Holy wars

Told as a sequence of battles and campaigns rather than a continuous narrative, this military history spans roughly three millennia of conflict in the lands now known as the Holy Land. It opens with the Israelite seizure of Jericho and closes with the most recent large-scale Israeli offensive into Lebanon.

Across 17 chapters, the author revisits the clashes that shaped the region, with attention to forces led by the Philistines, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders and Mamluks. One chapter covers the battle of Ayn Jalut, where the Mongols were defeated decisively for the first time.