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| The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels (Hinges of History) | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas Cahill
Publisher: Anchor Books/Nan A Talese
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $2.00
You Save: $12.95 (87%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Sales Rank: 7846
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 0385482493
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.04924
EAN: 9780385482493
ASIN: 0385482493
Publication Date: August 17, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 1 page has marking, front cover bent
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Amazon.com Review
Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling How the Irish Saved Civilization, continues his Hinges of History series with The Gifts of the Jews, a light-handed, popular account of ancient Jewish culture, the culture of the Bible. The book is written from a decidedly modern point of view. Cahill notes, for instance, that Abraham moved the Jews from Ur to the land of Canaan "to improve their prospects," and that the leering inhabitants of Sodom surrounded Lot's lodging "like the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead." The Gifts of the Jews nonetheless encourages us to see the Old Testament through ancient eyes--to see its characters not as our contemporaries but as those of Gilgamesh and Amenhotep. Cahill also lingers on often-overlooked books of the Bible, such as Ruth, to discuss changes in ancient sensibility. The result is a fine, speculative, eminently readable work of history.
Product Description
The author of the runaway bestseller How the Irish Saved Civilization has done it again. In The Gifts of the Jews Thomas Cahill takes us on another enchanting journey into history, once again recreating a time when the actions of a small band of people had repercussions that are still felt today.
The Gifts of the Jews reveals the critical change that made western civilization possible. Within the matrix of ancient religions and philosophies, life was seen as part of an endless cycle of birth and death; time was like a wheel, spinning ceaselessly. Yet somehow, the ancient Jews began to see time differently. For them, time had a beginning and an end; it was a narrative, whose triumphant conclusion would come in the future. From this insight came a new conception of men and women as individuals with unique destinies--a conception that would inform the Declaration of Independence--and our hopeful belief in progress and the sense that tomorrow can be better than today. As Thomas Cahill narrates this momentous shift, he also explains the real significance of such Biblical figures as Abraham and Sarah, Moses and the Pharaoh, Joshua, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
Full of compelling stories, insights and humor, The Gifts of the Jews is an irresistible exploration of history as fascinating and fun as How the Irish Saved Civilization.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
 Deceptive but Sellable Book November 27, 2008
This book was written as a sensationalist bit of entertainment, not as a serious study of the Jewish legacy. It's a skillful work in that it will leave the uncritical reader believing they have just experienced something enlightening and mind expanding. And this is where the deception comes in. He sets forth his philosophical position and then uses imagination and anachronistic thought attribution to the ancients as well as huge massive generalizations to render a complex and, in some ways, unknowable subject area simplistic and appealing. But nuance and uncertainty are boring and do not sell books, so you wont find any of that here.
Also, there is no presentation of the downside. You know, the mutilation of the sex organs of infant boys, the insane misogyny (see the story of Lot as an example of how they valued women), slavery, etc.
All in all, this is a cynical book that looks to cash in by presenting fanciful ideas and imaginative scenarios as hard fact. If you want the real story, look for books by accredited academics with actual reputations of intellectual integrity. It might be a bit more boring, but you'll see the world through more insightful eyes.
And don't buy this book, it'll just encourage him to write another.
 Excellemt Glimpse Into Our Common History November 11, 2008
This book should be required reading in that it shows that through our common history, we have more in common with each other, than we have differences.
How God changed the world August 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Look around his occasional skepticism and viewpoint of higher criticism. This is a classic account of how God changed the world, and how the Jews and their God helped create a civilization to save.
Cahill has a light and at the same time profound touch that hits at the heart.
EXCELLENT July 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent book detailing the beginning of the first monotheistic religion
The author tells the story in a wonderful proseful way and most important suggests the importance of the beliefs mentioned in the book to the world.
For Racists June 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book if you are in fact a westerner with very low esteem. It will teach you that everything about you is good and everything about everyone else is bad. But seriously. There are so many untrue things in this book that I am not even going to bother (Nobody wrote linear History except the Jews. Ha! I say it again. Ha! ). If you are generally unreflective and have a need- that deep urge towards group/ social/ racial superioity- by all means purchase this book. If you are reflective, this is not the book for you.
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