Under Jerusalem : the buried history of the world's most contested city / Andrew Lawler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lawler, Andrew, author.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Excavations (Archaeology)--Jerusalem.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Jerusalem--History.

Jerusalem.

Jerusalem--Antiquities.

Antiquities.

Middle East--Jerusalem.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxxiii, 426 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Doubleday, [2021]

Summary:

"A sweeping history of Jerusalem and the pivotal role that archaeology has played--both in its invention as a modern holy city and as the match that lit a geopolitical fire beneath it. In 1863, a French politician and adventurer heard a rumor of biblical treasures beneath Jerusalem. At the time, Jerusalem was a venerable backwater, not the thriving religious center we think of today. Archaeology itself was in its infancy--more a pastime for treasure-hunting aristocrats than a legitimate scientific discipline. But when Louis-Felicien Joseph Caignart De Saulcy dug into the desert and discovered an ancient tomb, explorers from England, Germany, and Russia followed in his footsteps, competing with one another to make the next big find. De Saulcy's dig gave rise not only to a new field; it opened a Pandora's Box, turning Jerusalem into the most disputed piece of land on Earth. Under Jerusalem is a 150-year history of the ground just beneath one of the world's holiest cities. It examines the way that archaeology has not only fueled academic disputes but has contributed to some of the bloodiest chapters in Israel's modern history. With an eye on both the past and the future, Andrew Lawler reveals how more than a century of researchers, propelled as much by nationalist agendas as any thirst for knowledge, sparked a revolution in the Middle East, one whose reverberations we continue to feel"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A Moment of Insanity

A Fool's Errand

A Masonic Mission

The Roots of Our Problem

A Faithful Watchman

A Great and Potent Force

Gone with the Treasures of Solomon

A Dangerous Fantasy

Exalting the Walls

The Magnificence of the Metropolis

The Rabbi's McGuffin

Someone of Great Imagination

A Free People In Our Land

The Cellar Crusade

The Bedrock of Our Existence

Millennial Madness

Ruins in the Mind

Reality is Always Stronger Than Belief

The Rebel Dig

Resistance by Existence

Here We Will Stay

Return of the Queen.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [359]-404) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Livezey Fund bookplate.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Lawler, Andrew. Under Jerusalem

ISBN:

9780385546850

0385546858

9780593311769

0593311760

OCLC:

1235903466

Publisher Number:

40030792067