Jerusalem: The Biography
{{Short description|Book by Simon Sebag Montefiore}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| image = File:Jerusalem- The Biography cover.jpg
| border = yes
| caption = First edition
| author = Simon Sebag Montefiore
| name = Jerusalem: The Biography
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| subject = History of Jerusalem
| genre =
| publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson
| release_date = 27 January 2011
| media_type = Hardcover, Paperback, audiobook, E-Book at [https://books.google.com/books?id=QO0-lV0rxsQC Google Books]
| isbn = 0-2978-52655
| dewey = 956.94/420099
| congress = 2011-020827
| oclc =
| preceded_by = Young Stalin (LA Times Book Prize, Costa Book Awards)
| followed_by =
}}
Jerusalem: The Biography is a 2011 bestselling{{cite journal|last=Rosen|first=Jonathan|date=28 October 2011|title=Caliphs, Crusaders, and the Bloody History of Jerusalem|journal=The New York Times|location=New York|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/books/review/jerusalem-by-simon-sebag-montefiore-book-review.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1351540883-BNG/BUglziy8A5zcLNWpGA}}Cf. also [http://myemail.constantcontact.com/British-historian-Montefiore-presents-Jerusalem--A-Biography-at-the-IDB-Cultural-Center.html?soid=1110913496036&aid=3PGTtsfRzI4 IDB Cultural Center], Presentation at the Enrique V. Iglesias Auditorium, Washington, DC, 25 October 2012. non-fiction book by British popular historian and writer Simon Sebag Montefiore.
Synopsis
File:Simon Sebag Montefiore.jpg's presentation of his book in Stockholm, 21 September 2011]]
Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime's study, Montefiore illustrates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a historical chronicle of the city of Jerusalem.Cf. [http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/jerusalemthebiography.aspx Author's Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229204301/http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/jerusalemthebiography.aspx |date=29 December 2014 }}, Jerusalem section.
Montefiore chose to organize Jerusalem chronologically, stretching it from King David's establishment of the city as his capital (the Proto-Canaanite and Canaanite-Egyptian periods are briefly mentioned) to the 1967 Six-Day War, with an epilogue pondering on more recent events. In the introduction, the author explains that "it is only by chronological narrative that one avoids the temptation to see the past through the obsessions of the present."Cf. Introduction, p. xxv.
The author narrates the history of Jerusalem as the centre of world history, but does not intend the book as an encyclopaedia of every aspect of this ancient city, nor as a guidebook of every niche, capital and archway in every building. At the beginning of his book, Montefiore clearly explains that neither does he intend to provide a history of Judaism, Christianity or Islam, nor a study of the nature of God in Jerusalem: for these he remands elsewhere, to a plethora of other publications.For a bibliographical list, see [http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/Jerusalem-Source-Notes.pdf Sources and notes for the book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150105100045/http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/Jerusalem-Source-Notes.pdf |date=5 January 2015 }} His task, Montefiore affirms, is to pursue the facts, not to adjudicate between the mysteries of different religions or the secular reasons behind historical events: Jerusalem is a synthesis based on a wide reading of the primary sources, ancient and modern, on personal seminars with specialists, professors, archaeologists, families and statesmen, and on the author's multiple visits to Jerusalem, the shrines and archaeological digs.Cf. Introduction, pp.xix-xxvi.
In December 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore presented on BBC Four a three-part history of Jerusalem, based on his book and by the title Jerusalem: The Making of a Holy City.Cf. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01852x1/clips BBC Four Schedule, Dec. 2011] and clips on the series.
Awards
See also
{{Portal|Israel}}
- Walls of Jerusalem
- Jerusalem Day (Yom Yerushalayim)
- List of places in Jerusalem
References
{{Reflist}}
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- {{cite book|last=Montefiore|first=Simon Sebag|author-link=Simon Sebag Montefiore|title=Jerusalem: The Biography|title-link=Jerusalem: The Biography|date=2011|publisher=Vintage Books, Random House|isbn=978-0-307-28050-3}}
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External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20141229204301/http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/jerusalemthebiography.aspx Book's Presentation], on author's official website.
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150105100045/http://www.simonsebagmontefiore.com/Jerusalem-Source-Notes.pdf Sources and notes for the book]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12306552 BBC TV Presentation of Jerusalem], video news dated 28 January 2011.
- [http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/books/9582757.Jerusalem__The_Biography_by_Simon_Sebag_Montefiore__Weidenfeld___Nicolson_paperback____9_99_/ Review on The Press], 10 March 2012
- [https://archive.today/20121216123910/http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45736332 Bill Clinton's Video], celebrating Jerusalem as Best 2011 Book, on Today.com. Retrieved 29 October 2012
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buXwTo7FB1k Interview with Montefiore], on YouTube. Retrieved 29 October 2012
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120817045653/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12030 Interview with Montefiore], on Current Affairs by Charlie Rose. Retrieved 29 October 2012
- [http://www.c-span.org/video/?303145-1/book-discussion-jerusalem-biography Discussion of Jerusalem at Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington D.C., 2 November 2011]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerusalem, The Biography}}
Category:2011 non-fiction books
Category:Weidenfeld & Nicolson books