Masada: The Last Fortress - Hardcover

Miklowitz, Gloria D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802851657 ISBN 13: 9780802851659

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 1998

Synopsis

As the Roman army marches inexorably across the Judean desert toward the fortress of Masada, Simon and his family and friends prepare, along with the rest of the Jewish Zealots, to fight and never surrender. Jr Lib Guild.

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Reviews

Grade 5 Up-The siege of Masada in 72 C.E. is related through the first-person narrations of Simon, the 19-year-old son of Jewish leader Eleazar; and Flavius Silva, Commander in Chief of the Roman Tenth Legion. Through the young man's viewpoint, readers experience the full extent of life at the time, ranging from Simon's unrequited love for the girlfriend of his friend John, to training to become a doctor, and finally to the last hours at Masada. Flavius Silva's account details the life in the Roman camp complete with Jewish slave labor that ironically erects the apparatus that breaks through the protective wall of Masada. Flavius details his rivalry with Marius, the bloodthirsty second in command; dealing with Jewish captives; and finally the hollow conquest. The author fails to establish distinct voices for each person, resulting in shallow characterizations awash in a flood of historical detail and a lack of immediacy. However, readers are given the most historically accurate and explicit representation of the event than is found in any other juvenile book on the market.
Malka Keck, The Temple Tifereth Israel, Beachwood, OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 73 C.E., Simon ben Eleazar, 17-year-old son of the leader of a group of Jewish refugees inside the fortress Masada, sits with his friends, John and Deborah, contemplating his future. Will he marry Deborah and follow his dream of becoming a doctor? After three years of living in the seclusion of Masada, Simon almost believes his dreams might come true. But he and his friends have not forgotten the horror of the Roman backlash in Jerusalem and the deaths of their family and friends. Soon, the Romans descend upon them with an army garrison numbering over 20,000 soldiers, Jewish slaves and mercenaries to take Masada from the 1000 Jews occupying it. Although the Jews devise ingenious defense plans to hold off the invaders, after seven months the Romans break into the fortress and discover that Simon and the others have all committed suicide. In Miklowitz's (Camouflage) novel, readers will glimpse Simon's struggles and joys and the fall of Masada as he records the daily events of the last year of his life. Simon lives his final days with hope and trust in the faithfulness of God, and readers may well be inspired by his example to live their own lives with purpose in the face of all obstacles. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 7^-10. Miklowitz personalizes history in this account of the fall of Masada as seen through the eyes of a young Jewish man helping to hold the fort, and of the Roman commander who is trying to foil the Jews' last stand. Seventeen-year-old Simon ben Eleazar, son of Masada's commander, is an excellent narrator who explains how the Jews have come to be at the mountain fortress, what they are fighting for, and how, in the end, they choose to commit suicide rather than give the Romans the satisfaction of taking them as prisoners. As for Flavius Silva, the Roman commander, Miklowitz succeeds in making him multilayered: true to his job, furious at the Jewish holdouts, yet admiring of their strength, and disgusted by one of his military leaders who fights without honor. The historical facts, a blend of the everyday and the dramatic, show how people can find hope, beauty, and even love in the midst of the most dire of circumstances--and how history is made up of real people, not so different from those reading about it. A powerful offering. See the review, in this section, of Neil Waldman's Masada, as well as the Read-alike on p.339 for suggestions of other biblical fiction. Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802851657
• ISBN 13: 9780802851659
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184