The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) - Hardcover

Cahill, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0783803397 ISBN 13: 9780783803395

Publisher: G K Hall & Co, 1998

Synopsis

Taking us first to Sumer in the third millennium, Cahill explores a civilization in which life is seen - as it was in all ancient societies - as part of an endless cycle of birth and death: time perceived as a wheel, spinning ceaselessly, never altering its course - until the ancient Jews dramatically change that perception.

About this title

Review:

Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling How the Irish Saved Civilization, continues his Hinges of History series with The Gifts of the Jews, a light-handed, popular account of ancient Jewish culture, the culture of the Bible. The book is written from a decidedly modern point of view. Cahill notes, for instance, that Abraham moved the Jews from Ur to the land of Canaan "to improve their prospects," and that the leering inhabitants of Sodom surrounded Lot's lodging "like the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead." The Gifts of the Jews nonetheless encourages us to see the Old Testament through ancient eyes--to see its characters not as our contemporaries but as those of Gilgamesh and Amenhotep. Cahill also lingers on often-overlooked books of the Bible, such as Ruth, to discuss changes in ancient sensibility. The result is a fine, speculative, eminently readable work of history.

From the Publisher:

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER!

Persuasive as well as entertaining...Mr. Cahill's book [is] a gift."--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

"An outstanding and very readable book...highly recommended."--Library Journal

"A very good read, a dramatically effective, often compelling retelling of the Hebrew Bible."--Charles Gold, Chicago Sun Times

About this edition

• Publisher: G K Hall & Co
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0783803397
• ISBN 13: 9780783803395
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328