Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People
by Jon Entine
List Price:
Our Price: $16.92
You Save: $11.07 (40%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jon EntineEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-10-24
ISBN: 0446580635
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People
Book Review: A Peculiar People, The Sweep Of History, and DNA
Summary: 4 Stars
The author brings genetic research to bear on the history and identity of the Jewish people, their epic migrations and struggles, and their relationship to other populations. He has done a prodigious amount of research and has managed to present arcane scientific concepts in a way that is understandable. Among the fascinating ideas I learned from the book: Jews who claim descent from the priestly line (Cohanim), often with variants of the surname Cohen, have a high incidence of a specific genetic marker on the Y-chromosome, passed down from father to son.
There is more to this book than genetics. The migration of peoples, religious history, the Spanish inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain, the crypto-Jews emerging from centuries of obscurity in places like the American southwest, the tortured history of the concept of "race" and the political difficulties of studying population genetics, s survey of "Jewish" diseases, and appendixes on human migration and the major genetic strains of our species. Not to mention the ten lost tribes and the questionable story of the conversion of Khazaria.
Author Jon Entine writes well, and the reader is swept along in the torrent of information and theory. This is a hard-to-put-down book. If it has any flaw, it may be that the author tries to cover too much, that he mixes scientific findings with speculation, political ruminations, questions of faith, and Israeli-Palestinian issues. I wish he had delved a bit deeper into fewer areas. Still, I enjoyed Abraham's Children and I recommend it highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.
Summary of Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People
Could our sense of who we are really turn on a sliver of DNA? In our multiethnic world, questions of individual identity are becoming increasingly unclear. Now in ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN bestselling author Jon Entine vividly brings to life the profound human implications of the Age of Genetics while illuminating one of today's most controversial topics: the connection between genetics and who we are, and specifically the question "Who is a Jew?"Entine weaves a fascinating narrative, using breakthroughs in genetic genealogy to reconstruct the Jewish biblical tradition of the chosen people and the hereditary Israelite priestly caste of Cohanim. Synagogues in the mountains of
As people from across the world discover their Israelite roots, their riveting stories unveil exciting new approaches to defining one's identity. Not least, Entine addresses possible connections between DNA and Jewish intelligence and the controversial notion that Jews are a "race apart." ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN is a compelling reinterpretation of biblical history and a challenging and exciting illustration of the promise and power of genetic research.
Religion & Spirituality Books
- History > World > Jewish
- Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural
- Physical
- Reference > Genealogy
- Science > Evolution > Genetics
- Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Evolution > Genetics
- Medical > Basic Sciences > Genetics
- History: World: Jewish: General
- Reference: Genealogy: General
- Religion & Spirituality: General
- Science: General
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Origin, genes and languages
Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen Peopleby Jon Entine
Grand Central Publishing; Published: 2007-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops:
Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankindby Graham Hancock
The Disinformation Company; Published: 2006-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
The Hidden History of the Human Raceby Michael A.; Thompson, Richard L. Cremo
Torchlight Pub; Published: 1994; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $99.94
Who Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Manby Fazale Rana, Hugh Ross
NavPress Publishing Group; Published: 2005-09-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.86
Price in other shops:
A Matter of Days: Resolving a Creation Controversyby Hugh Ross
NavPress Publishing Group; Published: 2004-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.99
The Cave of Altamiraby Pedro A. Saura Ramos
Harry N. Abrams; Published: 1999-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
Inside the Neolithic Mind: Consciousness, Cosmos, and the Realm of the Godsby David Lewis-Williams, David Pearce
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2005-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.70
Price in other shops:
The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Artby David Lewis-Williams
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2002-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.46
Price in other shops:
Darwinian Fairytales: Selfish Genes, Errors of Heredity and Other Fables of Evolutionby David Stove
Encounter Books; Published: 2006-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
DNA and Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrewsby Yaakov Kleiman
Devora Publishing; Published: 2004-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Jews and Power (Jewish Encounters)by Ruth R. Wisse
Schocken; Published: 2007-08-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops:
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Irelandby Bryan Sykes
W. W. Norton; Published: 2007-12-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops:
People of the Book: A Novelby Geraldine Brooks
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Nowby James L. Kugel
Free Press; Published: 2007-09-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaningby Jonah Goldberg
Doubleday; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.60
Price in other shops:
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Natureby Steven Pinker
Viking Adult; Published: 2007-09-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.49
Price in other shops:
Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Projectby Spencer Wells
National Geographic; Published: 2007-11-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.29
Price in other shops:
The Thirteenth Tribeby Arthur Koestler
Random House; Published: 1976-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Jacob's Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish Historyby David B. Goldstein
Yale University Press; Published: 2008-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.21
Price in other shops:
DNA and Tradition: The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrewsby Yaakov Kleiman
Devora Publishing; Published: 2004-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops: