Jerusalem Falls: Seven Centuries of War and Peace

In this meticulous history, Hosler (The Siege of Acre), a military history professor at the Command and General Staff College, chronicles the sieges, conquests, and rapprochements of Jerusalem between the seventh and 13th centuries. Pushing back against the notion that religious conflict defined medieval Jerusalem, he contends that the era tells a “story of concord and resolution.” He details such atrocities as al-Hakim of Egypt’s persecution of Christians and the bloody First Crusade, but suggests that acts of barbarity prove the exception in the city’s mostly ecumenical medieval history. Hosler posits that Jerusalem was characterized by pragmatic religious pluralism and tolerance between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and he highlights such instances of interfaith accord as Umar’s Assurance, in which Christians agreed to peacefully surrender the city to the caliph Umar after his concession that he would allow Christians to continue practicing their faith in 638 CE. Hosler argues that the city’s pluralist past encourages readers to think “about contemporary issues in new ways” and consider how diversity begets community. Unwaveringly evenhanded, Hosler succeeds in constructing a plausible and surprising counternarrative to histories of Jerusalem focused on violence and conquest. A fresh perspective elevates this sharp chronicle. (Nov.)