Sure to provoke discussion, and deserving of a broad audience.
An intriguing argument, in the absence of much direct historical evidence, that Israel was delivered from its Assyrian enemy by an African savior.
In 701 b.c., a great army of Assyrians in the service of the ruler Sennacherib descended on Israel, Canaan, and Judah on a mission of conquest. Approaching Jerusalem after several victories, this army was, according to the Bible, devastated by an “angel of the Lord” and forced to withdraw. This “angel,” scholars have guessed, was likely some sort of smallpox-like plague; in whatever event, the deliverance of Jerusalem assured the survival of the Hebrew kingdom and of its god, Yahweh—and, by extension, enabled Jerusalem to endure as the center of three great monotheistic religions. Aubin, a reporter for the Montreal Gazette, works his way through a great library of historical texts to support his thesis that the angel was in fact the army of the Kushite pharaoh of Egypt, made up largely of black Africans from what is now the Sudan. Led by the general Taharqa, who would go on to become a pharaoh himself and whom the Greek historian Strabo ranked among the great but underpublicized warriors of the ancient world, this African army seldom figures in modern biblical scholarship—the result, Aubin argues, of a racist campaign over the last two centuries to erase the Kushite contribution to Israel’s survival. That argument is sometimes overstated, though Aubin finds a useful foil in the unapologetically racist though influential scholar Archibald Henry Sayce (1845–1933), who dismissed the possibility that a “Negro dynasty” could have effected the rescue of distant Jerusalem. Even so, Aubin writes about complex matters of history, archaeology, and biblical exegesis with a generally light hand, and his book, though its reliance on learned guesswork may give traditionally minded scholars pause, offers an eminently plausible interpretation of one of history’s great turning points.
Sure to provoke discussion, and deserving of a broad audience.Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-58947-275-0
Page Count: 469
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2002
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
