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.
“A Kidnapped Mind by Pamela Richardson is a wake-up call to anyone who has ever been involved with divorcing families. By chronicling her son’s desperate attempt to survive the fallout of a court’s custody decision, Richardson raises serious questions about what is ‘in a child’s best interests.’ She also challenges the court’s ability to even make those decisions. Anyone considering divorce should read this book first.”
Dr. Reena Sommer
Dundurn Press
A KIDNAPPED MIND
This is both a heart-wrenching story by a mother grieving for her son and the introduction of a new and little-known syndrome, Parental Alienation Syndrome.
PAS was identified in 1985 by Dr. Richard Gardner as a disorder primarily arising in the context of child-custody disputes and combines a parent’s indoctrinations with the child’s own contributions to the vilification of the target parent.
From age five Pamela Richardson’s son, Dash, suffered from PAS at the hands of his father. Indoctrinated to believe his mother had abandoned him, after years of monitored phone calls and impeded access, eight-year old Dash decided he didn’t want to be “forced” to visit her at all: later he told her he would never see her again if she took the case to court. For eight more years Pamela battled Dash’s father, the legal system, their psychologist, the school system, and Dash himself to try to protect her son – first from his father, then from himself.
Pamela Richardson has been host of The Saturday Show and has worked at Toronto Life Fashion, Vancouver Magazine, and Western Living. She has written and produced pieces for television and magazines. Today Pamela is a full-time mother to her two teenaged boys and lives in Vancouver with her husband David.
