Jerusalem

A deep and moving, often eloquent, account of the author's effort to understand Jerusalem, one of the pivot points of the world, from ancient to modern. The author, Colin Thubron, is well known as an accomplished chronicler of places and times, and has a whole published book on Jerusalem, therefore

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this can be expected to be a deeply insightful and even authoritative work; his other volume in the Great Cities series, on another pivot point Constantinople (Istanbul), is equally evocative. His technique is to delve into the existing institutions and interact with the people involved on the ground, so one often gets what can be called a subaltern view; reinforced in this instance by the moody photographs so liberally provided. The most moving part of the account would appear to be the retracing of the path of Christ as he carries his cross to the place of his martyrdom; reflecting on this, it would appear that the first claim on this holiest of holy places should be with the Christians of the world, except that they themselves have apparently carved up the place of the crucifiction into a dozen separate fiefdoms among the warring sects. Now of course Israel hold this holy land. After having read the author's travel diaries across various countries and continents, one is awe-struck by the pluck and devotion he brings to bear on his subject, the amount of interaction he has been doing, and his intimate experiencing and deep knowledge of the human condition across the world.

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