Jerusalem: A History of the Middle East

Jerusalem: A History of the Middle East takes you on a sweeping, unforgettable journey through five thousand years of human faith and struggle. From the first sparks of settled life on a rocky hill to today's headlines, this book traces how a small, stubborn city grew into the heartbeat of three great religions and the battleground of countless empires. I wanted to tell a story that feels alive-not a dry textbook, but a living chronicle of the people who built Jerusalem, tore it down, and built it again, generation after generation.

We begin before the city even exists-in the thick of biblical memory, with Abraham leaving Mesopotamia in search of God's promise, Jacob wrestling through the night for his destiny, and Joseph rising from slavery to power in Egypt. We follow Moses into the Exodus, watch Joshua's campaigns as the old world gives way, and see David's improbable climb from shepherd to king. Then comes Solomon's brief glory, the catastrophic fall to Nebuchadnezzar, and the long Babylonian exile that forged a people's longing for home. These early stories are the roots from which later conflicts and hopes in the Middle East take their deepest shape.

As centuries pass, Alexander the Great sweeps across the ancient world and leaves a Greek flavor in his wake; the Maccabees fight to keep a faith alive; and Rome's armies reshape politics, law, and daily life. You'll watch Jesus born under Herod's shadow, feel the tension of the Passion, and follow the first Christians into an empire that sometimes met them with fire under Nero. Emperors come and go-Hadrian, who rebuilt Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina after revolt; Constantine, who opened an imperial door to Christianity-but through it all the city changes hands, each conqueror imprinting beauty and ruin alike.

Then comes the dawn of Islam. Muhammad's night journey (Isra and Miʿraj) enters the city's spiritual imagination, and the early Caliphates fold Jerusalem into a new world order; the Umayyads later adorn the skyline with the Dome of the Rock and other monuments. Centuries later, the Crusades erupt-brutal collisions of faith and ambition in which figures like Saladin and Richard the Lionheart become names of legend-while regional powers, from Seljuk rivals to later Ottoman Turks, shape the military and political balance. The story moves through Ottoman centuries, through sultans and reformers, until new dreams begin to stir: Theodor Herzl's vision of a Jewish homeland, the British Mandate after World War I, the rise of modern Zionism, and the wars that carved the map of Israel and Palestine in the twentieth century.

By the end, we arrive at a fragile present, where Jerusalem's long road to peace still winds through memories of glory, faith, and loss. I wrote this book because no other city captures so many strands of the human story. Every stone here testifies to prophets and warriors, kings and pilgrims, believers and dreamers.