Jerusalem

Title: Jerusalem
Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Publisher: Orion
ISBN: 9780297852650

From the publisher: Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today's clash of civilisations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence.

How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the 'centre of the world' and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem's biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women - kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores - who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. As well as the many ordinary Jerusalemites who have left their mark on the city, its cast varies from Solomon, Saladin and Suleiman the Magnificent to Cleopatra, Caligula and Churchill; from Abraham to Jesus and Muhammad; from the ancient world of Jezebel, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod and Nero to the modern times of the Kaiser, Disraeli, Mark Twain, Rasputin and Lawrence of Arabia.

Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime's study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique story of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem: the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.

The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Bible Lands

Title: The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Bible Lands
Author: Caroline Hull & Andrew Jotischky
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780141026879

From the publisher: Taking in such important themes as the powerful early city-states that dominated the plains, the technological developments that led to terrace farming and population growth in the highlands and the origins and influence of the Philistines, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Bible Lands will explore the relationship between the books of the Bible and the land from which they came. Including detailed maps on topics ranging from the wanderings of Abraham to Modern Jerusalem, a comprehensive timeline comparing developments in Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece and Rome and a gazetteer of Biblical place-names.

Coverage of the familiar events of the world's greatest book is supplemented by features on the alphabet, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Zionist movement as the book's scope continues beyond the Biblical period to explore the Islamic conquests, the crusades, the British Mandate and the current struggles between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The Bread Of Angels

Title: The Bread Of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith
Author: Stephanie Saldana
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-0-385-52200-7

From the publisher: In 2004, twenty-seven-year old Stephanie Saldaña arrives in Damascus with a broken heart and a haunted family history that she has crossed the world to escape. She has come on a fellowship to study the role of Jesus in Islam, but speaks very little Arabic, has no friends in the city, and has no place to live. Nor is it an ideal time to be in the region—the United States has recently invaded neighboring Iraq, and refugees are flooding into the streets of Damascus. Still, Stephanie does the only thing she can think of: she begins knocking on doors in the Christian Quarter, asking strangers if they have a room to rent. So begins The Bread of Angels, the unforgettable memoir of one woman’s search for faith, love, and the meaning of her life in the place she least expects to find it.

Before long, Stephanie is offered an airy room in a glorious, dilapidated house. She begins to stumble through Arabic and to make the Old City her home. But after a series of disheartening developments, she leaves to spend a month in an ancient Christian monastery carved into the Syrian desert cliffs. There in the austere, beautiful landscape she finally begins to face the past she has been running from and to confront her wavering faith.

She is joined in her search for God and self-knowledge by a series of improbable teachers: the Sheikha, a female Muslim scholar who guides her through the Quran; Hassan, an Iraqi refugee who shows her the poetry that exists in war; the Baron, an Armenian neighbor who fusses over her like an eccentric relative; and finally Frédéric, a young French novice monk who becomes her best friend.

The Bread of Angels is the story of the unlikely year that changed Stephanie Saldaña’s life. Wise, funny, and heartbreaking by turns, it celebrates the beauty of faith, the necessity of self-discovery, and the possibility of true love.

Orientalism

Title: Orientalism
Author: Edward Said
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780141187426

From the publisher: In this highly acclaimed work, Edward Said surveys the history and nature of Western attitudes towards the East, considering Orientalism as a powerful European ideological creation – a way for writers, philosophers and colonial administrators to deal with the ‘otherness’ of Eastern culture, customs and beliefs. He traces this view through the writings of Homer, Nerval and Flaubert, Disraeli and Kipling, whose imaginative depictions have greatly contributed to the West’s romantic and exotic picture of the Orient. In his new preface, Said examines the effect of continuing Western imperialism after recent events in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.

A Divided Paradise & No Man's Land

Title: A Divided Paradise: An Irishman in the Holy Land
Author: David Lynch
Publisher: New Island
ISBN: 9781848400139

From the publisher: A Divided Paradise: An Irishman in the Holy Land is a vivid account of ordinary life in one of the world’s most contested and volatile regions. Award-winning journalist David Lynch brings to life stories from both the Palestinian and Israeli streets.

From coming under fire in the occupied West Bank, to visiting the ‘First Irish Pub in Palestine’, to talking Armageddon with young dispirited Israelis in Tel Aviv, personal experiences are interwoven with broad historical analysis.

A provocative introduction to the political and personal tragedy suffered by the Palestinian people and the continuing wider Middle Eastern conflict.


Title: No Man's Land - Dispatches from the Middle East
Author: Richard Crowley
Publisher: Liberties Press
ISBN: 978-1-905483-2-66

From the publisher: RTE correspondent's examination on the Israeli - Palestine question and the prospect for its resolution - and the impact on the greater Middle East if it is not resolved.

The creation of a Jewish state in the Holy Lands after World War II and the consequent disappointment and displacement of the Palestine people has had long-term and violent consequences for all parties in the region - it could be argued to be the cause of much of the terrorist activity directed against the countries of the West in the past several years.

No Man's Land draws on Richard Crowley's extensive experience as RTE correspondent in the region since 2003, and his interviews with a broad cross section of people representing the huge diversity of opinions and involvement in this most complex conflict. From Irish Jews who have emigrated to Israel - and even moved into the contentious settlements, to Palestinians who lived in Ireland as well as more high profile protagonists from both sides; the book poses the vexed question, to the residents themselves, of how to solve this long standing dispute for land and the Holy City of Jerusalem - and seeks to imagine the consequences if the issue continues to remain unresolved.