Book Reviews

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel is one of Wiley Blackwell's several companion books. Aimed at producing "a multifaceted entry into ancient Israelite culture", each article addresses a unique scholarly focus in the study of...

Shaye Cohen's third edition of his work about Jewish life from the Maccabees to the Mishnah is most valuable as an overview. Oddly enough, he offers the most poignant critiques in his third edition preface, writing that sometimes he "speaks...

Contrary to popular belief, military history does not begin in Greece. In his book, The Origins of War, Arther Ferrill traces the development of war from prehistoric times until the time of Alexander. Ferrill begins his work in an unconventional...

Every empire has a cultural rival that both terrifies and fascinates the populace. During Rome's tenure as a Mediterranean superpower, the city had more than a few epic rivalries with its neighbors. Only one was so terrible, so frightening...

When one thinks of historical military fiction, the mind perhaps turns to the great works of established authors like Michael Shaara, Bernard Cornwell, and C.S.Forester, to name a few. Their works, as a foundation, have literally stacks full...

Eric M. Meyers, biblical scholar and archaeologist at Duke University, and Mark A. Chancey, Professor of Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University, worked together to publish a third volume of a series on biblical archaeology. The...

Ancient Warfare​ magazine ​is published by Karwansaray Publishers. Located in the Netherlands, they concnetrate on providing a historical focus with "special emphasis... placed on quality production, original artwork, and current but accessible...

This massive volume of 671 pages is described as a history of the Mediterranean from the beginning to the emergence of the classical world. It fills a necessary gap in the market as there has been little holistic exploration of how the societies...

How could a Neolithic society operating at a level that produced only slightly more than subsistence level support such complex architecture and art far in advance of that of the nearest and more distant cultures? This is the question David...

In How the Bible Became Holy, Michael Satlow narratively presents the history, developments, and trajectories of how the Bible became an authoritative text. Unlike many books which explore the development of the Canon, or Canons for Jews...