Palestine Books

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

Jimmy Carter

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster Amazon Marketplace: 97 new & used starting at $2.69

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Israel
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Palestine
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 694 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The crowning achievement of Jimmy Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and he has continued his public and private diplomacy ever since, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work for peace, human rights, and international development. He has been a tireless author since then as well, writing bestselling books on his childhood, his faith, and American history and politics, but in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he has returned to the Middle East and to the question of Israel's peace with its neighbors--in particular, how Israeli sovereignty and security can coexist permanently and peacefully with Palestinian nationhood.

It's a rare honor to ask questions of a former president, and we are grateful that President Carter was able to take the time in between his work with his wife, Rosalynn, for the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity and his many writing projects to speak with us about his hopes for the region and his thoughts on the book.

A big thank you to President Carter for granting our request for an interview.

---

An Interview with President Jimmy Carter

Q: What has been the importance of your own faith in your continued interest in peace in the Middle East?
A: As a Christian, I worship the Prince of Peace. One of my preeminent commitments has been to bring peace to the people who live in the Holy Land. I made my best efforts as president and still have this as a high priority.

Q: A common theme in your years of Middle East diplomacy has been that leaders on both sides have often been more open to discussion and change in private than in public. Do you think that's still the case?
A: Yes. This is why private and intense negotiations can be successful. More accurately, however, my premise has been that the general public (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) are more eager for peace than their political leaders. For instance, a recent poll done by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 58% of Israelis and 81% of the Palestinians favor a comprehensive settlement similar to the Roadmap for Peace or the Saudi proposal adopted by all 23 Arab nations and recently promoted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tragically, there have been no substantive peace talks during the past six years.

Q: How have the war in Iraq and the increased strength of Iran (and the declarations of their leaders against Israel) changed the conditions of the Israel-Palestine question?
A: Other existing or threatened conflicts in the region greatly increase the importance of Israel's having peace agreements with its neighbors, to minimize overall Arab animosity toward both Israel and the United States and reduce the threat of a broader conflict.

Q: Your use of the term "apartheid" has been a lightning rod in the response to your book. Could you explain your choice? Were you surprised by the reaction?
A: The book is about Palestine, the occupied territories, and not about Israel. Forced segregation in the West Bank and terrible oppression of the Palestinians create a situation accurately described by the word. I made it plain in the text that this abuse is not based on racism, but on the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land. This violates the basic humanitarian premises on which the nation of Israel was founded. My surprise is that most critics of the book have ignored the facts about Palestinian persecution and its proposals for future peace and resorted to personal attacks on the author. No one could visit the occupied territories and deny that the book is accurate.

Q: You write in the book that "the peace process does not have a life of its own; it is not self-sustaining." What would you recommend that the next American president do to revive it?
A: I would not want to wait two more years. It is encouraging that President George W. Bush has announced that peace in the Holy Land will be a high priority for his administration during the next two years. On her January trip to the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for early U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. She has recommended the 2002 offer of the Arab nations as a foundation for peace: full recognition of Israel based on a return to its internationally recognized borders. This offer is compatible with official U.S. Government policy, previous agreements approved by Israeli governments in 1978 and 1993, and with the International Quartet's "roadmap for peace." My book proposes that, through negotiated land swaps, this "green line" border be modified to permit a substantial number of Israelis settlers to remain in Palestine. With strong U.S. pressure, backed by the U.N., Russia, and the European Community, Israelis and Palestinians would have to come to the negotiating table.

1/18/2007

The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood

Rashid Khalidi

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Beacon Press Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $4.46

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Israel
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Palestine
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A timely and compelling examination of the Palestinian dilemma, named one of the 100 best books of the year by Publishers Weekly

In Resurrecting Empire, Rashid Khalidi dissected the failures of colonial policy over the entire span of the modern history of the Middle East, predicted the meltdown in Iraq that we are now witnessing with increasing horror, and offered viable alternatives for achieving peace in the region. His newest book, The Iron Cage, hones in on Palestinian politics and history. Once again Khalidi draws on a wealth of experience and scholarship to elucidate the current conflict, using history to provide a clear-eyed view of the situation today.

The story of the Palestinian search to establish a state begins in the era of British control over Palestine and stretches between the two world wars, when colonial control of the region became increasingly unpopular and power began to shift toward the United States. In this crucial period, and in the years immediately following World War II, Palestinian leaders were unable to achieve the long-cherished goal of establishing an independent state—a critical failure that throws a bright light on the efforts of the Palestinians to create a state in the many decades since 1948. By frankly discussing the reasons behind this failure, Khalidi offers a much-needed perspective for anyone concerned about peace in the Middle East.

"Rashid Khalidi is a historian's historian. The Iron Cage is his most accomplished effort to date . . . Magisterial in scope, meticulous in its attention to detail, and decidedly dispassionate in its analysis, The Iron Cage is destined to be a benchmark of its genre."
—Joel Schalit, Tikkun

"At heart a historical essay, an effort to decide why the Palestinians . . . have failed to achieve an independent state." —Steven Erlanger, New York Times

"Khalidi, tackling 'historical amnesia,' brilliantly analyses the structural handicap which hobbled the Palestinians throughout 30 years of British rule . . . Khalidi restores the Palestinians to something more than victims, acknowledging that for all their disadvantages, they have played their role and can (and must) still do so to determine their own fate." —Ian Black, Guardian

"Khalidi uses history to provide a clear-eyed view of the region and assess the prospects for peace. He strives successfully for even-handedness."
—Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet and Make No Law

". . . we have to open a dialogue with Hamas—not to embrace it, but to lay out a gradual pathway that will bring it into relations with Israel. As Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University's Palestinian expert and author of The Iron Cage points out: 'If we let the Palestinian Authority be destroyed, and then we keep Hamas isolated'—even though it won a democratic election that we sponsored—'we will end up with the hard boys, the gangs you see today on the streets of Gaza, who respond to no authority at all.'"
—New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman

The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition

Flavius Josephus

Amazon Price: $10.18 List Price: $14.97 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Hendrickson Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 67 new & used starting at $7.92

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

an amazing reference 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

want to know how Christianity was working when the apostles were still the ones calling the shots? here is a first/second century historians perspective on what was going on in that time

Editorial Review:

This renowned reference book has served scholars, pastors, students, and those interested in the background of the New Testament for years. The insight given into the Essene community, the destruction of Jerusalem and the interpretations and traditions of the Old Testament in first century Judaism is invaluable. The outlook of Josephus, a late first century Pharisee and historian, on Jesus and the New Testament documents is enlightening and provocative. As an original reference, The Works of Josephus is essential to a full understanding of the first century, the time of Christ and the New Testament.

Complete and unabridged, this is the best one-volume edition of the classic translation of JosephusÂ' works. The entire text has been reset in modern, easy-to-read type; numbering corresponding to that used in the Loeb edition has been added to the text; and citations and cross-references have been updated from Roman numerals to Arabic numbers.

Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam

David G. Dalin, John F. Rothmann

Amazon Price: $17.16 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Amazon Marketplace: 58 new & used starting at $12.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Political
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A chilling, fascinating, and nearly forgotten historical figure is resurrected in a riveting work that links the fascism of the last century with the terrorism of our own. Written with verve and extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Icon of Evil is the definitive account of the man who during World War II was called “the führer of the Arab world” and whose ugly legacy lives on today.

In 1921, the beneficiary of an appointment the British would live to regret, Haj Amin al-Husseini became the mufti of Jerusalem, the most eminent and influential Islamic leader in the Middle East. For years, al-Husseini fomented violence in the region against the Jews he loathed and wished to destroy. Forced out in 1937, he eventually found his way to the country whose legions he desperately wished to join: Nazi Germany.

Here, with new and disturbing details, David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann show how al-Husseini ingratiated himself with his hero, Adolf Hitler, becoming, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, an “honorary Aryan,” while dreaming of being installed Nazi leader of the Middle East. Al-Husseini would later recruit more than 100,000 Muslims in Europe to fight in divisions of the Waffen-SS, and obstruct negotiations with the Allies that might have allowed four thousand Jewish children to escape to Palestine. Some believe that al-Husseini even inspired Hitler to implement the Final Solution. At war’s end, al-Husseini escaped indictment at Nuremberg and was harbored in France before being given a hero’s welcome in Egypt.

Icon of Evil chronicles al-Husseini’s postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures as the radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and Saddam Hussein’s powerful uncle, General Khairallah Talfah, and his crucial mentoring of the young Yasser Arafat. Finally, it provides compelling evidence that al-Husseini’s actions and writings serve as inspirations today to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations pledged to destroy Israel and the United States.
Revelatory and unsettling, Icon of Evil reveals an essential character in the worst crimes of the modern era. It is an important addition to our understanding of the past, present, and future of radical Islam.

The Case for Israel

Alan Dershowitz

Amazon Price: $10.36 List Price: $12.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 77 new & used starting at $4.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Israel

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 164 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Simple Propaganda 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book is a perfect example of twisted, convoluted logic and obfuscation of fact that is used to defend the indefensible.

Nothing can justify the on-going oppression, racial discrimination and genocide the state of Israel employs against the indigenous Palestinians under its control.

Dershowitz does not make any 'case' for Israel. There are no excuses, no extenuating facts nor extrapolation of facts that can excuse the behavior of this racist, apartheid state and the author's attempts to do so via this book remind me of a similar individual who met his end at Nuremberg - Julius Streicher. Both The Case for Israel and Der Sturmer share the same, infamous logic.

Israel does have a right to exist. That is only fair as it is too late for any other solution but it must exist as a pluralistic, egalitarian society that includes indigenous Palestinians. It must also peacefully evacuate the occupied territories and East Jerusalem by voluntarily returning to its pre-1967 frontiers.

That fact that Dershowitz fails to understand these simple fundamentals to peace and prosperity in which all groups can partake is testimony to his bigoted narrow-mindedness.

Editorial Review:

The Case for Israel is an ardent defense of Israel's rights, supported by indisputable evidence.

• Presents a passionate look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country.
• Dershowitz accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.
• Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordinaire, Alan Dershowitz has also been a passionate though not uncritical supporter of Israel.

The New Complete Works of Josephus

Flavius Josephus

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Kregel Academic & Professional Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $14.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Book too Long. 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The contents of this book are valuable to the student of Bible Studies. The problem I have found is that the book's contents are much too long for one book. It would be much easier to read if it was in two volumes and slightly larger print.

Good Complete Edition for the Price 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I'm not quite sure how to place "The New Complete Works of Josephus" (Kregel Academic & Professional, 1999) among other editions of Josephus that are available.

This work is a "revised" version of Whiston's 1737 translation, which has been "corrected" to an unknown degree by Paul L. Maier.

Besides Josephus' writings, the book includes 7 "dissertations" on the text by Whiston such as "The testimonies of Josephus concerning Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, and James the Just, vindicated". These along with the footnotes reveal a translator anxious to defend the authenticity of his source text(s), the historical accuracy of Josephus, the correspondence of Josephus's accounts with the Old and New Testament, etc.

Whiston seems to have a vested interest in Josephus as supporting and supplementing various Biblical accounts. He definitely comments upon the work from a Christian (he was actually an Arian) rather than a purely critical perspective. However, I see no reason at this time to believe this infects his translation with bias.

Assuming that "Complete Works" has been completely corrected, it's greatest failing is being very difficult to read. Apparently, Whiston had something against periods, but really loved semicolons. Many a sentence runs on and on to paragraph length. The syntax is tortuous.

The same publisher has two other editions of Josephus that are very different from Complete Works, yet seem very similar to each other. These are "Essential Works" (Josephus: The Essential Works) and "Essential Writings" (Josephus: The Essential Writings). Both are current editions using a translation by Paul L. Maier.

The following is a sample of Maier's new translation followed by Whiston's. The text corresponds to Loeb Bk. VI, Ch. 14, 374-378


From "Josephus: The Essential Writings", Kregel, 1990, ISBN 0825429641 (Maier translation)

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the bodies of the slain, they found those of Saul and his sons, and they cut off their heads and impaled their bodies on the walls of Bethshan. But when the Israelites of Jabesh-Gilead learned about this mutilation, the bravest of them marched all night to Bethshan, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons, and carried them to Jabesh, where they buried them. The enemy was either not able or not bold enough to stop them, because of their great courage.

Saul came to this end, as Samuel had predicted, because of his disobedience regarding the Amalekites and his destruction of the high priest and his family. He reigned eighteen years during the lifetime of Samuel, and 22 more after his death.


From "The New Complete Works of Josephus", Kregel, 1999, ISBN 0825429242 ("corrected" Whiston translation)

On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip their enemies that were killed, they got the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and stripped them, and cut off their heads; and they sent messengers all about their country, to acquaint them that their enemies were fallen; and they dedicated their armor in the temple of Astarte, but hung their bodies on crosses at the walls of the city Beth Shan, which is now called Scythopolis. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard that they had dismembered the dead bodies of Saul and of his sons, they deemed it so horrid a thing to overlook this barbarity, and to suffer them to be without funeral rites, that the most courageous and hardy among them (and indeed that city had in it men that were very stout both in body and mind) journeyed all night, and came to Beth Shan, and approached the enemy's wall, and taking down the bodies of Saul and of his sons they caried them to Jabesh, while the enemy was not able enough or bold enough to hinder them, because of their great courage. So the people of Jabesh all wept and buried their bodies in the best place of their country, which was named Aroura; and they observed a public mourning for them seven days, with their wives and children, beating their breasts, and lamenting the king and his sons, without either tasting meat or drink [until evening].

To this his end did Saul come, according to the prophecy of Samuel, because he disobeyed the commands of God about the Amalekites, and on the account of his destroying the family of Ahimelech the high priest, with Ahimelech himself, and the city of the high priests. Now Saul when he had reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and after his death two [and twenty], ended his life in this manner.


Even granting that the Maier translation is abridged, you can see that the Whiston translation suffers pitifully where readability is concerned.


If you're still with me I'd say this. If you can afford it and need the complete works, buy the Loeb editions. I can't personally vouch for them, but in the introduction to "Complete Works" Maier himself states that those represent the "best English translation".

If you don't need each and every line and want text you can actually parse, perhaps you should buy "Essential Works" or "Essential Writings". I can't tell you which, since I don't have them and I'm mystified as to what the difference might be. Of course, there are other translations and editions from other publishers of repute that are certainly comparable in readability.

If you need (or want) every line for a very economical price, "Complete Works" will do.

Good luck reading it.

Editorial Review:

(Revised and expanded edition; commentary by Paul L. Maier) Unabridged. Includes harmony of Greek and English numbering systems, table of Jewish weights and measures, Old Testament text parallels, twenty full-page illustrations, and an updated index.

The Jewish War: Revised Edition (The Penguin Classics)

Flavius Josephus, Betty Radice

Amazon Price: $10.88 List Price: $16.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin Classics Amazon Marketplace: 76 new & used starting at $4.58

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Jewish War Was a Bloody Wars. 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 7 people found this review helpful.

The Jewish War recorded by Josephus (not the second war; 132-135) but the first one is masterfully recorded in this edition. At the same time, I don't wnat to sound as though I read it simply for the sake of reading a 'materpiece of literature' but because I sincerely wanted to know, from a first hand perspective, what is was like for someone to go through this. Since were don't have many poor and average people's accounts, we have to settle for Joseph who does a pretty good job.

The Barbary shown in the war is attrocious; rape, canniblism, fanatacism, pillaging, turning on one's own friends, etc. Josephus himself tells a story about how he basically convinced 40-some of his friends to kill themselves so that he could escape. The fact of the matter is that a lot of reading between the lines is needed in this book because of the way he writes. I highly recommend it, though. At the same time, not for evyerone.

Editorial Review:

Josephus' account of a war marked by treachery and atrocity is a superbly detailed and evocative record of the Jewish rebellion against Rome between AD 66 and 70. Originally a rebel leader, Josephus changed sides after he was captured to become a Rome-appointed negotiator, and so was uniquely placed to observe these turbulent events, from the siege of Jerusalem to the final heroic resistance and mass suicides at Masada. His account provides much of what we know about the history of the Jews under Roman rule, with vivid portraits of such key figures as the Emperor Vespasian and Herod the Great. Often self-justifying and divided in its loyalties, "The Jewish War" nevertheless remains one of the most immediate accounts of war, its heroism and its horrors, ever written.

Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries

Suad Amiry

Amazon Price: $10.40 List Price: $13.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Anchor Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $6.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Leaders & Notable People -> Political
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Women

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Worth reading with some caveats for the uninformed reader 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed reading this book but was chilled at the author's inclusion of "1929" as a year of Palestinian "pride" without mention of the atrocities of the Hebron pogroms. "Text without context is pretext" as the PLO's old friend Jesse Jackson used to remind us. Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (which alot of Amazon reviewers think has an anti-Zionist bias) would be a good corrective for the reader new to these issues.

Amiry is not a fanatic or a fundamentalist and this is her P.O.V. and her life. Can she address the moral failures of the Palestinian leadership, beginning with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and ending in Hamas? Maybe, but this is not that book.

Editorial Review:

Based on diaries and e-mail correspondence that architect Suad Amiry kept from 1981 to 2004, Sharon and My Mother-in-Law evokes the frustrations, cabin fever, and downright misery of daily life in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Amiry writes elegance and humor about the enormous difficulty of moving from one place to another, the torture of falling in love with someone from another town, the absurdity of her dog receiving a Jerusalem identity card when thousands of Palestinians could not, and the trials of having her ninety-two-year-old mother-in-law living in her house during a forty-two-day curfew. With a wickedly sharp ear for dialogue and a keen eye for detail, Amiry gives us an original, ironic, and firsthand glimpse into the absurdity — and agony — of life in the Occupied Territories.

Josephus: The Essential Works

Flavius Josephus

Amazon Price: $17.15 List Price: $25.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Kregel Academic & Professional Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $7.69

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent Translation 4 out of 5 stars.
22 of 24 people found this review helpful.

This is a good introduction to the works of Josephus that are really quite crucial to understanding Second Temple Judaism, the Qumran sect, and the fate of the Jews in the War with Rome. Scholars of both history and religion alike will benefit from this book.

Best translation ever of Josephus for normal people 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

The works of Josephus are the most important writings we have to understand the background and history of the Bible. Yet, trying to read Josephus' wordy prose is one of the most excruciating experiences I ever encountered.

Dr. Maier's translation and commentary on Josephus is one of 3 modern translations I own, but is the only one I have used for the last 5 years. It brought Josephus to life for me and allowed me to read and understand this valuable primary source.

Dr. Maier's work is generously accented with maps and illustrations and features a translation of Josephus that is abridged and therefore readable. Dr. Maier can be trusted to weed out the useless verbosity of the original text, as he is a leading scholar on early Roman Imperial history.

Sell your other versions of Josephus and buy this one and then you may actually start to use Josephus to accent your study of the Bible.

Editorial Review:

(Updated, full-color edition) Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War take on a brilliant new dimension in this revised edition of the award-winning translation and condensation. Now with color photographs, charts, and maps. (20040603)

Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts

K. C. Hanson, Douglas E. Oakman

Amazon Price: $19.80 List Price: $30.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Fortress Press Amazon Marketplace: 29 new & used starting at $14.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General
Subjects -> History -> Ancient -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The complicated story of a rich and conflicted land 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 22 people found this review helpful.

Collaboratively written by biblical scholars K. C. Hanson (School of Theology at Claremont, Creighton University) and Douglas E. Oakman (Associate Professor of Religion at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington), Palestine In The Time Of Jesus: Social Structure And Social Conflicts is an impressively presented, detailed introduction to the politics, social institutions, governmental structures, and social structure of the antiquarian Palestine of 2000 years ago. Drawing heavily on both Scriptural reference and archaeological data, Palestine In The Time of Jesus is a scholarly and thought provoking "window in time" revealing the complicated story of a rich and conflicted land. Enhanced with an accompanying CD-ROM, Palestine In The Time Of Jesus is a welcome and throughly reader friendly addition to any personal seminary, university, or community library New Testament Studies reading list and reference collection.

Editorial Review:

Hanson and Oakman's award-winning and illuminating volume has become a widely used and cited introduction to the social context of Jesus and the early Jesus movement. This second edition updates all the discussions in light of more recent scholarship, improves clarity and readability of diagrams and maps, provides additional diagrams and images to enhance the book for student use, and includes new classroom resources, for professors and students, on a Companion Web site.
Along with an overview of the ancient Mediterranean worldview, Palestine in the Time of Jesus explores major domains and institutions of Roman Palestine: kinship, politics, economy, and religion.