or lack thereof, disease and enemy attacks?

To find out, he and a female companion retraced the route of Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the first crusade (1096), from Chateau Bouillon in Belgium to Jerusalem, on horseback. In their effort to use horses closely resembling the medieval war horse, Tim and Sarah settled on a sturdy Ardennes stallion and an Irish bog mare. (Alas, neither horse completed the journey). A Jeep and a moped were used as backup transportation. The team covered an average of 20 miles/day, over a distance of more than 2500 miles. Frequent re-shoeing of the horses, dealing with saddle sores, lameness, heat exhaustion and digestive problems took up a considerable portion of the time.

Traversing Germany, Austria, Hungary (where another horse was added), Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey, they followed the ancient Roman road as closely as possible. After 4 months - about the same time it had taken Godfrey - they reached Istanbul.

The narrative skillfully blends historical reports with the various stages of the author's progress. Encounters with hospitable and generous farmers, recalcitrant bureaucrats, wily horse traders and smugglers make for lively reading. After a winter's layover in Anatolia, the team pressed on to Syria and Israel. With 2 Turkish ponies, they finally entered Jerusalem and walked to the Holy Sepulchre, completing Godfrey's journey - and their own. Godfrey, having been appointed "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre", died in Jerusalem in 1100.

A number of color photographs and line drawings accompany the text. A serious drawback is the absence of maps: while the author frequently mentions " poring over old Ottoman maps", he doesn't show us any.

Book Description

Theoderich's Guide to the Holy Land is one of the best known and most widely used of the medieval pilgrims' guides to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Written around 1172 by the German monk Theoderich, it is a complete guide to the city's sacred sites and history, as well as to the legends and places of historical interest in the medieval Crusader State as they were only fifteen years before the destruction of the kingdom by nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnSaladin.

Based on Aubrey Stewart's translation from the Latin. Illustrated, new introduction, maps, bibliography, and index. Second edition, third printing, 147 pp.

Customer Reviews:

Medieval Guide to the Holy Land .......2007-09-23

The German monk Theoderich wrote the Guide to the Holy Land around 1172. It is a complete guide to Jerusalem's sacred sights as well as places of popular legends and historical interest of the entire crusader state. This guide was written four years before Saladin captured most of the kingdom. Theoderich gathers most of his information from his own pilgrimage (the introduction points out which places he went to and routes he took) but when the de describes places he did not visit (border regions), his sources are hearsay and verge into the legendary and fanciful. To the medieval Christian the Holy Land was not only important because of it's associations with the Bible but also because it was perceived to have deep legendary and mythical meaning as the Navel of the world. This is illustrated by medieval T-Maps (also in the volume) whose very center is Jerusalem. The Jerusalem of Theoderich's day had around 30,000 men. Many of the sites Theoderich describes in the Holy Land especially in Jerusalem are so accurately drawn that he is a major source for medieval knowledge of the region, Jerusalem's Topography, the history of art and archeology etc... Even his fanciful descriptions of the border regions (the Dead Sea throws up every year the ruins of Sodom and Gomorra and a pillar of salt that was Lot's wife) are important to historians since they show us the geographic lore and sacred geography of the time. The guide is completely oblivious to the political geography of the time either in the Crusader state or outside since the readers were pilgrims who had taken up the most difficult and most important pilgrimages mostly for religious reasons. The guide's widespread readership also illustrates an invigorated popular religion influenced in part by the Twelfth Century Renaissance's renewed interest in the Early Church.

The illustrations of the edition are gathered from other Medieval sources. THe introduction is a wonderful addition to the Guide and sets the background for the work and it's importance to medieval historians.

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