The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780195307337)

The legendary story of the ten lost tribes of Israel has resonated among both Jews and Christians down through the centuries: the compelling idea that some core group of humanity was ''lost'' and exiled to a secret place, perhaps someday to return triumphant. In The Ten Lost Tribes, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shows for the first time the extent to which the search for the lost tribes of Israel became, over two millennia, an engine for global exploration and a key mechanism for understanding the world.

As the book reveals, the quest for the missing tribes and the fervent belief that their restitution marked a necessary step toward global redemption have been threaded through countless historical moments--from the formation of the first ''world'' empires to the age of discovery, and from the spread of European imperialism to the rise of modern-day evangelical apocalypticism. More than a historical survey of an enduring myth, The Ten Lost Tribes offers a unique prism through which to view the many facets of encounters between cultures, the processes of colonization, and the growth of geographical knowledge.

Author: Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
ISBN-10: 019530733X
ISBN-13: 9780195307337
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 09/04/2009
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.00w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/22/2009 pg. 40
Books & Culture 09/01/2009 pg. 31
Booklist 09/01/2009 pg. 28
Chronicle of Higher Education 09/25/2009 pg. 20
Choice 07/01/2010