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A review by jammasterjamie
The Jewish War: Revised Edition by Flavius Josephus
5.0
Wow, what a treasure of antiquity - I mean, how many incredibly detailed first-hand accounts of the Jewish uprising against the Romans that took place almost two thousand years ago have you read? Because for me, this is the only one and it was a wild ride, baby! The person who recommended this to me positioned it thusly: "Imagine if the British had one the Revolutionary War and Benedict Arnold got to write the official history of it", and that pretty much nails it - Josephus was a Jewish general who switched sides after being captured, and therefore is able to provide the rationalizations of both sides of the conflict. Murder, mayhem, machismo, and malicious double-crosses abound! Drama seeps out of every page and the descriptions are lively. Having been to Israel a few times, it was especially fun (and disturbing) to think of the blood that once flooded the streets where my own feet have walked, and the ending at Masada shook me - It's one thing to hear a tour-guide tell you something, but to read about it from someone who was part of the war? Wow.
My only problem with this book was my own issue - I have problems with difficult names, and this tome is full of them, and many of them repeat so I had a hard time keeping some people straight. Antiochuses abound and Judases come at you willy-nilly, but eventually with the help of the time-line in the Appendix, I was able to get that sorted.
My favourite thing was putting this in context with Antony and Cleopatra who play a small part in the drama, and also the complete and total lack of Christ (who was active during the time of this very complete narrative) was kind of cool, but expected as Christianity was still just a small Jewish cult at the time of Josephus's writing.
All in all, if you're into war and history, you can't go wrong with this book.
My only problem with this book was my own issue - I have problems with difficult names, and this tome is full of them, and many of them repeat so I had a hard time keeping some people straight. Antiochuses abound and Judases come at you willy-nilly, but eventually with the help of the time-line in the Appendix, I was able to get that sorted.
My favourite thing was putting this in context with Antony and Cleopatra who play a small part in the drama, and also the complete and total lack of Christ (who was active during the time of this very complete narrative) was kind of cool, but expected as Christianity was still just a small Jewish cult at the time of Josephus's writing.
All in all, if you're into war and history, you can't go wrong with this book.