Scan barcode
A review by dngoldman
A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus by Frederic Raphael
2.0
This book covers two of my favorite topics - jewish history of the late second temple and roman History. This book has some real strengths but some very glaring weaknesses that severely limit it's usefulness. On the positive side, the book is a readable review of the life of Joseph. It does a good job of adding some context to the history, particularly adding information about the politics of Rome. You really get a feel for how jewish Zealots created a schism within the Jewish people and lead a fight with Rome that had disastrous consequences. Basically leading to Jews being outcasts for 2000 years.
yet, the book has some big problems. When fleshing out historical characters, there is fine line between intelligent speculation on the character's motives and simply guessing. Too often Raphael engages in the latter, speculation about who Josephus knew or how he felt. Further, the last 100 pages take a very odd turn. In each chapter Raphael summarizing huge swaths of history on a particular subject (anti-semitism, jewish intellectuals) relating them certain "themes" about Josephus. It's hard to know the point of these chapters. They are so general and cover so much ground that they do little to explain the subject. I can't quite see the point. Is it to show that Josephus' was so influential? Unlikely as he remained very little known. More likely the chapters are to show that Josephus exemplified a "type" that continues on. This is very thin and these chapters are basically useless.
yet, the book has some big problems. When fleshing out historical characters, there is fine line between intelligent speculation on the character's motives and simply guessing. Too often Raphael engages in the latter, speculation about who Josephus knew or how he felt. Further, the last 100 pages take a very odd turn. In each chapter Raphael summarizing huge swaths of history on a particular subject (anti-semitism, jewish intellectuals) relating them certain "themes" about Josephus. It's hard to know the point of these chapters. They are so general and cover so much ground that they do little to explain the subject. I can't quite see the point. Is it to show that Josephus' was so influential? Unlikely as he remained very little known. More likely the chapters are to show that Josephus exemplified a "type" that continues on. This is very thin and these chapters are basically useless.