Jonathan Kirsch, a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Moses: A Life and The Harlot by the Side of the Road, writes and lectures widely on biblical, literary, and legal topics. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, President of PEN Center USA West, and a former correspondent for Newsweek, he lives in Los Angeles.
“[A] SPLENDID BIOGRAPHY . . . An eminently readable account of
perhaps the best-known and most popular of all biblical
heroes.”
–Los Angeles Times
“A COMPLETE PORTRAIT . . . One of the more comprehensive attempts
to place this staggering figure in history, in literature, in
psychology, and in the evolution of Judaism and Christianity.”
–The Seattle Times
“A STUNNING SYNTHESIS . . . Kirsch has taken the best of both
worlds to fashion a story that is the first of its kind: a
biography of biblical proportions, anchored in the imaginative
sweep of fiction and the tactile surprise of fact.”
–DAVID ROSENBERG
Author of The Book of David
and co-author of The Book of J
“Anyone who reads [this] entertaining and often enlightening
account will come away with a solid understanding of David’s life
and legacy.”
–San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] SPLENDID BIOGRAPHY . . . An eminently readable account of
perhaps the best-known and most popular of all biblical
heroes."
-Los Angeles Times
"A COMPLETE PORTRAIT . . . One of the more comprehensive
attempts to place this staggering figure in history, in literature,
in psychology, and in the evolution of Judaism and
Christianity."
-The Seattle Times
"A STUNNING SYNTHESIS . . . Kirsch has taken the best of
both worlds to fashion a story that is the first of its kind: a
biography of biblical proportions, anchored in the imaginative
sweep of fiction and the tactile surprise of fact."
-DAVID ROSENBERG
Author of The Book of David
and co-author of The Book of J
"Anyone who reads [this] entertaining and often enlightening
account will come away with a solid understanding of David's life
and legacy."
-San Francisco Chronicle
Kirsch (The Harlot by the Side of the Road) adds to his sensational books on biblical personalities with this expos‚ of the life of King David and his God. He fully accepts the historicity of David and the United Kingdom but argues that the record we have is the product of court propagandists followed by other court editors and then "spin doctors" who attempted to sanitize David. This is an old approach followed by many critical scholars; however, the only characteristics that Kirsch adopts from the text for David are thoroughly Machiavellian. He portrays David as a "bloodthirsty fiend of hell" who combined a strong political savvy with a ruthless suppression of all opposition. One must recognize that, even if we do not judge him by modern mores, as Kirsch does, David's life and reign was full of actions that provided abundant opportunities for his famous readiness to repent. Kirsch is a master of the storyteller's art, but his propensity to be disparaging is unsettling if quite skillful. In fact, his tone is much like that a lawyer might use in a summation to a jury (with appropriate facial expressions and tone of voice not available to print). Much more reliable assessments of David can be found in such major series as Abingdon's Interpreter's Bible, Doubleday's Anchor Bible, and Word's Biblical Commentary. Nonetheless, this muckraking account in the modern style will no doubt receive circulation in public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/00.]ÄEugene O. Bowser, Univ. of Northern Colorado, Greeley Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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