The Gifts of the Jews

Amazon.com Review:
Thomas Cahill, author of the bestselling How the Irish Saved Civilization, continues his Hinges of History series with The Gifts of the Jews, a light-handed, popular account of ancient Jewish culture, the culture of the Bible. The book is written from a decidedly modern point of view. Cahill notes, for instance, that Abraham moved the Jews from Ur to the land of Canaan "to improve their prospects," and that the leering inhabitants of Sodom surrounded Lot's lodging "like the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead." The Gifts of the Jews nonetheless encourages us to see the Old Testament through ancient eyes--to see its characters not as our contemporaries but as those of Gilgamesh and Amenhotep. Cahill also lingers on often-overlooked books of the Bible, such as Ruth, to discuss changes in ancient sensibility. The result is a fine, speculative, eminently readable work of history.

How God changed the world:
Look around his occasional skepticism and viewpoint of higher criticism. This is a classic account of how God changed the world, and how the Jews and their God helped create a civilization to save. Cahill has a light and at the same time profound touch that hits at the heart.

EXCELLENT:
Excellent book detailing the beginning of the first monotheistic religion The author tells the story in a wonderful proseful way and most important suggests the importance of the beliefs mentioned in the book to the world.

Waste of time and money:
This is my first review after buying hundreds of products on Amazon. I'm writing because by the time I finished the book I was angry. Cahill spends 90% of the book rehashing the bible from his own quasi-religious-semi-academic point of view. A lot of his "facts" are hogwash and just plain wrong. He spends 5% of the book actually discussing its title and another 5% telling the reader they're idiots if they believe the Bible/Torah is a divine work. I don't need Cahill to retell the bible in his own point of view for me. There are plenty of better versions out there. This book could have been a five page essay, and then we would have only wasted 10 minutes of time on a bad essay instead of several hours on an awful book.

Excellemt Glimpse Into Our Common History:
This book should be required reading in that it shows that through our common history, we have more in common with each other, than we have differences.

Deceptive but Sellable Book:
This book was written as a sensationalist bit of entertainment, not as a serious study of the Jewish legacy. It's a skillful work in that it will leave the uncritical reader believing they have just experienced something enlightening and mind expanding. And this is where the deception comes in. He sets forth his philosophical position and then uses imagination and anachronistic thought attribution to the ancients as well as huge massive generalizations to render a complex and, in some ways, unknowable subject area simplistic and appealing. But nuance and uncertainty are boring and do not sell books, so you wont find any of that here. Also, there is no presentation of the downside. You know, the mutilation of the sex organs of infant boys, the insane misogyny (see the story of Lot as an example of how they valued women), slavery, etc. All in all, this is a cynical book that looks to cash in by presenting fanciful ideas and imaginative scenarios as hard fact. If you want the real story, look for books by accredited academics with actual reputations of intellectual integrity. It might be a bit more boring, but you'll see the world through more insightful eyes. And don't buy this book, it'll just encourage him to write another.