The
Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads
Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels
by Thomas Cahill
Book
Description
Second
of a projected 7 volume series called Hinges
of History, the bestselling Gifts
of the Jews follows the first volume, How
the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story
of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome
to the Rise of Medieval Europe.
The third and fourth, also bestsellers, are
The Desire
of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and
After Jesus and Sailing
the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter.
The
author of the runaway bestseller How
the Irish Saved Civilization has done
it again. In The Gifts of the Jews Thomas Cahill
takes us on another enchanting journey into
history, once again recreating a time when the
actions of a small band of people had repercussions
that are still felt today.
The Gifts of the Jews reveals the critical change
that made western civilization possible. Within
the matrix of ancient religions and philosophies,
life was seen as part of an endless cycle of
birth and death; time was like a wheel, spinning
ceaselessly. Yet somehow, the ancient Jews began
to see time differently. For them, time had
a beginning and an end; it was a narrative,
whose triumphant conclusion would come in the
future. From this insight came a new conception
of men and women as individuals with unique
destinies--a conception that would inform the
Declaration of Independence--and our hopeful
belief in progress and the sense that tomorrow
can be better than today. As Thomas Cahill narrates
this momentous shift, he also explains the real
significance of such Biblical figures as Abraham
and Sarah, Moses and the Pharaoh, Joshua, Isaiah,
and Jeremiah.
Full of compelling stories, insights and humor,
The
Gifts of the Jews is an irresistible
exploration of history as fascinating and fun
as How the Irish Saved
Civilization. --This text refers to
the Hardcover edition.
About
the Author
THOMAS CAHILL is the author of the best-selling
books, How the Irish
Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland
's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the
Rise of Medieval Europe, The
Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads
Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels,
and Desire
of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and
After Jesus. These books comprise the
first three volumes of a prospective seven-volume
series entitled "The Hinges of History,"
in which Cahill recounts formative moments in
Western civilization. In "The Hinges of
History," Thomas Cahill endeavors to retell
the story of the Western World through little-known
stories of the great gift-givers, people who
contributed immensely to Western, culture and
the evolution of Western sensibility, thus revealing
how we have become the people we are and why
we think and feel the way we do today.
Thomas
Cahill is best known, in his books and lectures,
for taking on a broad scope of complex history
and distilling it into accessible, instructive,
and entertaining narrative. His lively, engaging
writing animates cultures that existed up to
five millennia ago, revealing the lives of his
principal characters with refreshing insight
and joy. He writes history, not in its usual
terms of war and catastrophe, but as "narratives
of grace, the recountings of those blessed and
inexplicable moments when someone did something
for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift,
gave something beyond what was required by circumstance."
Unlike all too many history lessons, a Thomas
Cahill history book or speech is impossible
to forget.
He
has taught at Queens College, Fordham University
and Seton Hall University, served as the North
American education correspondent for the Times
of London, and was for many years a regular
contributor to the Los Angeles Times Book Review.
Prior to retiring recently to write full-time,
he was director of religious publishing at Doubleday
for six years. He and his wife, Susan, also
an author, founded the now legendary Cahill
& Company Catalogue, much beloved by readers.
They divide their time between New York and
Rome.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
|
| Editorial
Reviews
From
Library Journal
Cahill argues that the greatest gifts
of the Jews are the linear theory of history
(vs. the cyclical theory of other ancients),
with its implication that life can get
better and avoid decline and the idea
of the equality and dignity of each individual
that culminated in the declaration that
"All men are created equal."
Other gifts include the concepts of universal
brotherhood, peace, and justice. (LJ 3/15/97)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information,
Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
The New York Times Book Review, Susan
Shapiro
He stumbles on the odd aside and occasionally
is surprisingly insensitive.... Still,
his passion and breadth of knowledge are
admirable. --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition.
The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
...he writes in an easy, relaxed vernacular.
And he enjoys himself.... the reader enjoys
himself, too, happy to have gaps filled
in, amused to read the author's snappy
summaries of obscure occurrences, edified
by his straightforward interpretations
of much-debated episodes. --This text
refers to the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Cahill's historical studies enthrall us
as, reaching back in time, he introduces
an ancient Semitic race of nomads and
relates their saga, which we then recognize
as the Old Testament. This audio representation
is blessed with the voice and talent of
Bloom. The biblical stories are ever dramatic,
humorous and instructive, and Bloom enhances
them with her own passion, wit and seriousness.
Her reading conveys the lovely sense of
each word, and she renders Cahill's witty
commentary with wry humor. Isaac's obedient
sacrifice becomes almost excruciating.
David's lament for Jonathan confounds
any common pity. Have we really heard
all this before? Old stories, old words--many
known by rote--impose their marvels on
us anew. S.B.S. (c)AudioFile, Portland,
Maine --This text refers to the Audio
Cassette edition.
From Booklist
Cahill, the author of How
the Irish Saved Civilization
(1995), turns his attention to how the
Jews' concept of one God changed world
culture forever. Setting the scene, he
offers an extended tour of the Torah (the
first five books of the Old Testament),
looking at the stories and characters
found there with a keen and often-amusing
eye. He begins with Avraham (Abraham),
who heard a voice and was willing to follow
it, and explores how that voice made Avraham's
descendants think and believe in ways
that were so radically different as to
change even the concept of time. When
Cahill directly addresses the thesis of
his subtitle--the Jews' contributions
to the evolution of society--his book
is at its most interesting. Particularly
insightful is his discussion of the Ten
Commandments and how they changed the
hearts as well as the behavior of humankind.
Although there are numerous points here
with which readers may disagree, they
will enjoy the thought-provoking and spirited
(in both senses of the word) discourse.
Ilene Cooper --This text refers to the
Hardcover edition.
From Kirkus Reviews
An engrossing overview of the values and
sensibilities of the Hebrew Bible, and
of how decisively they have influenced
our own. The second (after the bestselling
How the Irish
Saved Civilization, 1995) of
a projected seven-volume series on the
evolution of human sensibility shows how
the ancient Israelites transformed the
idea of religion by gradually introducing
monotheism, and equally transformed our
sense of time and history. Beginning with
Abraham's departure from his Sumerian
homeland, the ancient Hebrews broke with
the repetitive cyclical image of history
assumed by most ancient religions to forge
what Cahill terms the ``processive'' worldview.
In this perspective, the present and future
become more important than the past, for
they are open to change, progress, and
hope. Cahill also credits the Hebrew Bible
with bequeathing to Western civilization
such seminal ideas as the interior self
(e.g. in David's Psalms), the universal
commonalities of all peoples, and, more
dubiously, a focus on interpersonal relationships
(e.g. in the Song of Songs). He often
manages to turn many a beautiful phrase
while being forthrightly colloquial. Occasionally,
however, he overdoes the plain talk, missing
more profound dynamics, as in noting that
he's willing to give God ``the benefit
of the doubt'' for commanding Abraham
to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22) because ``He
had to jump-start this new religion and
he didn't always have the best material
to work with.'' But he occasionally overstates
his case--surely the ancient Greeks were
as significant an influence on our values
and worldview as the ancient Israelites.
Nonetheless, in an age crowded with bloated,
pedantic tomes, Cahill offers a refreshingly
succinct, illuminating, and readable summary
of the Hebrew Bible's enduring wisdom
and influence. (Author tour) -- Copyright
©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All
rights reserved. --This text refers to
the Hardcover edition.
Amazon.com
Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling
How the Irish
Saved Civilization, continues
his Hinges of History series with The
Gifts of the Jews, a light-handed, popular
account of ancient Jewish culture, the
culture of the Bible. The book is written
from a decidedly modern point of view.
Cahill notes, for instance, that Abraham
moved the Jews from Ur to the land of
Canaan "to improve their prospects,"
and that the leering inhabitants of Sodom
surrounded Lot's lodging "like the
ghouls in Night of the Living Dead."
The Gifts of the Jews nonetheless encourages
us to see the Old Testament through ancient
eyes--to see its characters not as our
contemporaries but as those of Gilgamesh
and Amenhotep. Cahill also lingers on
often-overlooked books of the Bible, such
as Ruth, to discuss changes in ancient
sensibility. The result is a fine, speculative,
eminently readable work of history. --This
text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Commentary, Yossi Prager
A lively and idiosyncratic tour of the
Hebrew Bible, The Gifts of the Jews is
written with humor, whimsy, and an engaging
sensitivity to literary nuance. But the
book aims for more than entertainment.
Taking us from pre-biblical civilization
through Abraham, Moses, the Ten Commandments,
David and his Psalms, the Prophets, and
Ruth and Naomi, Cahill drives home a central
point: the Jews introduced to the world
a radically new conception of reality.
Supplanting the ancient view that man's
life on earth is cyclical and predetermined
(except for the occasional intervention
of capricious gods), the Bible teaches
that the future is determined by our present
actions. This being the case, human behavior
is morally significant, man is free, and
progress is possible.
In
making his points, Cahill shows a remarkable
sensitivity to the biblical text, and
his enthusiasm for the Bible as a whole
is quite contagious. As for his contention
that the Bible introduces the "modern"
sense of time, history, and the nature
of human relationships, that, too, seems
persuasive, at least to a lay reader.
Still, for all its virtues, The Gifts
of the Jews is a troubling book.
Time
and again, Cahill's reading of the Bible
eviscerates the essence of Judaism: the
rules, traditions, and practices that
for thousands of years have made concrete
the otherwise quite generic values he
extracts from the text. --This text refers
to the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
Presents a survey of the Jewish contributions
to Western civilization, in a work exploring
a pivotal period in human history.
Ingram
Thomas Cahill, the author of the runaway
success "How
the Irish Saved Civilization",
has done it again. In this volume, he
takes listeners on another enchanting
journey into history, recreating a time
when the actions of a small band of people
had repercussions that are still felt
today. Simultaneous hardcover release
from Doubleday. April 1998 Publication
date. (Nonfiction--Unabridged) . --This
text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
From the Publisher
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER!
Persuasive
as well as entertaining...Mr. Cahill's
book [is] a gift."--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt,
The New York Times
"An
outstanding and very readable book...highly
recommended."- Library Journal
"A
very good read, a dramatically effective,
often compelling retelling of the Hebrew
Bible."--Charles Gold, Chicago Sun
Times --This text refers to the Hardcover
edition. |
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