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Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths. These religions represent the last vestiges of the magnificent civilizations in ancient history: Persia, Babylon, and Egypt in the time of the pharaohs. Their followers have learned how to survive foreign attacks and the perils of assimilation. But today, with the Middle East in turmoil, they face greater challenges than ever before. In Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, former diplomat Gerard Russell ventures to the distant, nearly impassable regions where these mysterious religions still cling to survival. He lives alongside the Mandaeans and Ezidis of Iraq, the Zoroastrians of Iran, the Copts of Egypt, and others. He learns their histories, participates in their rituals, and comes to understand the threats to their communities. Historically a tolerant faith, since the early twentieth century, Islam has witnessed the rise of militant, extremist sects. This development poses existential threats to these minority faiths. And as more and more of their youth flee to the West in search of greater freedoms and job prospects, these religions face the dire possibility of extinction.
- Sales Rank: #2375423 in Books
- Published on: 2015-01-13
- Formats: Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.40" h x .60" w x 5.30" l,
- Running time: 11 Hours
- Binding: MP3 CD
Review
"A fascinating and gracefully written study of minority religions, recommended for its appreciation of cultural richness and variety." ---Library Journal
About the Author
Gerard Russell is a senior fellow with the New America Foundation's international security program and a senior associate of the Foreign Policy Centre in London. A member of the Order of the British Empire, Gerard worked as a British and United Nations diplomat for fourteen years. He lives in London. Visit him at gerardrussell.com.
Michael Page has been recording audiobooks since 1984 and has over two hundred audiobooks to his credit. He has won several AudioFile Earphones Awards, including for The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. A professional actor, Michael is currently a professor of theater at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Most helpful customer reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
So who are the Yazidis and why should I care?
By Robert Johnston
...that was a question I wondered about. We don't get much background from media who told us ISIL had slaughtered them, hounded them, and then finally corralled them up an obscure mountain called Sinjar to end them. Who are these peculiar people of such primitive, ancient and 'backwoods' roots?
The 21st century veil of obscurity is raised here by Russell. Here you can discover the Yazidis and Harranians, the Mandaeans, Zoroastrian's and Bhai, Druze, the Samaritans, the Copts and Kalasha in an extraordinarily well framed witness to "Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms". Russell takes the reader into the lethal peculiarities of these accursed living lines. We can see them through Russell's expert eye as they fade from existence in the harshest ways. This is the story of ancient 'heretics', followers of a lesser god and pagans living in the deepest tribal isolation under the unrelenting pressure of genocide in today's Islamic wars. Russell explores the ancient nuances revealed in the Islamic Sunni vs Shiite real estate grab of today. I was blind to the implications of Islamic 'justice', finally consummated according to medieval fatwas befalling these living heretics and pagans. Here is the story of 8th century justice at last rendered on the living.
What struck me most in the fascinating read is the magnitude of the catastrophe. It must be historically unique to the 21st century. How can it be that these tightly knit and ancient enclaves are being lost forever with barely a peep from the mightier powers that might preserve them? Are they just not worth it?
This book pulls hard at humanitarian concepts and pulls hardest at the reader's heartstrings ... the 'Last of the Mohicans' is the feeling. It seems this story can't possibly be true but a quick search attests to veracity. What an unmitigated human disaster Russell has profiled. It sticks to me. Russell explores the planets most endangered species, these humans of a lesser god and of the bloody stain on nations that could make it otherwise. It's the story of witness that I've not seen in my lifetime.
The story is incomplete in some ways. The extreme persecutions of the few remaining Jews in Muslim lands are under no less jeopardy ... 10 Jews left in Cairo? This is not a criticism of what the book covers so well. It's simply the fact that there is more to the story. The epilogue as Russell follows the remnants of these communities to exile in America and elsewhere is an uneasy story to conclude upon. Happy they are to be alive, but broken. How will the story continue?
This is a 5-star, well written, must read ... for the interested. I found myself embarrassed for 21st century evolved notions of`humanity'. I was humbled.
A related but more ancient telling of similar calamity caught my attention a while back. If you choose to read this book, you might also enjoy The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died
p.s. The Kindle edition is well constructed and the photo's were crisp
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Three reasons I loved this book
By Michael Webb
Most reviews of this book focus on its timeliness in the face of ISIS (let alone Modernity). This is no doubt a good reason to read it. But here are some other reasons:
1. What insight into humanity's imagination!
Every other page I exclaimed in delight at some marvelous story or ritual that Russell has uncovered - either in an ancient text he has found in some dusty archive, or by direct observation of its practice today. Consider the characters of Mandaean mythology. There is Krun, the flesh mountain, who according to Russell "sounds a bit like Jabba the Hutt"; the dragon Ur, who sits above an ocean of flammable oil, and, Russell's professed favorite, the demon Dinanukht, "who is half man and half book and 'sits by the waters between the worlds, reading himself.'"
Or consider the Kalasha, whose rule-makers seem to have had a touch of OCD: "The right hand, the male sex, the high mountains, purity, odd numbers, and life all were affiliated with each other; to these were opposed the left hand, the female sex, the low valleys, impurity, even numbers, and death. So the men sat on the right-hand side of their houses and the women on the left. Likewise, it was men who herded the goats and women who planted crops, men who went into the mountains and women whose place was in the valleys, and women who were prone to all kinds of impurity." Russell then tells how "I was scolded for touching a village house as I passed it, since even this made it impure, and meant more juniper branches would need to be burned to restore its pristine state."
2. You'll learn a lot
The author wears his learning lightly, yet it bursts through on every page. What I appreciated especially was the enormous range of his references. For example, a modern Mandaean tells Russell that "I am sure there was a time when Mandaean women could be priests, not just men." Russell not only is able to confirm the particular fact about Mandaeanism: "She was right: in the Drasa da Yehia [a Mandaean holy book], a Jewish woman converts to Mandaeanism and becomes a priest." But he also mentions in passing: "Similarly, in ancient Babylon women could serve as priests. For that matter, women occasionally achieved secular positions of power in the ancient Middle East. The ancient Persian navy had a female admiral - Artemisia, back in the fifth century BC - and in the third century AD Palmyra had a powerful queen, Zenobia."
He also gives fascinating philosophical and historical context for many of his observations. For example, while describing asceticism, he speculates about the philosophical source of the self-denial: "Society was technologically advanced... Yet cesspits had to be cleaned out by hand, diseases such as typhoid were common, and wounds might easily develop gangrene. The body's weakness and foulness were in strange contrast to the intellect's amazing achievements. Since at this time it was not generally understood that the intellect had any connection with the brain (Galen realized that it did, but Aristotle had thought the brain existed just to release heat from the body), it was easy to suppose that the mind, or soul, could survive without the messiness of the body." What a striking thought - and how simply, and gracefully, argued.
3. Last chance to see?
Apart from at the very end, Russell does not say much about what *he* thinks about these religions and what's happening to them: he is the dispassionate academic observer, if one with unusual skill, intrepidity, and verve. He allows his subjects to speak for themselves. But when they do, it is often with considerable passion, beauty, and insight. Consider George, a Palestinian living in a Jewish neighborhood in Detroit. "Coming here [America] was the worst decision I ever made," he tells Russell. "I thought it would be like a salad, every ingredient taking on flavor from the other. It's more like a blender - everything ends up gray."
And this is one reason these religions may not be here for much longer, to say nothing of their more violent and deliberate destruction in recent years and months. The modern world must bear a debt of gratitude to Russell for writing this book: the product of a lifetime of learning, and years of travel in the most dangerous places on earth. That his documentation of these ancient religions has yielded something of enduring beauty - and that is, dare I say it, a page-turner - is remarkable. I urge you to buy it.
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Great content, lousy physical book (hardcover)
By Amazon Customer
Splendid content, dreadful physical book. This is a truly wonderful book. Kind, insightful, personally researched. I can't say enough about the content. On the other hand, the book itself is printed on cheap paper and the illustrations can only be called shameful. I have the Kindle version and the illustrations are in color and very clear. The edition I received, to give as a gift, have washed out sepia or b/w photo that were nearly worthless. It is a shame that book published has descended to this level. What ever happened to "printed on acid-free paper?"
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