Simon Godhill. Jerusalem: City of Longing.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: Khuri, Giries el-
• Date: 22 June 2009

Simon Godhill. Jerusalem: City of Longing. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008, 356 pages. Hardcover $27.95.

IN HIS VERY RECENT BOOK titled Jerusalem-City of Longing, Simon Godhill, a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge, travels through the history of the city from its earliest days to the present day. It is not just another history of Jerusalem; rather it helps us understand the history of the city through its buildings, as well as its buildings through its history. The author ably and wonderfully blends historiography with archeology. His attempt is valiant and the outcome is quite satisfactory. I credit Godhill with his laborious attempt to be a detached narrator, in as much as the highly divisive nature of the matter allows.

He writes; "This book will uncover the physical cityscape of Jerusalem, but it will always be setting...