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Divided Jerusalem - Wasserstein, Bernard - Yale University Press
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May 26, 2008
456 p., 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
12 b/w illus.
ISBN: 9780300137637
ISBN-10: 030013763X
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Paper: $18.00
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- Related Categories
- History
Political Science
Religion
A Yale Nota Bene Publication
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Divided JerusalemThe Struggle for the Holy City, Third Edition
Finalist for the 2001-02 National Jewish Book Award Named one of the finest books of 2001 by The Economist Named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post Book World
In this timely book, Bernard Wasserstein offers the first authoritative history of the fraught diplomatic relations surrounding the Holy City of Jerusalem. Jews, Muslims, and Christians have all claimed the city as their own over the centuries—as have a dizzying array of foreign nations. In the period between the founding of the city and its capture by Israelis in 1967, Jerusalem has been conquered at least thirty-seven times. “No other town,” wrote Arthur Koestler in 1948, “has caused such continuous waves of killing, rape, and unholy misery over the centuries as the Holy City.”
Today, Jerusalem lies at the core of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It is the most deeply divided capital city in the world: its Arab and Jewish residents inhabit different districts, speak different languages, attend different schools, read different newspapers, observe different holy days—live, in almost every significant respect, different lives. Against the background of renewed violence in and around Jerusalem, this book explores the complicated origins of the current diplomatic impasse. Why is the question of Jerusalem so intractable? Why has it outlasted almost every other political dispute as a focus for diplomatic wrangling and collective violence? And what are the prospects for resolution?
Meticulously researched, and written with humanity and elegance, this book offers an illuminating contribution to the effort to achieve a lasting negotiated settlement of a tragic conflict that affects us all.
BERNARD WASSERSTEIN is Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He is the author of many books, including The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln and Israelis and Palestinians, both published by Yale University Press. His most recent book is Barbarism and Civilization: A History of Europe in Our Time.
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