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THE RESCUE OF JERUSALEM

Name: THE RESCUE OF JERUSALEM
Author: Henry T. Aubin
ISBN: 1-58947-275-0

THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN HEBREWS AND AFRICANS IN 701 B.C.

by Henry T. Aubin ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2001

Sure to provoke discussion, and deserving of a broad audience.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.