Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour

Barbara Tuchman's first work of history, Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age To Balfour, is vast in historical, religious, diplomatic and political scholarship. From the early times of the Beaker people and Caliphates to the first crusades and pilgrimages, all the way down to the creation of the Jewish homeland by the aristocratic and willowy former British Prime Minister Authur James Balfour and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as well as the often overlooked Palestine Mandate, nothing is left out in describing how Israel came into being and England's often historically forgotten role in its conception. Of the two, the latter was actually the one "that gave a footing in public law to the restoration of Israel in Palestine" whereas the Balfour Declaration of 1917 "was simply a statement of policy that any subsequent government could have ignored". The Palestine Mandate was a global promise confirmed by Wilson's League of Nations and thus elevated the Balfour Declaration, which was absorbed with the mandate, to treaty status. Religiously speaking, the British wanted Israel settled so Christiendom would not only be the predominate faith above all the others, but so that Christ's appearance would not accelerate at unbelievable, astronomical speeds. Politically speaking, real bizarre! The criticism of this book is founded. The language is rather dry and antiquated. And there are minute biased overtones of the Christian faith. But the scholarship and information that is provided outweighs the negative tinctures in this book. It gives a broad understanding to a narrow subject.

Ms.Tuchman traces the relationship between England and the establishment of a Jewish homeland. She takes us from the Beaker people who settled England to the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Tuchman, even in her first book, establishes a narrative style of writing about history that she would later use to achieve awesome heights in historical literature. The main enjoyment of this book is the detailed description of how the English were determined to regain Palestine for the Jewish people, so they then could be converted (whether the Jews wanted to or not),to christianity thus hastening the second comming of Christ. It also spreads some light on the seeming insanity of the puritans, who briefly changed England into a hebraic theocracy to protest the predominance of the Latin Catholic Church. It was probably impossible for Tuchamn to write this book without a little bias seeping through, and at times her treatment of the German people seems to be a little bit one sided, although this is quite understandable. If you ever wanted to know about the historical foundations of the Jewish Homeland, this book is for you.