DESERT FIGHTER: The Story of General Yigael Yadin and the Dead Sea Scrolls

by Shane Miller ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1967

The achievements of the Israeli soldier-scholar in a loose, fictionalized, intermittently effective account that will attract youngsters with Zionist sympathies and archaeological curiosity. Yadin joined the Jewish underground in Palestine as a youth, served as an officer at the border settlements during the mounting troubles with the Arabs, as Chief of Staff during the war following partition. At the moment Israel emerged, so did the scrolls: Yadin's father, an eminent archacologist, tells him of the find, regrets that four are in the hands of the Syrian Metropolitan; later, in a long trial of patience and ingenuity, Yadin negotiates for their purchase. As a practicing archaeologist and Biblical scholar, he has the satisfaction also of finding fifteen letters from Simon Bar Kochba which document the activities of the legendary revolutionary, and of excavating at Masada evidence to fill the gap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kochba period-- a notable achievement for one man. Yadin is worth reading about, will some day be better written about--this suffices as a prospectus.

Pub Date: May 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hawthorn

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION