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The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)
by Thomas Cahill
Product Group: Book
Publisher: G K Hall & Co (1998-11)
ISBN: 0783803397
EAN: 9780783803395
Dewy Decimal #: 909.04924
Hardcover: 328 pages
Edition: Largeprint
SKU: 28050
Condition: Collectable Like New
Comments: NOT A LARGE PRINT! THE HARDCOVER BOOK! NAN TALESE, 1998. THE UNABRIDGED 1ST EDITION, STATED SO. HARDCOVER W/GILT LETTERING, DUST JACKET and pages are NEW! Rapid shipping w/FREE tracking, AIR MAIL.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
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.
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Amazon.com Review
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.
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Customer Reviews
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Waste of time and money
Rating  (1)
Date: 2009-01-08
This is my first review after buying hundreds of products on Amazon. I'm writing because by the time I finished the book I was angry. Cahill spends 90% of the book rehashing the bible from his own quasi-religious-semi-academic point of view. A lot of his "facts" are hogwash and just plain wrong. He spends 5% of the book actually discussing its title and another 5% telling the reader they're idiots if they believe the Bible/Torah is a divine work.
I don't need Cahill to retell the bible in his own point of view for me. There are plenty of better versions out there. This book could have been a five page essay, and then we would have only wasted 10 minutes of time on a bad essay instead of several hours on an awful book.
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Deceptive but Sellable Book
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-11-27
This book was written as a sensationalist bit of entertainment, not as a serious study of the Jewish legacy. It's a skillful work in that it will leave the uncritical reader believing they have just experienced something enlightening and mind expanding. And this is where the deception comes in. He sets forth his philosophical position and then uses imagination and anachronistic thought attribution to the ancients as well as huge massive generalizations to render a complex and, in some ways, unknowable subject area simplistic and appealing. But nuance and uncertainty are boring and do not sell books, so you wont find any of that here.
Also, there is no presentation of the downside. You know, the mutilation of the sex organs of infant boys, the insane misogyny (see the story of Lot as an example of how they valued women), slavery, etc.
All in all, this is a cynical book that looks to cash in by presenting fanciful ideas and imaginative scenarios as hard fact. If you want the real story, look for books by accredited academics with actual reputations of intellectual integrity. It might be a bit more boring, but you'll see the world through more insightful eyes.
And don't buy this book, it'll just encourage him to write another.
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Excellemt Glimpse Into Our Common History
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-11-11
This book should be required reading in that it shows that through our common history, we have more in common with each other, than we have differences.
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How God changed the world
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-15
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Look around his occasional skepticism and viewpoint of higher criticism. This is a classic account of how God changed the world, and how the Jews and their God helped create a civilization to save.
Cahill has a light and at the same time profound touch that hits at the heart.
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EXCELLENT
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-16
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Excellent book detailing the beginning of the first monotheistic religion
The author tells the story in a wonderful proseful way and most important suggests the importance of the beliefs mentioned in the book to the world.
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