A History Of Jerusalem

One City, Three Faiths

Jerusalem has probably cast more of a spell over the human imagination than any other city in the world. Held by the faithful to contain the mountain upon which Abraham offered up Isaac, the site of the Hebrew Temple, the hill of Christ's crucifixion, the tomb of the Virgin Mary and the rock from which the prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven, the city has been celebrated and revered for centuries by Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Karen Armstrong uncovers each layer of the history of this great palimpsest of a city. Her book is a history of the city - and it is more than that: it is an attempt to find out what Jews, Christians and Muslims have meant when they say the city is "holy" to them, and point out some of the implications of Jerusalem's sanctity in each tradition.

Balancing awesome erudition with admirable clarity and elegance, this book guides the general reader through what, since Biblical times, seems to have been a minefield of ethnic and religious sensibility.