Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms

By Gerard Russell,

Book cover of Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East

Book description

Despite its reputation for religious intolerance, the Middle East has long sheltered many distinctive and strange faiths: one regards the Greek prophets as incarnations of God, another reveres Lucifer in the form of a peacock, and yet another believes that their followers are reincarnated beings who have existed in various…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Like most Americans I grew up with a simplistic view of the Middle East. From Western news it is easy to assume that the "Arab world" is filled almost exclusively with Muslims who live and die in an Islamic world. Gerard Russell, a former British and UN diplomat, disproves this oversimplification with his detailed travelogue in which he recounts his journeying among "forgotten" religions and civilizations such as the Mandeans and Ezidis (ancient Gnostic communities of Iraq), the Zoroastrians ("fire worshippers" of Iran), and Coptics (a pre-Islamic civilization of Egyptian Christians whose language harkens back to the Pharaohs). 

From Zachary's list on Christians in the Middle East.

If you love Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms.

Browse books like Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms

Book cover of From the Holy Mountain: A Journey Among the Christians of the Middle East
Book cover of The Body and the Blood: The Middle East's Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace
Book cover of Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,588

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Middle East, Iran, and presidential biography?

The Middle East 193 books
Iran 133 books