Jerusalem, Jerusalem: how the ancient city ignited our modern world

By James Carroll

James Carroll’s urgent, masterly Jerusalem, Jerusalem uncovers the ways in which the city became a transcendent fantasy that ignites religious fervour unlike anywhere else on earth. He shows how the conflicts within this holiest of cities underscore an important point of history: that religion and violence fuel each other.

In Carroll’s provocative reading of the deep past, the Bible came into being as an act of resistance to the violence that threatened Jerusalem from the start. Tracing the richly intertwined threads of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim history, Carroll illuminates the European fixation on a heavenly Jerusalem as the spark of both anti-Semitism and racist colonial contempt. The holy wars of the Knights Templar burned apocalyptic mayhem into the Western mind; now, heavenly Jerusalem defines the American imagination — and always, the earthly city smoulders. Jerusalem fever, inextricably tied to Christian fervour, is the deadly third party to the Arab–Israeli wars. Understanding it is the key that unlocks world history, and gives us our best chance to re-imagine peace.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the current disharmony of modern-day Jerusalem and its historical underpinnings. To the standard set by Constantine’s Sword, here again is a ‘rare book that combines searing passion … with a subject that has affected all our lives’ (Chicago Tribune).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribe Publications
• Release date: Oct 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781921942204

James Carroll

<P><B>James Carroll</B> was raised in Washington, D.C., and ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1969. He served as a chaplain at Boston University from 1969 to 1974, then left the priesthood to become a writer. A distinguished scholar- <BR>in-residence at Suffolk University, he is a columnist for the <I>Boston Globe</I> and a <BR>regular contributor to the Daily Beast. </P><P>His critically admired books include <I>Practicing Catholic</I>, the National Book Award–winning <I>An American Requiem</I>, <I>House of War</I>, which won the first PEN/Galbraith Award, and the <I>New York Times</I> bestseller <I>Constantine’s Sword</I>, now an acclaimed documentary. <BR>

Reviews for Jerusalem, Jerusalem

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Instead of history about Jerusalem, got long rambling mess of a book focusing on the nature of religions and violence. I suppose that may be my fault for not reading the subtitle thoroughly, but oh well. The book in itself was still somewhat interesting.

As for the city itself, I may read Montefiore's new book, which is due to be released in October of this year.

[vpfluke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very good book, but I ran out of time to read this library book. James Carroll writes well and this is a very engrossing story. Jerusalem has a history of violence and fierce competition for control, but as the subtitle states, it has "ignited our modern world."