Bethlehem : biography of a town / Nicholas Blincoe.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Nation Books, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: First editionDescription: viii, 271 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781568585833
- 1568585837
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | NonFiction | 956.942 B648 | Available | 33111008857480 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"[ Bethlehem ] brings within reach 11,000 years of history, centering on the beloved town's unique place in the world. Blincoe's love of Bethlehem is compelling, even as he does not shy away from the complexities of its chronicle." -- President Jimmy Carter
Bethlehem is so suffused with history and myth that it feels like an unreal city even to those who call it home. For many, Bethlehem remains the little town at the edge of the desert described in Biblical accounts. Today, the city is hemmed in by a wall and surrounded by forty-one Israeli settlements and hostile settlers and soldiers.
Nicholas Blincoe tells the town's history through the visceral experience of living there, taking readers through its stone streets and desert wadis, its monasteries, aqueducts, and orchards to show the city from every angle and era. His portrait of Bethlehem sheds light on one of the world's most intractable political problems, and he maintains that if the long thread winding back to the city's ancient past is severed, the chances of an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict will be lost with it.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-247) and index.
Introduction: The Christmas pudding -- Nomads and lovers: from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age -- Scent, spice, and chemicals: the Iron Age -- Bethlehem and Christ: the Classical Age -- Helena's church: Christian Rome -- The Emperor's new church: Byzantium -- Traders to crusaders: the Islamic conquest to the crusader town -- Mamluks and Ottomans: thirteenth to nineteenth century -- The British: the Victorian Age to the Second World War -- Jordan: 1948-1967 -- Israel: from 1967 to Oslo -- Palestine: after Oslo -- The future for the settlers -- The future for Bethlehem.
"Bethlehem is so suffused with history and myth that it feels like an unreal city, even to the people who call it home. For many, Bethlehem remains the little town at the edge of the desert described in Biblical accounts. Today, the city is hemmed in by a wall and surrounded by forty-one Israeli settlements and hostile settlers and soldiers. Nicholas Blincoe tells the town's history through the visceral experience of living there, taking readers through its stone streets and desert wadis, its monasteries, aqueducts, and orchards to show the city from every angle and era. His portrait of Bethlehem sheds light on one of the world's most intractable political problems, and he maintains that if the long thread winding back to the city's ancient past is severed, the chances of an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict will be lost with it."--Jacket flap.