Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich

Book Description

David Kenyon Webster’s memoir is a clear-eyed, emotionally charged chronicle of youth, camaraderie, and the chaos of war. Relying on his own letters home and recollections he penned just after his discharge, Webster gives a first hand account of life in E Company, 101st Airborne Division, crafting a memoir that resonates with the immediacy of a gripping novel.

From the beaches of Normandy to the blood-dimmed battlefields of Holland, here are acts of courage and cowardice, moments of irritating boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, and pitched urban warfare. Offering a remarkable snapshot of what it was like to enter Germany in the last days of World War II, Webster presents a vivid, varied cast of young paratroopers from all walks of life, and unforgettable glimpses of enemy soldiers and hapless civilians caught up in the melee. Parachute Infantry is at once harsh and moving, boisterous and tragic, and stands today as an unsurpassed chronicle of war--how men fight it, survive it, and remember it.

Customer Reviews:

Very Honest Depiction of an Infantry Soldier.......2007-08-07

I'm not going to repeat what has already been said. I read the book recently and I wasn't disappointed. I will say that it is very interesting to compare Maj. Winter's perspective as an officer (Beyond Band of Brothers) to David Webster's as an enlisted man. David Websters book is particularly good because, he was a talented writer, and captured his perspective in such a natural way. It's good and worth the $14 list price.

Parachute Infantry.......2007-03-21

Cold hard facts as seen by someone who was there,and came back. The names are all the same,the blood is all red,ordinary people who gave their all and won!

An up and down affair..........2007-02-21

First off, I approached this book with expectations that were too high and at times I found felt disappointed. As a big fan of the mini series, "Band of Brothers", in which his character is clearly portrayed, I expected his account of the war to be smartly written with better insight and descriptions, making it into a page-turner. At times this held true, with his accounts of the the first plane ride on D-Day, directly following the drop and later in the war. In between were a lot of moments that dragged.

It's important to know right away that his portrayal in " Band Of Brothers" was not very accurate, nor were some of the battle scenes, according to Mr. Webster, who I tend to believe. He was actually wounded twice and the first time happened shortly after D-Day. So early into the book, the momentum shifts when he takes us back to a memorial service for fallen servicemen that he attended, by order, while healing. It was described in detail, dragged and took me out of the momentum of the story that he built up through D-Day.

Once he returned to the front lines, the book gathered momentum and got into some type of rhythm. Many of the details regarding who he was friendly with, their personalties, chain of command issues and problems, and his feelings and approach to battles were interesting. I did find myself lost, however, regarding two main issues. One was the description of the directions they were traveling. I felt lost and had trouble getting a mental picture of the battle sites, which leads to the second issue. Assuming that the reader will understand many of the terms he used, either military or geographic. A brief one-time explanation of terms that he used over and over in the story would have helped me, but perhaps be as much of a problem for others. Particularly the geographic ones like the difference between a berm, ditch, trench, slit trench as well as others, and hedges, raised road, dikes and many others. Particularly the relationship to how the soldiers used them to their advantage or disadvantage. Again, I was confused directionally and geographically and therefore had trouble imagining the battle scenes.

Eventually, the book improved a great deal. Lots of great stuff about being in the forward position as scouts and the "real" story of what is called, "Operation Pegasus" in BOB. The actual operation was different in many ways from it's portrayal in the mini series. Definitely be prepared and look forward to what really happened, instead what looks good. The truth is much more interesting. In fact, try to forget all about what BOB portrays before reading this book, if in fact you are looking for a connection. Just them them happen naturally. I love his honesty regarding his personal approach to and feelings about this war and their operations. I suppose the dull moments of the book reflect the war in a more realistic fashion, it's just not what I expected.

I found myself even more engrossed as the war was winding down, from his perspective, which of course is very specific. I learned a lot about what really went on with soldiers as they moved across Germany and Austria kicking people out of their homes at each stop, which there is a term for that I cannot think of at the moment. He described many fascinating stories about the soldiers and how they dealt with the aftermath of the war when they were suddenly "regular" human beings again and not soldiers in the horrors of battle.

Mr. Webster had quite and experience and reading about it was at times dull but at many other times thrilling. Most of all it was the real thing and he wrote about it in a very human and honest fashion. I really recommend this book. I would suggest, however, to approach his accounts without any preconceived notions of what World War II was like, especially for the soldiers and most of all his view. In the end, it is the truths about the heroism and horrors of war from the soldiers perspective that is the most important. They are risking their lives for us and we should listen to what they have to say, above all others.

Great book.......2007-02-01

An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
by David Kenyon Webster
Is a great book, you relly feel the inside presence of the author it's if he's taken you back to WW 2 living the all experience from his personal view.

Wonderful account of American paratrooper's experiences.......2006-12-31

This book is one of the best memoirs from the Second World War. It comes from an American's (David Webster) point of view. He was a paratrooper in the famous 101st Airborne Division and fought through Normandy, Market Garden, Germany, and to Berchtesgaden (Hitler's Eagle's Nest). He was one of the original Toccoa men and his writing is that of a professional (writer). He was very educated, went to Harvard, and this book shows that. I would recommend this book to anyone interseted in the 101st, the E.T.O., or WWII. A highly fascinating account.

Customer Reviews:

Lots of history and a little myth.......2006-03-07

Sam Chamberlain is a rogue, all right, but not necessarily for the reasons that this book indicates. Chamberlain's accounts of daring-do sometimes read like the pulp fiction of his era. Some of what he relates bears the accuracy of an eye-witness to history and with good reason. He had, in fact, ridden throughout much of Northern Mexico during the United States' war with the country from 1846 to 1848 and was on hand to see the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847. But he's guilty of something not uncommon among writers of his era -- making first-hand accounts of events where he clearly was not involved. The best example of this is his description of American deserters (San Patricios) hanged during the last battles for Mexico City. His description does not match others exactly, because at the time of the hangings, Chamberlain was still hundreds of miles away, likely near Saltillo, Mexico. For a reality check, read the editors' footnotes; they do a pretty good job of separating Chamberlain's facts from his flights of fancy.

Tall Tales.......2001-11-18

For those interested the Mexican War, this is a "must read" book and has been used by historians as a primary source for years, but his crude paintings are also a treat for the scholar, because Camberlain captures many scenes which have escaped photographers and those who made lithographs, including the massacre of Mexican civilians by Arkansas troops in a cave in Northern Mexico.

Sam Camberlain was a 16 year old private from Boston who served in the elite 1st US Dragoons in Mexico and gives vivid descriptions with crude but animated paintings of Saltillo, Monterrey, and Northern Mexico. Although he was not at the savage fighting during the capture of Monterrey, he claims to have been there so the reader is left to wonder about his other claims and the accuracy of his paintings of the combat in which he lied about being involved. Perhaps he had contact with those who were actually there?

Sam Chamberlain was in the Mexican War and painted some interesting small glimpses of life & death. Reading his book is almost like listening to a veteran who seems to have been everywhere and done everything (especially with women). Sam Chamberlain relates deaths of soldiers to Mexican guerrillas and duty in the occupation but more often than not, Sam Chamberlain proclaims preposterous pick-ups with a host of women. The reader almost senses the author is bragging to fellow high schoolers in a locker room or to anyone who will listen in a bar, hence the title of the book is fitting "My Confessions: Recollections of a Rogue". This book would probably be disregarded as pure fantasy if it were not or the fact that sometimes he does detail military and daily life senarios which are proved by others.

Truth or Tall Tale? Read this book and you be the judge.

Meet The Judge.......1999-05-25

Read 'My Confession' for a first hand account of the War with Mexico, as well as an eyewitness report on the notorious Glanton party. This is one of the most controverisal stories in American and Mexican history, and the discovery of these papers in the 1950s brought out an event that was otherwise best 'swept under the rug' of history. Cormac McCarthy pointed a spotlight on this whole affair when he wrote Blood Meridian, and fans of McCarthy may want to read this to confirm that he wasn't making everything up in Blood Meridian:The Evening Redness in the West. The basic storyline of The Kid, Glanton and the Judge's scalp hunt as set forth in 'Blood Meridian' is related here by the man who lived thru it all, General Samuel Chamberlin. I for one was disturbed to find the Judge among the cast of real characters, I couldn't imagine that such a horrible figure actually existed. Read the book to find out what really happened to Glanton, the kid, as well as 'the judge'. And keep your powder very dry.

Average customer rating:

My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue

Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CD9N58

My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue

Average customer rating:

Look Past the Self-Promotion
Truth or Tall Tales or Both?

My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue
Samuel E. Chamberlain
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Look Past the Self-Promotion.......2005-03-16

Truth or not, this book is a fun read. I bought it because I wanted to read a first-hand account of the Glanton Gang (after reading Cormac McCarthy's excellent "Blood Meridian"). Although Chamberlain may fudge on details, I think readers can sift a pretty accurate portrait of the era from his writings.

Truth or Tall Tales or Both?.......2004-08-16

Sam Camberlain was a 16 year old private from Boston who served in the elite 1st US Dragoons in Mexico and gives vivid descriptions of Saltillo, Monterrey, and Northern Mexico. Although he was not at the savage fighting during the capture of Monterrey, he claims to have been there so the reader is left to wonder about his other claims and the accuracy of his combat in which he lied about being involved. Perhaps he had contact with those who were actually there?

Sam Chamberlain was in the Mexican War and painted some interesting small glimpses of life & death. Reading his book is almost like listening to a veteran who seems to have been everywhere and done everything (especially with women). Sam Chamberlain relates deaths of soldiers to Mexican guerrillas and duty in the occupation but more often than not, Sam Chamberlain proclaims preposterous pick-ups with a host of women. The reader almost senses the author is bragging to fellow high schoolers in a locker room or to anyone who will listen in a bar, hence the title of the book is fitting "My Confessions: Recollections of a Rogue". This book would probably be disregarded as pure fantasy if it were not or the fact that sometimes he does detail military and daily life senarios which are proved by others.

For those interested the Mexican War, this is a "must read" book and has been used by historians as a primary source for years because Camberlain recounts many scenes which have escaped photographers and those who made lithographs, including the massacre of Mexican civilians by Arkansas troops in a cave in Northern Mexico.

Truth or Tall Tale or Both? Read this book and you be the judge.

Amazon.com

For the average American watching CNN, the conflict in the Middle East is a complicated affair, mired in an ancient past and an uncertain future. It also seems like a distant story, one that only remotely touches upon the temples and churches beyond the Middle East. Not so, explains Gershom Gorenberg, a senior editor at the Jerusalem Report. In fact, the threat of apocalyptic religious violence is happening now, and it's happening everywhere. It is fueled in part, he says, by Christian leaders in America's fundamentalist churches.

To help readers make sense of it all, Gorenberg centers his fascinating discussion around the Temple Mount, the world's most desired piece of religious real estate. It is where King David erected an altar, where Solomon and Herod built their temples, and where the Dome of Rock now stands. (Cain even murdered Abel, according to ancient legend, over who would own this place.) The Christian far right now stakes a future claim to the Temple Mount, where they predict (or at least hope) the "Third Temple" will be built shortly. Gorenberg offers the impressive research of a seasoned investigative journalist, yet he possesses the narrative skills of a novelist. The result is an enthralling and informative read. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

In this provocative work, seasoned journalist Gershom Gorenberg portrays a deadly mix of religious extremism, violence, and Mideast politics, as expressed in the struggle for the sacred center of Jerusalem. Known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, this thirty-five-acre enclosure at the southeast corner of Jerusalem's Old City is the most contested piece of real estate on earth. Here nationalism combines with fundamentalist faith in a volatile brew. Members of the world's three major monotheistic faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--hold this spot to be the key to salvation as they await the end of the world, and struggle to fulfill conflicting religious prophecies with dangerous political consequences. Adroitly portraying American radio evangelists of the End, radical Palestinian sheikhs, and Israeli ex-terrorists, Gorenberg explains why believers hope for the End, and why prominent American fundamentalists provide hard-line support for Israel while looking forward to the apocalypse. He makes sense of the messianic fervor that has driven some Israeli settlers to oppose peace. And he describes the Islamic apocalyptic visions that cast Israel's actions in Jerusalem as diabolic plots. The End of Days shows how conflict over Jerusalem and the fiery belief in apocalypse continue to have a potent impact on world politics and why a lasting peace in the Middle East continues to prove elusive.

Download Description

Jerusalem's Temple Mount is the holiest site in the world and the place where today's apocalyptic fever could most easily erupt into real-life catastrophe as fundamentalists of three faiths vie to bring about their vision of God's kingdom on earth.

Customer Reviews:

Missing the Mastodon on the Mount.......2007-09-23

This book was first published in 2000 so it has a very feel Nineties about it. The author seems intent on deriding all types of fundamentalism but one mostly encounters well-published cases of Jewish and Christian extremists involved in crimes relating to the Temple Mount. There is nothing wrong with irreverence, but it is clear that Gorenberg was either completely unaware of the mounting threat of radical Islam or decided to underplay it. Yes, folks, those fundi Christians and Zionists are the main threat - that is what Ms Amanpour still feeds us on CNN so it must be true?

The Temple Mount, an area of such significance, should be treated in a much more serious and scholarly fashion - that is why I recommend The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City by Dore Gold. Despite that, Gorenberg's work still has some redeeming features in the catalogue of incidents involving disturbed or fanatical individuals, the occasional flashes of humor and the insight into Israeli politics through the 1980s and 1990s.

The author repeatedly warns against perfectly sane and mainstream Jewish and Christian groups that cherish Mount Moriah for its history and prophetic significance, because he fears that their attachment to Judeo-Christian prophecy contribute to inciting crazed individuals on the fringes to take radical action. He paints with a wide liberal brush when he repeats the slur that "prominent American fundamentalists ... support ... Israel while looking forwards to an apocalypse in which they expect Jews to die or else to convert." For the real motives of Evangelical support for Israel in the Land and in the Diaspora, please consult Standing With Israel by the Jewish author David Brog. There is also a witty and empathic look at Christians who love Israel in A Match Made in Heaven by Zev Chafets.

Gorenberg claims that the disappointed expectations of certain fringe groups in the year 2000 will only lead to more extremism. There has been very little evidence of that on the part of Jews and Christians, but quite disturbing developments on the Islamic side. He frets about the actions of the Israeli government that has taken pre-emptive action against a cult group by deporting them before they had a chance to attempt mischief. I think the Israeli government is right in exercising vigilance and taking strict actions against groups intending to cause disturbance on the Mount. About the suicide/homicide bombings and the obsessive anti-Semitic propaganda in the Arab media and official publications like Palestinian Authority textbooks, he doesn't have much to say.

What I found valuable is the information on the layout of the actual Temple Mount and the theories of various archaeologists on the exact location of the Temple, the Holy of Holies and the real identity of the rock. It might be the one covered by the Dome of the Rock or the one northwest of that covered by the Dome of the Spirits. A map of the area makes it all very clear. Other revealing insights include the tolerant way in which Israel acknowledges the authority of the Waqf, a Muslim body, over the Mount itself while Jews agree to pray at the Western Wall. That has been the agreement since 1967 when Jerusalem finally returned to Israel.

Gorenberg notes that people are story dwellers who live in stories passed down by a long cultural tradition and that millennialism is likely to end in despair. Throughout the book he singles out Binyamin Netanyahu for special criticism, claims that literalism and the false hope of the end born of the 1967 War were fallacies joined by the ancient error that God could be owned by owning a place. He indeed has a problem with "literalism", claiming that it is often the method of millennialists who look forward to an entirely new world: " ... they place prophetic texts at the center of religion - and insists that the words must be read as factual, tactile accounts of the future." Nowhere does he even entertain the notion that them thar Scripture might have something important to say. I infer that he is oblivious to the fact that the rebirth of Israel in 1948 was the major miracle of the 20th century.

The period since the publication of The End Of Days has indeed seen events taking an ominous turn, but the threat comes from Israel's neighbors in the Middle East, not from Jewish or Christian Zionists. The Iranian president Ahmadinejad threatens to erase Israel and claims to have 600 missiles aimed at Israel while boasting about his country's rush to produce a nuclear weapon. Syria, known to possess unconventional warheads, receives North Korea's nuclear weapons and tries to conceal them in the far east of the country. Backed by these two rogue states, Hezbollah is rearming in Lebanon. In the south, Israeli towns suffer barrages of rockets from Gaza. All this while a new tide of Anti-Semitism, often in the guise of Anti-Zionism, is sweeping the world.

Those who are interested to find out what those Scriptures that Gorenberg sees as only stories have to say on the matters of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Land of Israel, will find some interesting thoughts in Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg, The The Final Move Beyond Iraq by Mike Evans and Why Care about Israel? by Sandra Teplinsky.

For all its misguided ideas, wrong priorities and ignoring of the elephant in the room or should that be the Mastodon on the Mount, the book still provides some important information, a few laughs and insight into the Israeli post-Zionist mindset of the late 1990s. It concludes with 15 pages of notes and an index.

Titles of interest:

DNA and Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews by Yaacov Kleiman

Ruth & Esther: Shadows of Our Future by Frank Morgan.

Information about religious elements not widely know.......2007-03-06

Gorenberg's book seems like a precursor for his much more successful, and more fully realized, The Accidental Empire. There, Gorenberg shows how the struggle over land capture in the Six Days War has been effectively controlled by religious Zionists. In The End of Days, Gorenberg illustrates how both Christian and Jewish fundamentalists, in their struggle over the Temple Mount, continually bring the world to the brink of war. [In fact as I was reading this book, there was a clash on the Temple Mount between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers.] As long as the Temple Mount is a holy site for two major religions, Gorenberg's book will have merit and be relevant. There is also interesting information here for people who do study these topics: the centrality of the red heifer for the rebuilding of the Temple and Muslim apocalyptic notions. Both are subjects not widely discussed in the West, and in this book, Gorenberg provides an approachable summary of them.

Another in a long line..........2007-01-29

Here is yet another alarmist tome by an author who can't seem to see the truth that is exploding all around him. I suppose I can be considered a fundamentalist. I believe that because the scripture compels me to "love my neighbor just as I love myself" that I should actually do everything in my power to do just that. I know hundreds of other fundamentalists and I am dismayed by these books from journalists or commentators who are clearly secular if not agnostic/atheist in their world view who attempt to analyze the state of fundamentalism. How absurd. It's alike a rich white kid from Beverly Hills writing books about the pitfalls of being a welfare mother in Compton.

Sam Harris also writes with apocalyptic alarm about the millenarianism of fundamentalist Christians. He loves to cite studies which show that a large percentage of Christians believe in the imminent return of Jesus Christ. The scares the pants off of people like Harris and Gorenberg because they immediately conclude that every decision made by such believers is based on their belief in the imminent return of Christ. This is complete nonsense. Yes fundamentalist believe that Christ will return and many think it will be in their lifetime (though very many do not believe this) but they still have retirement funds and 30 year mortgages. They still have babies and plan for their college expenses. This belief does not change anything about ones day-to-day life because any good Christian knows that one can never discern the day or the hour of His return. Most fundamentalists that I know do not have a unified or comprehensive understanding of Revelations and most of them clearly recognize the oblique and metaphorical nature of the book. To suggest that people are voting for a President based on anything from the book of Revelations is total fabrication. If that happens, it is anomalous at best and certainly would not weigh significantly on an election. Christians vote for many reasons and the irreligionists might be surprised to find that there is a great deal of diversity of opinions in fundamentalists' circles when it comes to politics. They speak of the religious right as if it is a monolithic body receiving its marching orders from Falwell and Dobson.

What is even stranger to me is that there exists in the world today a belief system with more than a billion adherents and by all accounts hundreds of millions of fundamentalists which plainly does advocate a doctrine which is dangerous and which is bringing death, dismemberment, slavery, inequality, and brutality to wide swaths of planet earth. These people are commanded by their god to "make war on the unbelievers who live around you." (Sura 9:123) and they are doing that with a horrific fervor. This doesn't alarm anyone? Even within a stones throw of these bloodthirsty zealots who are rewarded in heaven for being psychopathic killers, journalists like Gorenberg continue to feel that the more dangerous belief is that Christians in America believe the New Testament (which has none of the incitements to violence which fill the Quran). Christians aren't exploding buses full of innocent people, or blowing up soldiers' convoys, or cheering wildly on 9/11, or oppressing women, or beheading people and taping it to send to the adoring fans. These horrible right wingers are not denying girls the right to be educated or committing genocide and slavery in Darfur and they aren't really killing or hurting anyone. The Christian right wing is in fact sending millions of dollars and thousands of missionaries to the poorest nations on earth to build hospitals, provide clean water, repair schools, and give tons of food and medicine away. They live lives of self-sacrifice to be teachers, nurses, doctors, and pastors to the poorest of the poor. I am in utter dismay to understand books like this and I wish that such authors would just say from the start: "this is an op ed piece....I am attempting to find justification for my own far left, West-hating views and as a sideline, I've never met a Palestinian I didn't like (with bombs strapped on or without). In Palestine today, more than 80% of the school children when asked what they want to be when they grow up, say that they want to be suicide bombers. Yes, but Christians are the real problem!

Fewer stars in the rating = problems with objective writing.......2006-02-28

Looking carefully at the preceding reviews suggests those who disliked or were disappointed in this book already had a bias, religious or political. Indeed, my friends who are adamantly fundamental Christians or Zionistic Jews (sorry, I don't have any fundamentalist Islamic friends) found fault with book. At times humorous; at other times frightening, the book gives an objective overview to how crazy people will act in the name of their religious zeal. The book offers few suggestions to solve the nearly impossible problem, another sign of an intelligent author.

A well-written and important book..........2005-10-28

Gorenberg, senior editor at The Jerusalem Report, calls the Temple Mount - that site in Jerusalem where two Jewish Temples once stood and where two principal Islamic sanctities now stand (the Dome of the Mosque and Al-Aqsa Mosque) - "the most contested piece of real estate on earth." If that were not enough, he argues that this ancient man-made hill, thirty-five acres in size, has a potentially huge role for "We live in an era of millennial dreams," many of which center on the Temple Mount. His well-written and important book focuses on the Temple Mount's central role for some members of all three main monotheistic faiths in how they understand the future course of the world. While Muslims get their due, he portrays them basically as spectators to a drama whose main actors are Christians and Jews.

At least some Christians of a pre-millennial Dispensationalist outlook would be ready to eradicate the Islamic sanctities atop the Temple Mount on their own, but to their frustration, this is not theirs to do; rebuilding the Temple is for Jews to carry out. All Christians can do is nudge Jews in their preferred direction. Thus does Israel find itself cast, Gorenberg explains, "through no choice of its own, in a starring role in a Christian Endtime drama." Broadly speaking, this means Evangelicals and others support Israel in its conflict with the Arabs, usually with a Likud orientation. But Christian and Jewish radicals alike face the same problem: no Temple can be built so long as Israel permits the Islamic authority effective sovereignty over the Temple Mount. Their solution is simple and sweeping: throw the Muslims out and bring down the two mosques, ignoring their spiritual importance, beauty, and historical significance - or the political danger involved in this step.

And Muslims? They watch with great wariness this potential cooperation between Jews and Christians to pull down Al-Haram ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) atop the Temple Mount, in the process also getting swept up in millennial fevers. In a startlingly un-Islamic vision, they see the creation of Israel beginning a clock that is moving the world toward (take your pick) the triumph of Islam, the destruction of Israel, or the end of the world.

The Temple Mount is, in short, a disaster waiting to happen; "it is all too possible that someone, today anonymous, will try to ignite [a catastrophe] at the Mount." Walls and buildings that date back to antiquity are flimsy man-made creations that could easily be blown up, burnt, or otherwise damaged by a small band of religious zealots.

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount

Average customer rating:

Entertaining but ultimately fatuous

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount
Gershom Gorenberg
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKP9LQ

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining but ultimately fatuous.......2007-09-23

This book was published in 2000 so it has a very feel Nineties about it. It seems intent on deriding all types of fundamentalism but one mostly encounters well-published cases of Jewish and Christian extremists involved in crimes relating to the Temple Mount. There is nothing wrong with irreverence, but it is clear that Gorenberg was either completely unaware of the mounting threat of radical Islam or decided to underplay it. Yes, folks, those fundi Christians and Zionists are the main threat - that is what Ms Christiane Amanpour still feeds us on CNN so it must be true?

The Temple Mount, an area of such significance, and the city of Jerusalem, should be treated in a much more serious and scholarly fashion and that is why I recommend The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City by Dore Gold. Having said that, Gorenberg's work still has value in his chronicle of the various incidents involving disturbed or fanatical individuals, the occasional flashes of humor and the insight into Israeli politics through the 1980s and 1990s.

The author repeatedly warns against perfectly sane and mainstream Jewish and Christian groups that cherish Mount Moriah for its history and prophetic significance, because he fears that their attachment to Judeo-Christian prophecy contribute to inciting crazed individuals on the fringes to take radical action. He paints with a wide liberal brush when he repeats the slur that "prominent American fundamentalists ... support ... Israel while looking forwards to an apocalypse in which they expect Jews to die or else to convert." For the real motives of Evangelical support for Israel in the Land and in the Diaspora, please consult Standing With Israel by the Jewish author David Brog. There is also a witty and empathic look at Christians who love Israel in A Match Made in Heaven by Zev Chafets.

Gorenberg claims that the disappointed expectations of certain fringe groups in the year 2000 will only lead to more extremism. There has been very little evidence of that on the part of Jews and Christians, but quite disturbing developments on the Islamic side. He frets about the actions of the Israeli government that has taken pre-emptive action against a cult group by deporting them before they had a chance to attempt mischief. I think the Israeli government is right in exercising vigilance and taking strict actions against groups intending to cause disturbance on the Mount. About the suicide/homicide bombings and the obsessive anti-Semitic propaganda in the Arab media and official publications like Palestinian Authority textbooks, he doesn't have much to say.

What I found valuable is the information on the layout of the actual Temple Mount and the theories of various archaeologists on the exact location of the Temple, the Holy of Holies and the real identity of the rock. It might be the one covered by the Dome of the Rock or the one northwest of that covered by the Dome of the Spirits. A map of the area makes it all very clear. Other revealing insights include the tolerant way in which Israel acknowledges the authority of the Waqf, a Muslim body, over the Mount itself while Jews agree to pray at the Western Wall. That has been the agreement since 1967 when Jerusalem finally returned to Israel.

Gorenberg notes that people are story dwellers who live in stories passed down by a long cultural tradition and that millennialism is likely to end in despair. Throughout the book he singles out Binyamin Netanyahu for special criticism, claims that literalism and the false hope of the end born of the 1967 War were fallacies joined by the ancient error that God could be owned by owning a place. He indeed has a problem with "literalism", claiming that it is often the method of millennialists who look forward to an entirely new world: " ... they place prophetic texts at the center of religion - and insists that the words must be read as factual, tactile accounts of the future." Nowhere does he even entertain the notion that them thar Scripture might have something important to say. I infer that he is oblivious to the fact that the rebirth of Israel in 1948 was the major miracle of the 20th century.

The period since the publication of The End Of Days has indeed seen events taking an ominous turn, but the threat comes from Israel's neighbors in the Middle East, not from Jewish or Christian Zionists. The Iranian president Ahmadinejad threatens to erase Israel and claims to have 600 missiles aimed at Israel while boasting about his country's rush to produce a nuclear weapon. Syria, known to possess unconventional warheads, receives North Korea's nuclear weapons and tries to conceal them in the far east of the country. Backed by these two rogue states, Hezbollah is rearming in Lebanon. In the south, Israeli towns suffer barrages of rockets from Gaza. All this while a new tide of Anti-Semitism, often in the guise of Anti-Zionism, is sweeping the world.

Those who are interested to find out what those Scriptures that Gorenberg sees as only stories have to say on the matters of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Land of Israel, will find some interesting thoughts in Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg, The The Final Move Beyond Iraq by Mike Evans and Why Care about Israel? by Sandra Teplinsky.

For all its misguided ideas, wrong priorities and ignoring of the elephant in the room or should that be the Mastodon on the Mount, the book still provides some important information, a few laughs and insight into the Israeli post-Zionist mindset of the late 1990s. It concludes with 15 pages of notes and an index.

Of interest:

DNA and Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews by Yaacov Kleiman

Ruth & Esther: Shadows of Our Future by Frank Morgan.

Average customer rating:
Manual for the Identification of the Birds of Minnesota and Neighboring States
Thomas S Roberts
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000EGJDS

Average customer rating:
Manual for the Identification of the Birds of Minnesota and Neighboring States
Thomas S. Roberts
Manufacturer: Univ of Minnesota Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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