Gary Rashba

Holy Wars is an overview of warfare in the "holy land", that patch of arid ground sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians...each which cannot abide by the others. Starting in "biblical" times, Rashba recounts the stories of military leaders and their escapades. Nearly half of the book recounts the string of wars that have ensued since Israeli independence in 1948.

While the coverage given early battles (even if the source is anything but reliable) is extensive, the author picks and chooses show more what to cover and in what depth. Biblical stories get a lot of pages; the crusades in comparison don't get nearly the press that one would expect. Given the vast amount of accurate data available, it's no surprise that the last 60 years get an overwhelming cut of this story. but I would have liked to have seen a little more balance.

Broad overviews covering 3000 years is fine for folks with a passing interest in the subject matter but no real desire to dig deep into particular events. I did learn a few things in the discussions involving biblical battles, and this will probably lead to further reading. While the author isn't egregiously biased when it comes to the religious aspect of many of these wars, discussion on the Arab/Israeli wars is decidedly short of analysis on the Arabic side of these wars (and little to no mention of their casius belli). show less

This has been in my Kindle library for 12 years. It’s interesting to read about a year after the 7 October 2023 attacks and the subsequent response in Gaza.