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Friday, April 15, 2011

Review of Carroll, Jerusalem, Jerusalem

BOOK REVIEW:
Book review: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World,' by James Carroll
Examining the violent histories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Stanley Meisler Special to the Los Angeles Times

April 17, 2011
Jerusalem, Jerusalem

How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World

James Carroll

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 418 pp., $28

James Carroll's latest book is very ambitious. Invoking history, anthropology, social psychology, geography and theology, the author, a former Catholic priest, delves into the stories of the violence unleashed by the organized religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam throughout their existence. He anchors the book by describing how each has used the city of Jerusalem, holy to all three, as a symbol or metaphor or touchstone.

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