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.
Praise for No Defense:
“Wallace avoids any Grisham-come-lately clichés in this interesting novel of southern justice… This page-turner of a novel is refreshing in it’s uncommon perspective, as opposed to the usual legal novel that focuses on lawyers.â€
Booklist
“Rangeley Wallace has written a taut, compelling Southern drama that is cut from the same cloth as Harper Lee and the early William Faulkner.â€
Winston Groom,
author of Forrest Gump
“A riveting courtroom drama…Another fine story in the Southern literary traditionâ€
Library Journal
Rangeley Wallace moved from the South toWashington, D.C. where she is an author and a lawyer. She is the author of No Defense (St. Martin’s Press).
Manuscript Available
Things Are Going to Slide
“Rangeley Wallace is a hard, fresh wind from the south, with a voice full of particularity and a born sense of story.â€
Anne River Siddons
Marilee Carson Cooper daughter of a good southern family had expectations, but now they are dashed. After her husband leaves her for a young man when she is pregnant with their second child, she pins her hopes for financial and career salvation on winning the coveted Chair of Clinical Law at Alabama Southern University.
The Chair goes to Dwight Hurley, a hometown boy who once broke her heart. He is favored because he claims to have written a forthcoming textbook, while Marilee’s job is now endangered, despite her success at the clinic. Dwight’s mysterious reappearance leaves Marilee burning for revenge.
At the same time, the troubled clients of the legal clinic are presenting Marilee and her student lawyers with grave issues. One of them—an unwed teen mother whom Marilee has known for most of her life—is accused of child abuse and murder.
As her feelings for Dwight become increasingly confused, Marilee realizes that her rival could be her only hope in saving the teenager.
Things Are Going To Slide grips the heart with its twists and turns of romantic love in a legal clinic and illuminates the dynamics of justice in a closely knit town.
