Perhaps the most contested patch of earth in the world, Jerusalem’s Old City experiences consistent violent unrest between Israeli and Palestinian residents, with seemingly no end in sight. Today, Jerusalem’s endless cycle of riots and arrests appears intractable—even unavoidable—and it looks unlikely that harmony will ever be achieved in the city. But with Jerusalem 1900, historian Vincent Lemire shows us that it wasn’t always that way, undoing the familiar notion of Jerusalem as a lost cause and revealing a unique moment in history when a more peaceful future seemed possible. In this masterly history, Lemire uses newly opened archives to explore how Jerusalem’s elite residents of differing faiths cooperated through an intercommunity municipal council they created in the mid-1860s to administer the affairs of all inhabitants and improve their shared city. These residents embraced a spirit of modern urbanism and cultivated a civic identity that transcended religion and reflected the relatively secular and cosmopolitan way of life of Jerusalem at the time. These few years would turn out to be a tipping point in the city’s history—a pivotal moment when the horizon of possibility was still open, before the council broke up in 1934, under British rule, into separate Jewish and Arab factions. Uncovering this often overlooked diplomatic period, Lemire reveals that the struggle over Jerusalem was not historically inevitable—and therefore is not necessarily intractable. Jerusalem 1900 sheds light on how the Holy City once functioned peacefully and illustrates how it might one day do so again.

Jerusalem 1900: The Holy City in the Age of Possibilities

Lemire, Vincent

Arts & Photography

University of Chicago Press

An expansive history of Jerusalem as a cultural crossroads, and a fresh look at the urban development of one of the world's most mythologized cities.\nJerusalem is often seen as an eternal battlefield in the "clash of civilizations" and in endless, inevitable wars of religion. But if we abandon this limiting image when reviewing the entirety of its concrete urban history—from its beginnings to today—we discover a global city at the world's crossroads. Jerusalem is the common cradle of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whose long and intertwined pasts include as much exchange and reciprocal influence as conflict and confrontation. This synthetic account is the first to make available to the general public Jerusalem's whole history, informed by the latest archaeological finds, unexplored archives, and ongoing research and offering a completely renewed understanding of the city's past and geography. This book is an indispensable guide to understanding why the world converges on Jerusalem.\nFrom the Back Cover\n"This, the umpteenth history of Jerusalem, is also in a sense the very first: never before, in fact, has the city been the object of a full-fledged effort that rigorously examines it from its origins. … A lively, precise, and handy book of great intelligence. … In the end, [it is the physical city itself] that is at the heart of this fine work. … What a great achievement indeed to have made this most labyrinthine of cities so readable."—Le Monde\n"Very readable, very well informed, very well documented. … An important counterweight to the simplifications, myths, instrumentalization, … and hysterical readings of the city's status. … Recommended to anyone traveling to Israel-Palestine or who cares about [Jerusalem's] fate for good or for bad reasons."—LibreSens\n"What else can be said about the history of Jerusalem? … What could be added to the monumental biography of the city written by the British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore? Many things, [the authors of this book] enthusiastically reply. … On the basis of little- or unexploited sources, … [they endeavor to] shed new light on a past too often reduced to the clash of religions, civilizations, and imperialisms. … Don't be mistaken: in this long history, … battles and conquests are of course central. … But in the shadow of these dramas, it is the daily cohabitation of the three monotheisms in a common melting pot to which the authors devote some of their most surprising pages."—Le Figaro\n"Breaking with the discourse, more ideological than historical, of most books devoted to the city, the authors … offer the reader a fascinating survey that skillfully blends the history of everyday life with that of an ever-changing fantasy of the imagined city. … A thrilling book from beginning to end, which illuminates the dramas of the present."—L'Histoire\n"Calmly and in accessible language, this book traces the [city's] long and complex history. … This unprecedented initiative of … Vincent Lemire and his colleagues … certainly deserves to be saluted, as it will be of great service to the many pilgrims, tourists, diplomats, and volunteers who visit Jerusalem."—La Croix\n"Judaeans, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Franks, Ottomans, English—all have left their mark on the city. The individual chapters review these periods and their contributions, providing a better understanding of the history of each site, shedding light on the relations between the different communities that have lived [in Jerusalem], and giving an idea of the magnitude of the challenge that Palestinians and Israelis must now take on in order to build the future of the Holy City."—Études

Jerusalem: History of a Global City

History

Ancient Civilizations

University of California Press

The History of Jerusalem: An Illustrated Story of 4,000 Years

Comics & Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels

Harry N. Abrams

In the Shadow of the Wall: The Life and Death of Jerusalem's Maghrebi Quarter, 1187–1967

The Maghrebi Quarter of Jerusalem long sat in the shadow of the Western Wall, the last vestige of the Second Temple. Three days after the June '67 War, Israeli forces razed the Quarter, its narrow alleys widened and homes removed, to create the Western Wall Plaza. With this book, Vincent Lemire offers the first history of the Maghrebi Quarter--spanning 800 years from its founding by Saladin in 1187 to house North African Muslim pilgrims through to its destruction. To bring this vanished district back to life, Lemire gathers its now-scattered documentation in the archives of Muslim pious foundations in Jerusalem and the Red Cross in Geneva, in Ottoman archives in Istanbul and Israeli state archives. He engages testimonies of former residents and looks to recent archaeological digs that have resurfaced household objects buried during the destruction. Today, the Western Wall Plaza extends over the former Maghrebi Quarter. It is one of the most identifiable places in the world--yet one of the most occluded in history. In the Shadow of the Wall offers a new point of entry to understand this consequential place.

Middle East

Stanford University Press

Israël / Palestine : anatomie d'un conflit

Politics & Social Sciences

Snégaroff, Thomas

Politics & Government

ARENES

Histoire de Jérusalem

LES ARENES BD

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Books by Lemire, Vincent