Goodman’s “Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilisations” reviewed

by Diarmaid MacCulloch. “Original spin” is a very positive review, albeit with perhaps more modern analgies than Goodman might have intended or than some will find necessary.

The final part of Goodman’s book expounds his theory of a tragic accident: a mixture of happenstance and narrowly cynical political calculation which depressingly foreshadows George W Bush and Tony Blair stumbling into the Iraq catastrophe. The crux of his argument is that although Emperor Vespasian chose to end an outbreak of unrest in Judaea by sending his son Titus to besiege rebellious Jerusalem, there was no original intention to destroy the temple; it followed random indiscipline by marauding soldiers.

(Via The Guardian.)

(Interestingly, as I was going to put an Amazon link in here, I find it is not available at the US Amazon. It looks like for now you will have to order Rome and Jerusalem from the UK.)

UPDATE: Jim D links to the review and another here.

Leave a Reply to m. derrickCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

5 thoughts on “Goodman’s “Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilisations” reviewed”