Bible and Sword

England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour

By: Barbara W. Tuchman

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Two-time Pulitzer Prize - winning historian Barbara Tuchman explores the complex relationship of Britain to Palestine that led to the founding of the modern Jewish state - and to many of the problems that plague the Middle East today.

From early times, the British people have been drawn to the Holy Land through two major influences: the translation of the Bible into English and, later, the imperial need to control the road to India and access to the oil in the Middle East. Under these influences, one cultural and the other political, countless Englishmen - pilgrims, crusaders, missionaries, merchants, explorers, and surveyors - have made their way to the land of the ancient Hebrews.

With the lucidity and vividness that characterizes her work, Barbara Tuchman brings to life the development of these twin motives - the Bible and the sword - in the consciousness of the British people, until they were finally brought together at the end of World War I when Britain's conquest of Palestine from the Turks and the solemn moment of entering Jerusalem were imminent. Requiring a gesture of matching significance, that event evoked the Balfour Declaration of 1917, establishing a British-sponsored national home for the modern survivors of the people of the Old Testament.

In her account, first published in 1956, Ms. Tuchman demonstrates that the seeds of today's troubles in the Middle East were planted long before the first efforts at founding a modern state of Israel.

©1984 Barbara W. Tuchman (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Barbara Tuchman is a wise and witty writer, a shrewd observer with a lively command of high drama." ( Philadelphia Inquirer)
"In her métier as a narrative popular historical writer, Barbara Tuchman is supreme." ( Chicago Sun-Times)

Great historical insight into how we got to today

Once again, Barbara Tuckman has done a fine job of bringing history to life. Her review of the 1900 years of English fascination with the Holy Lands/Palestine leading up to the Balfour Mandate was very interesting. The insight on how all of that history led to the recreation of Israel as a Nation in Palestine was very informative. There is much shared in this book that many miss when considering the current situation of Arab and Jew.

Oscar-Worthy Performance!

Wanda McCaddon's reading has to make this title legendary in its own right. Well worth one's time to absorb this essential and classic background of the Midde East today.

Great writer, but bias really hurts this one

Tuchman is always an interesting read. However, she does often go out of her way to attack Christians. This book is perhaps the best/worst example of that tendency.

She starts out by claiming that since she's Jewish, she would be too biased to write about modern Israel. But she immediately begins going after Christianity, as if she's completely blind to that strong bias.

It would be so bad, except that she does seem to be ignorant of many of the key facts upon which both Christian and non-Christian scholars generally agree. She makes sweeping assumptive statements, such as saying that Christianity became official under Constantine, which it certainly did not - he simply claimed to have converted, at least partially, to Christianity. The official status came later.

Tuchman also summarizes New Testament stories, apparently without having read them first. She claims that Joseph of Arimathea was an apostle, which he certainly wasn't - 14 are listed in the scriptures, but Joseph was not among them, as he was a general disciple, not an apostle. I don't want to nit-pick, but these major mistakes take away my confidence in Tuchman's writing as a whole in this case.

The anti-Christian bias is perhaps strongest in her evaluation of the motives of Crusaders. Certainly, many motives drove people to join the Crusades. When you examine the lists of those who went, and the money they spent to go, and the plans they made, it becomes evident that piety, misplaced or not, was a stronger motive for the typical Crusader than gold or the sluffing off of excess sons. But Tuchman minimizes or dismisses entirely that motive at nearly every opportunity.

I wish this book was more like The Zimmerman Telegram.

Brilliant

Tuchman is as entertaining as she is informative. McCaddon at her usual best. Excellent primer for the Study of modern Israel.

Still Relevant

The checkered history of the British role in Israel's origins is useful in understanding today dilemmas. As usual, Tuchman knows how to tell a story. Or rather, knew. A compelling listen.

Nowhere near the quality I expect from Tuchman

Put simply, a lesser Tuchman book. While I normally love her work and her mildly cutting voice is present, it's simply not a great historical book. The earlier chapters is more a book of mythology than history, the actual history in some early segments taking up approximately 1/20th compared to myth listing of britain.

The later books sections does increase in quality, but it's quite a slog to get there. The criticality of non integrated eastern Jews was somewhat interesting, given I tend to hear and read so much about the Dreyfus affair as the catalysis as opposed to situational pogroms.

The book does provide some interesting context to indicate just how little power western zionism had, the Rothchilds being the exception(amusingly, while I was reading the book, I had the misfortune to sit next to a man who assured me that the Rothschilds rule the world). It is slightly chuckle inducing when she mentions her own ancestors casually in the integrationist camps.

While she would managed to keep mental seperation from her topics in later years, this early work contains more than a few overreaches and indicates her preferences.

Perhaps she has too much cultural-emotional skin in the game, or perhaps because the book was written in the 1950s, when sympathy was high for Israel and the plight of other peoples was not apparent. I suspect that now that when we have seen distinct arab nations with vastly different ideologies invading each other, he claims of geographical ratios rings more hollow.

Fascinating

Interesting and entertaining. This book will place you in a front row seat of history.

Great Diplomatic & Military History

Liked the discussion of how England came to issue Balfour declaration. Thankfully there is some discussion of Arab perspective, though not much. Sorry to say the inability or unwillingness to proceed with a referendum around 1917 is given limited attention. BT does note that certain Arab chieftains were at one point in the Zionist camp, but that is not the same as a referendum. She wrote in 1956. Easy to find flaws in hindsight 65 years later.

Wish it had gone further into 20th Century.

I learned a lot about the early days and history of Palestine and the British involvement in same. However, given that the book was written in the middle of the 20th century, I wish the story would have continued that far. Instead, it mostly finished with the end of the First World War. I guess that will require me to read more on the subject.
Enjoyable book and pleasant reader.

Very informative. Worthwhile listen

I knew the history of the Palestine, but not how woven British history was with it back thousands of years. Well researched and explained. I'm downloading my next Tuchman book now.