Biblical Archaeology Review 13:2, March/April 1987
Books in Brief
The History of Ancient Israel
Michael Grant (New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1984) 317 pp., $19.95
A History of Ancient Israel from the Beginning to the Bar Kochba Revolt
J. Alberto Soggin (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984) 436 pp., $29.95
Despite their similar titles, these are two very different books, different in intended audience, in approach and in quality. Michael Grant has specialized in writing lucid, even elegant accounts of the ancient Mediterranean, focusing especially on the Roman period, and in the past I have found his writings to be informative and entertaining. But this time he has disappointed. His History is a misleading account of ancient Israel up to the First Jewish Revolt, often uncritically based on a naive reading of the Bible.
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