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dranostaj's review
5.0
Lindsay Powell's book, The Bar Kokhba War AD 132–135 tells the story of the last Jewish revolt over the Roman Empire. Osprey Publishing, either through lack of willing writers, or trying to shy away from the tricky subject of Jewish history, does not have a lot of titles on this. It's refreshing to see another campaign on this subject, the former being Si Sheppard's The Jewish Revolt 66-74 AD.
I'll shy away from my historical analysis of this title, since I'm no expert. What I will say is that Powell's writing style really shines through in this title. The campaign series is 96 pages, and the book does not feel crammed into the pages nor wanting in many aspects. Powell gives a nice overview of the time period: The emperor Hadrian, his accession to power, the context of the previous Jewish Rebellions, and what led up to the The Bar Kokhba War, as well as the conflict itself.
First and foremost, the author does make the assertion that writing about such a topic is tricky-- mainly because we have fragmentary sources, at best, and guess work, at worst. Interpretations of such sources are difficult, not to mention tough, because words could be interpreted differently.
That being said, I think because the The Bar Kokhba War was mainly a guerilla conflict, it fit nicely with in the format of the Campaign series. There weren't man set piece battles, mainly because the forces under The Bar Kokhba did not want to fight the Roman armies in any set piece battles. There is one battle mentioned, the siege of Betar, with a 3-D rendering of the battle field and the forces involved. Other than that, there aren't any large battles to speak of, but that's fine since the author treats the entire war as a guerilla campaign. Peter' Dennis' art work, as always, is amazing.
There are a good deal of images of the landscape and also what's left of the foundations of areas of importance to both sides. Good for getting the context, but also a reminder of just how active this area is since the creation of the Jewish homeland in 1948.
I also thought it interesting that the author looked into the underpinnings of the heroes and legends of the war, namely The Bar Kokhba. Some of the nationalistic legends for this man started well into the mid 19th century and only became solidified after that.
Interesting enough, the roman Emperor Hadrian, according to the author, fell from grace after his death, BUT he is known for two things: The wall named after him, and the victor of the The Bar Kokhba War-- both on the fringes of his empire.
Overall I really enjoyed this title, mainly because it fills a gap in the history of Judea in Osprey's offered books, as well as it dovetails nicely into the previous work by Nic Field (mentioned ab0ve). I highly recommend other works by the author, since he has a great style, and use of ancient sources as well as architecture and artifacts in order to fill in any gaps in the historical records.
I'll shy away from my historical analysis of this title, since I'm no expert. What I will say is that Powell's writing style really shines through in this title. The campaign series is 96 pages, and the book does not feel crammed into the pages nor wanting in many aspects. Powell gives a nice overview of the time period: The emperor Hadrian, his accession to power, the context of the previous Jewish Rebellions, and what led up to the The Bar Kokhba War, as well as the conflict itself.
First and foremost, the author does make the assertion that writing about such a topic is tricky-- mainly because we have fragmentary sources, at best, and guess work, at worst. Interpretations of such sources are difficult, not to mention tough, because words could be interpreted differently.
That being said, I think because the The Bar Kokhba War was mainly a guerilla conflict, it fit nicely with in the format of the Campaign series. There weren't man set piece battles, mainly because the forces under The Bar Kokhba did not want to fight the Roman armies in any set piece battles. There is one battle mentioned, the siege of Betar, with a 3-D rendering of the battle field and the forces involved. Other than that, there aren't any large battles to speak of, but that's fine since the author treats the entire war as a guerilla campaign. Peter' Dennis' art work, as always, is amazing.
There are a good deal of images of the landscape and also what's left of the foundations of areas of importance to both sides. Good for getting the context, but also a reminder of just how active this area is since the creation of the Jewish homeland in 1948.
I also thought it interesting that the author looked into the underpinnings of the heroes and legends of the war, namely The Bar Kokhba. Some of the nationalistic legends for this man started well into the mid 19th century and only became solidified after that.
Interesting enough, the roman Emperor Hadrian, according to the author, fell from grace after his death, BUT he is known for two things: The wall named after him, and the victor of the The Bar Kokhba War-- both on the fringes of his empire.
Overall I really enjoyed this title, mainly because it fills a gap in the history of Judea in Osprey's offered books, as well as it dovetails nicely into the previous work by Nic Field (mentioned ab0ve). I highly recommend other works by the author, since he has a great style, and use of ancient sources as well as architecture and artifacts in order to fill in any gaps in the historical records.
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