Jerusalem: The Biography

Portada
Alfred A. Knopf, 2011 - 650 páginas
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 civilizations. 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 three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence.

How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the "center 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, Lincoln, Rasputin, Lawrence of Arabia and Moshe Dayan.

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 chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice--in heaven and on earth.
 

Índice

Prologue
3
The World of David
17
The Rise of David
23
The Romans Arrive
76
PAGANISM
133
Aelia Capitolina
135
CHRISTIANITY
149
The Apogee of Byzantium
151
Decline of the Mamluks
295
The Magnificence of Suleiman
303
EMPIRE
327
35
334
The Albanian Conquest
342
The New City
366
Hussein Selim alHusseini American Colony
368
ZIONISM
389

Persian Invasion
166
ISLAM
175
The Arab Conquest
177
The Temple Restored
187
Distant Masters
197
Tolerance and Lunacy
202
CRUSADE
215
The Slaughter
217
The Rise of Outremer
226
The Golden Age of Outremer
231
Stalemate
243
The LeperKing
252
Saladin
258
Saladin and Richard
268
The Saladin Dynasty
274
MAMLUK
285
Slave to Sultan
287
The OudPlayer of Jerusalem
400
Arab Revolt Balfour Declaration
420
The Christmas Present
435
The Victors and the Spoils
447
The British Mandate
453
Jewish Independence Arab Catastrophe
496
Divided
504
Six Days
511
Epilogue
521
Family Trees
545
Maps
553
Acknowledgements
565
Notes
569
Bibliography
609
Index
629
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Sobre el autor (2011)

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a historian of Russia. Potemkin: Catherine the Great's Imperial Partner was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson, Duff Cooper and Marsh Biography prizes in Britain. Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar was awarded the History Book of the Year Prize at the 2004 British Book Awards. Young Stalin won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, the Costa Biography Prize (UK) and the Kreisky Prize for Political Literature (Austria). His books are world bestsellers, published now in 35 languages. He is the author of a new novel, Sashenka. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Montefiore lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children. For more details, visit: www.simonsebagmontefiore.com

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