Ancient History

(click for larger photo)	Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle
	by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh
An Opportunity Not to Be Missed by a Reader from Washington, DC, posted on Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003 If you want to read one book about Palestine/Israel that will profoundly affect you and challenge your perspective, check out "Sharing the Land of Canaan". Mazin Qumsiyeh is one of the brave yet growing few who refuse to succumb to the media portrayal of Canaan as a land forever at war. He dares to see a workable peace between all the region's inhabitants, a peace he so convincingly and eloquently paints before our eyes. Dr. Qumsiyeh searches deep within the confines of history, going back from ancient times to the brink of this century, and extracts a wealth of little-known yet important facts about the history of the region and its conflicts. Even while considering myself a well-read expert on the region, I had learned many things for the first time from the pages of this little book. Though concise, "Sharing the Land of Canaan" is very comprehensive in its coverage, with chapters on ancient Canaan, Genetics, Palestinian Refugees, Zionism, Israeli Laws, Jerusalem, Human Rights, Terrorism, Economics, and more. Dr. Qumsiyeh succeeds where no other writer has: condensing all the complex facets of this human conflict into so few pages, without missing anything of importance. The great thing about this book is its wealth of quotes from primary sources, some of them often hard to find. A wealth of notes and a suggested reading section after every chapter make it an excellent starting point for learning more about this Biblical land. While common wisdom deems peace impossible or beyond the horizon, Dr. Qumsiyeh demonstrates how the current peace processes and visions of peace are in themselves the obstacle towards achieving a lasting peace. He outlines a step-by-step in which you, dear reader, can play a part if you choose to miss this opportunity and stay on the sidelines, listening to the media pundits making the conflict sound unintelligible.

(click for larger photo)	Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
	by Donald B. Redford
Illuminates Ancient History by a Reader from Washington, DC, posted on Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003 Whenever one puts Egypt and Israel in the same sentence, the stories of Joseph and Moses springs to mind, at least to Christians such as myself. This book shows that there is a lot more to it than this. Starting from 5000 years ago, the book traces in great detail the history of Egypt for 3000 years, and particularly its relation with its Asian neighbors in the lands of Canaan and beyond. In here we get to learn about the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hittites, and Assyrians, as well as Egypt's African neighbors such as the Kushites and the Libyans. The book is extremely well-researched, drawing upon a vast wealth of archeological findings and recently discovered ancient texts and tablets, as well as the various sources of recorded history. The book is exceptional in terms of acknowledging in detail all the possible competing theories and explanations before thoroughly proving the author's theories beyond doubt through impeccable logic. The notes alone fill almost a hundred pages! But volume is far from being a dry history text. The writing is exceptional, almost bringing the ancient pharaohs and ordinary people to life in its realistic and thorough description of life in those ancient times. The core of the book concentrates on the relationship between Egypt and the land of Canaan or southern Syria. Thus the book analyses the Hyksos invasion in detail and introduces us to the countless wars and treaties between Egypt and its Asian neighbors. Of particular interest in this book is the rise of the Hebrews, nomadic tribes from Southern Jordan who later became known as the Israelites. This book illustrates how their history has become misrepresented over the years, sometimes by well-meaning but unscholarly "Biblical scholars" who take the word of the Bible literally. Thus this book goes a long way towards establishing a history based on scientific analysis of facts, rather than purely on spiritual beliefs. Though long and tedious at times, it is a rewarding read that provides many of the answers to the most intriguing questions: Was Joseph a historical figure, and if so, is there any evidence? How did the Egyptians view their relationships with Asia? Are there any Egyptian records of the story of Moses? Why does Egypt not play a significant role during the reign of say, King David? These are all basic and fundamental questions that are of interest to all Christians, Jews, and Moslems, and the answers can all be found in this book.

(click for larger photo)	The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel
	by Thomas L. Thompson

(click for larger photo)	The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History
	by Keith Whitelam
Re-evaluating our conception of Ancient History by a Reader from Washington, DC, posted on Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003 Historians everywhere have been re-evaluating and re-interpreting their conceptions of history (especially ancient history) in light of new documents, new archeological discoveries, or new methods of interpretation and textual analysis. What we know now about the history of ancient China for example is radically different from what we knew 20 or 50 years ago. The same goes for ancient Egypt, the Indus valley, or any other part of the world. The thin strip of land East of the Mediterranean nowadays called as Palestine should be no exception. That, unfortunately, is not so. The main purpose of this book is to explore the special difficulties encountered in "updating" the ancient history of Palestine. The book focuses in particular about the ancient history in the last 1000 years B.C.E. It is groundbreaking work, analyzing not just the available historical data, but the interaction and inner conflicts of the historian with this data. For example, what sets Palestine apart from other geographical areas is that entire generations of people, entire political movements, and entire religions have based themselves on one particular narrative and one particular interpretation of this ancient history. Any minor change in understanding, no matter how small, automatically sets off a whole chain of cause and effect that brings out enormous resistance to this new idea. Thus, what Keith Whitelam proves is the special enormous difficulty in changing historical knowledge about the land of Palestine. The ferocity of the negative reviews for this book testify to that fact. His contribution to ancient history is equivalent to the Theory of Evolution, and resistance to his book reminds us of the church's traditional opposition to science. Whitelam's book is therefore very daring, and well worth your reading effort, although I warn in advance that is a somewhat difficult book, as necessitated by his impeccable scholarship and voluminous set of notes.

HOME

Books purchased from advertisers support this website. Submit your reviews and book selections to dcpbooksdcpalestine.org . Opinions expressed in the reviews do not necessarily represent the opinions of DC Palestine Solidarity. books.html / © 2003-2009, DCPalestine.org / Webmaster / Last Revised Saturday, Sep 12, 2009                       Website Designed by Spidy.Net      (No one masters the web like Spidy!)