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A review by krisrid
Jezebel: The Untold Story Of The Bible's Harlot Queen by Lesley Hazleton
5.0
What a fascinating, insightful and educational look at a number of things: bibilical history [and how it is created - more like creative writing than historical record keeping], the role of women in history, the role of nationalism and fear of "foreigners" in history, the history of Israel and how that history still affects things today.
I really don't believe I can do this book proper justice in a review, because the author has done such a tremendous job in documenting the story of Jezebel through the Kings account that anything a reviewer might say pales in comparison to the experience of reading the book.
The author has also clearly done exhaustive amounts of historical research to place all the events in the Kings story of Jezebel into their accurate historical context, and she even physically visited as many of the actual locations noted in Kings herself - which provides some interesting byplay for anyone interested in the current situation in the Middle East.
But I think what I enjoyed most about this book, was how the author "speaks for" Jezebel as the story plays out, suggesting what Jezebel might have said and thought about the various events that were directly or indirectly related to her own story, both while she lived and for hundreds of years thereafter, right up to the present day. Placing the story of Jezebel, and the events that overtook her into religious, cultural and basic human folly contexts really makes this an utterly engrossing and interesting book to read. I greatly enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical or bibilical information. Although this book is non-fiction, it was written in an extremely engaging and accessible manner.
I really don't believe I can do this book proper justice in a review, because the author has done such a tremendous job in documenting the story of Jezebel through the Kings account that anything a reviewer might say pales in comparison to the experience of reading the book.
The author has also clearly done exhaustive amounts of historical research to place all the events in the Kings story of Jezebel into their accurate historical context, and she even physically visited as many of the actual locations noted in Kings herself - which provides some interesting byplay for anyone interested in the current situation in the Middle East.
But I think what I enjoyed most about this book, was how the author "speaks for" Jezebel as the story plays out, suggesting what Jezebel might have said and thought about the various events that were directly or indirectly related to her own story, both while she lived and for hundreds of years thereafter, right up to the present day. Placing the story of Jezebel, and the events that overtook her into religious, cultural and basic human folly contexts really makes this an utterly engrossing and interesting book to read. I greatly enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical or bibilical information. Although this book is non-fiction, it was written in an extremely engaging and accessible manner.