In 701 B.C. the Assyrian empire was in its ascendancy. It had already vanquished the kingdom of Israel to the north including the capital at Samaria. It then prepared an assault on Judah and its capital at Jerusalem.
But in one of those significant events that changes the course of world history, Assyria was repelled. Jerusalem was saved until 586 B.C. when the Babylonians sacked the city, forcing its leadership class into exile.
Henry Aubin, in a major feat of scholarship, determines that Jerusalem was aided by a Kushite army from Africa which had marched northeast from the Nile valley. While the Bible attributes the Assyrian retreat to an angel and secular commentators cite pestilence, Aubin, in a meticulously documented work, demonstrates that an alliance with the African nation of Kush bolstered Jerusalem’s defences.
Kush, also known as Nubia, was located in what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan. A monarchy that existed for more than 1000 years, from 900 B.C. to A.D. 350, Kushites held sway over Egypt from 712 B.C. to about 660 B.C. Of Egypt’s 31 dynasties, this, the 25th Dynasty, is the only one that all scholars agree, was black.
The commander of the Kushite expeditionary force was Taharqa (or as the Bible calls him Tirhakah). This Kushite prince, who had his own interests in halting Assyrian expansion, likely caught the aggressors by surprise as they prepared their siege of Jerusalem.
Aubin offers a thrilling military history and a stirring political analysis of the ancient world. He also sees the event as influential over the centuries.
The Kushite rescue of the Hebrew kingdom of Judah enabled the fragile, war-ravaged state to endure, to nurse itself back to economic and demographic health, and allowed the Hebrew religion, Yahwism, to evolve within the next several centuries into Judaism. Thus emerged the monotheistic trunk supporting Christianity and Islam.
Marina Nemat
Prisoner of Tehran
“Prisoner of Tehran is an extraordinary story of survival and how one woman finally found inner peace through the written word.”
Entertainment Weekly
“Prisoner of Tehran is a gripping personal history…important and chillingly universal…”
New York Times
“Gripping, elegantly written memoir…masterly.”
The Wall Street Journal
“Nemat’s story…is a memoir of faith and love, a protest against violence that cannot be silenced.”
The Christian Science Monitor
“Nemat offers her arresting, heartbreaking story of forgiveness, hope and enduring love—a voice for the untold scores silenced by Iran’s revolution.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Marina Nemat’s beautiful book is a confession born out of the tradition of St. Augustine…breathtakingly real. It is an act of bravery, this book, as well as compassion…well wrought and heartfelt.
The Globe and Mail
“Her story is unforgettable.”
Vogue
“This powerful memoir examines Nemat’s struggle to forgive those who beat her and sentenced her to death at 16 for speaking against her government.”
Newsweek
“With Prisoner of Tehran, she (Marina Nemat) has accomplished her admirable goal (of lending a voice to Iran’s political prisoners.)
Miami Herald
“…Nemat tells her story without messages and with no sense of heroism …terrifying drama…”
Booklist (starred review)
“…Prisoner of Tehran is one of the finest (memoirs) ever written by a Canadian. Nemat’s heartrending account of her time in an Iranian prison touches on some large issues, particularly the power of religious fanaticism to lead good people to do evil acts. But the memoir’s brilliance and grace lie more in its intimate scale, in the way it deals with the burden of memory, the need to bear witness and the strange byways of the human heart. But before all else, Prisoner of Tehran is simply an astonishing story.”
MacLean’s Magazine
“Prisoner of Tehran is an inspiration.”
The Toronto Star
“…heartbreaking memoir.”
The Ottawa Citizen
“Nemat’s story is a page-turner…a book which bears witness, which serves as a prism through which the experiences of a horrific past are viewed from a later calmer perspective. The memoir, a catharsis for Nemat, is a revelation for the reader, a moving and thoughtful book few will want to miss.”
The London Free Press
“…the story of her journey to freedom is extraordinary…Nemat believes it is important to make history personal…Nemat’s story is a complex mixture of light and darkness, love and violence — of human paradoxes that defy simplistic labels of good and evil.”
Quill and Quire
“Filled with enduring images.”
Calgary Herald
“You will start this book and finish it in one reading. It is impossible to put down.”
Heather Reisman, CEO, Indigo Books
