Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time

Russell, Michael, 1781-1848Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1
Word count
719K words
Chapters
72

Tags

English Originals Historical Geography Human GeographyHistorical ReappraisalHoly Land GeographyChurch HistoryPilgrimageAcademic StudyEra NarrativeAncient CivilizationPalestineCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present TimeAuthor: Russell, Michael, 1781-1848,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Sep 1, 2005

Editor's review

This book is a general history of Palestine by the 19th-century scholar Michael Russell, narrating from the earliest period to the author's own time. It interweaves geography, history, and biblical narrative, reflecting the typical 19th-century Western understanding of the "Holy Land." For today's readers, its value lies not only in its historical narrative but also in its status as a historical text for studying modern biblical geography and Orientalist imagination. Its treatment of place names, peoples, and historical events can help readers understand the long accumulation of historical layers in the region. Available as a free Project Gutenberg e-book, it is easy to search and excerpt. Note that the book carries a pronounced period and religious perspective, and some of its claims are no longer accepted by modern scholarship; readers should maintain a critical awareness and use it alongside modern works on Middle Eastern history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First read the table of contents to grasp the time span, then select and closely read the historical periods that interest you.
  2. Prepare a modern timeline of Palestinian history, compare it as you read, and note discrepancies.
  3. Read the geographical descriptions alongside maps to build a sense of space.
  4. Annotate claims with religious coloring, distinguishing historical sources from the author's interpretation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72

FAQ

Are the views in this book outdated? The book carries a 19th-century Western religious and scholarly perspective, and some historical judgments and geographical research have been corrected by modern scholarship. It is better read as a historical text of modern biblical geography and Orientalism than as a standard reference for contemporary Middle Eastern history.
Is it suitable as an introduction to Middle Eastern history? Not really as the sole introductory book. Its narrative spans a long period and has a strong religious framework, so beginners may mistake the author's period views for established fact. Readers are advised to first read a modern general history of the Middle East and then use this book for source comparison.
What background knowledge is needed to read it? It helps to have basic knowledge of biblical narrative, the geographical outline of the Middle East, and the 19th-century Western religious context. If these are unfamiliar, readers may first consult relevant reference entries before entering the main text for easier comprehension.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Russell, Michael, 1781-1848 Author

Michael Russell (1781–1848) is the author of Palestine, or, the Holy Land: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Very little is publicly known about his life: his nationality, education, career, and honors are not reliably documented, and this entry is based only on the work recorded in our catalog and on well-established public knowledge. The surviving work shows an interest in the history and geography of Palestine, presenting the changes of that land from earliest times to his own day within a single narrative frame. It belongs to the nineteenth-century English tradition of writing on the Holy Land, works that often combined documentary discussion with travel observation and addressed general readers curious about biblical geography and Eastern history, favoring narrative and description over strict scholarly criticism; later scholarship therefore tends to treat such books as documents of their age rather than as authoritative histories.