Jerusalem: the history of a city

I highly recommend it, both for its visual elements and for the dense dose of history and events it records. It led me to research further into monotheistic religions, the Crusades, the Ottoman Empire, the Palestinian issue, and the British Empire. After all, it is the only way to have critical thinking, even if we disagree, at a time when we are bombarded by violence and blood—at a time when what is happening in the region must stop.

By making an olive tree—Olivia, or "Zeytoun" in Arabic—the narrator, Lemire presents Jerusalem, traveling through the city’s 4,000-year history in ten chapters, featuring real figures connected to its journey as heroes in the retelling of events. [...] The reader will enjoy it even more by reading it as the personal narrative of someone who loves Jerusalem, rather than the work of a historian who has studied it.

The Jerusalem of Lemire and Gauthier asks to be viewed within its own time. And this, for a work that attempts to fit forty centuries into a few dozen pages, is perhaps its most difficult and most essential achievement.

An excellent edition on all levels. A hardcover, large-format, jewel of a book that reads from start to finish, and teaches you a lot in a way you didn't expect. Highly recommended.

"Η άμεση σχέση με την ιστορική αλήθεια που διατηρεί το βιβλίο σε όλη την έκτασή του είναι και το πιο γοητευτικό του στοιχείο αφού κάθε καρέ, κάθε χαρακτήρας, κάθε σκηνή και διάλογος διατηρεί μια ισορροπία μεταξύ επιστημονικής αυστηρότητας και ιστορικής ακρίβειας, χωρίς να αποτελεί μια ακόμα τυποποιημένη επιστημονική διάλεξη ή ένα εικονογραφημένο σχολικό μάθημα για το παρελθόν της."

– Διονυσία Μαρίνου, Τα Νέα