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Jerusalem's Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea. By Desmond Seward. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-306-81807-3. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Selected bibliography. Index. Pp. xvi, 314. $28.00.
Desmond Seward is a well-known popularizer who has produced lively narratives with vivid characterizations in more than a dozen books on medieval and early modern European history. This latest attempt to explain Josephus to the general reader, however, puts him far outside his area of expertise. Retelling the story of the Great Jewish War of 66-70 CE is a laudable goal only if the general reader is not misled. Unfortunately, Seward does not analyze the political, military or social aspects of this complicated war, and he has forsaken any analysis of the problems of Josephus's reliability.
Seward's melodramatic flair causes him to include lurid passages that he himself admits are probably not historical. Jerusalem terrorized by murderous homosexuals (BJ 4.561-564) is just one example. He employs blue material only to claim later it was fictional. He accepts Josephus's long speeches as if they were historical not just literary inventions. He never comments on how Josephus knows what went on in Jerusalem or what was said when he was not present or where the account of what happened at Masada came from.
Seward's second fault, noted by many previous reviewers, is having his interpretive framework obstruct his analysis. His devout Catholicism causes him to write as if Jews can only be understood through the eyes of the Vatican. Thus the High Priest becomes a kind of "pope," Qumran becomes a "monastery," Essenes are "Jewish monks," Jewish rabbis are "clergy" and James, the brother of Jesus is turned anachronistically into "the Bishop of Rome." It is not easy to write...