Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations - Softcover

Goodman, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375726136 ISBN 13: 9780375726132

Publisher: Vintage, 2008

Synopsis

Rare Book

About this title

Review:

"This is an important book, on a difficult subject: the reason why the Romans, who had so much in common with the Jews, sought to destroy the Jews and Judaism completely. Only one man could have written it. Martin Goodman is professor of Jewish studies at Oxford and has the unique distinction of having edited both the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies. This polarity of expertise enables him to describe in a penetrating way the terrifying Jewish revolts against Rome of AD 66-70 and 132-5, as well as provide a fresh and convincing analysis of their origins and consequences. . . Goodman has written a splendid book."
--Paul Johnson, "The Tablet"
"Martin Goodman's massive new treatment of two crucial centuries of Jewish history should be read by anyone seeking seriously to understand modern Middle Eastern tanges. . . It would be pleasing to feel that international statesmen might draw lessons from Goodman's lucid account of ancient tragedy."
--Diarmaid MacCulloch, "The Guardian"
"Sombre and magisterial. . . a brilliant comparative survey. . . There can be no doubting that the issues raised by "Rome and Jerusalem" will have a resonance with readers far beyond the confines of university classes or theology departments. The Roman world has begun to hold a mirror up to our own anxieties in a way that would have appeared wholly implausible a bare decade ago. If it was the fall of the Bastille that shaped 19th and 20th century history, then it can sometimes seem as though the 21st century is being shaped by the fall, nearly 2000 long years ago, of Jerusalem."
--Tom Holland, "Sunday Times
""His style is brisk and clear, his learning prodigious and hisscope immense. . . as Goodman's compelling and timely book reminds us, even the most pessimistic could hardly have guessed that it would take 2000 years for [the Jews] to return to their holy city -- or that even then, their battles would be far from over."
--Dominic Sandbrook, "Saturday" "Telegraph"
""Rome and Jerusalem" is, among many other things, a history of anti-Semitism -- or, if that term is felt to be anachronistic for Goodman's period. . . judaophobia. . . Martin Goodman has spent his career studying both ancient Rome and ancient Jerusalem ...He is thus the ideal scholar to try to hack a way through these tangled thickets of belief, prejudice and false consciousness."
--Paul Cartledge, "Sunday Telegraph
""A monumental work of scholarship ... the parallels with modern day Baghdad are all the more resonant for Goodman studiously avoiding them."
--Rabbi David J. Goldberg, the "Independent"
"An impressive, scholarly book."
--"The Economist"

"From the Hardcover edition."

“Magnificent. . . . A fascinating and extremely rich history. . . . An engrossing double portrait that shows how much our own civilization owes to both Jerusalem and Rome.”
—"The New York Sun"
“Innovative. . . . A complicated bit of history brilliantly told.”
—"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
“Well-written, detailed and meticulous. . . . Provides an intricate examination of life in the first century.”
—"The Dallas Morning News"
“A triumph. Goodman's scrupulous care with his sources, his eye for telling detail and his easy prose style combine to produce a work that will reward any reader.”
—"Jerusalem Post"

"Magnificent. . . . A fascinating and extremely rich history. . . . An engrossing double portrait that shows how much our own civilization owes to both Jerusalem and Rome." --"The New York Sun""Innovative. . . . A complicated bit of history brilliantly told." --"St. Louis Post-Dispatch""Well-written, detailed and meticulous. . . . Provides an intricate examination of life in the first century." --"The Dallas Morning News""A triumph. Goodman's scrupulous care with his sources, his eye for telling detail and his easy prose style combine to produce a work that will reward any reader." --"Jerusalem Post"

Magnificent. . . . A fascinating and extremely rich history. . . . An engrossing double portrait that shows how much our own civilization owes to both Jerusalem and Rome. The New York Sun Innovative. . . . A complicated bit of history brilliantly told. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Well-written, detailed and meticulous. . . . Provides an intricate examination of life in the first century. The Dallas Morning News A triumph. Goodman's scrupulous care with his sources, his eye for telling detail and his easy prose style combine to produce a work that will reward any reader. Jerusalem Post"

About the Author:

Martin Goodman has divided his intellectual life between the Roman and Jewish worlds. He has edited both the Journal of Roman Studies and the Journal of Jewish Studies. He has taught Roman History at Birmingham and Oxford Universities, and is currently Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford. He is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2002 he edited the Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, which was awarded a National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship. He lives with his family in Birmingham.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0375726136
• ISBN 13: 9780375726132
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640