Life: Holy Lands: One Place One Faith

The vexed relationships among Judaism, Islam and Christianity form the theme of this lavishly illustrated but superficial coffee-table history of the Holy Land. Each religion receives a respectful but cursory overview, structured around profiles of religious figures such as Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Mohammed and based mostly on scriptural traditions with a smattering of history and archaeology. With this backdrop, the narrative skips forward from ancient times to the modern-day history of the region, from the beginnings of Zionist immigration to Palestine in the late 19th century to the current agony of occupation and suicide bombings. The irony that these faiths, which stem from a single tradition that extols peace and brotherhood, are locked in bloody antagonism is noted, especially in a culminating photo essay on the recent standoff in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, which saw Palestinian Muslims holding off besieging Israelis while coexisting amicably with Christian priests and nuns. The book's focus on religion means that other factors that might help explain the impasses in the Holy Land-the legacy of colonialism, competing secular nationalist ideologies, economic inequality between Israelis and Palestinians-are only touched upon. Fortunately, the text's shortcomings are secondary; the main attraction is the superb photographs, which vividly convey the austerity of Biblical landscapes, the grandeur of ancient religious monuments and the suffering of the victims of present-day violence.