Just Finished Reading The Source by James Michener

It took a while, but I've finally finished reading James Michener's lengthy 1965 historical novel The Source.  Its setting is a tell...which is a man-made mound in which are deposited layers of remnants of different human habitation going back in this case millennia...situated in northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee and called Makor.  An American archaeologist teams up with three of his Israeli counterparts...including a woman who becomes his romantic interest and another an Arab who formerly fought against the establishment of Israel in 1948.  As they make their digs at different sections of the uninhabited tell their relationships progress as they reveal aspects of their own lives and belief systems, many of the latter inspiring strong arguments.  These parts of the book are interspersed with a typically Michener-like exposition of the history (and prehistory) of Makor, expressed with stories of fictional characters at various crucial stages with an emphasis on the rise of Judaism and its evolution over the millennia up to the present day (i.e. 1965).  You experience the development of flint technology, the beginning of agriculture in the area, the worshipping of stone idols and sacrifice of the firstborn, the arrival of the Hebrews, David's Israel, the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, the body-worshipping Greek Seleucid period and its conflicts with Jewish law, Herod the Great's final days, the revolt against Roman rule during Nero's reign along with the appearance of Josephus, the development of the Talmud, the introduction of a Christian church following Constantine's decree, the spread of Islam, the Crusades, the Mameluke destruction of fortified cities, the hegira of Jews to Palestine from European Christian lands, a new immigration wave of Jews from Europe during the last years of the crumbling Ottoman Empire...and the war to establish Israel as an independent state in 1948.  This was a very long book to read and it took me a while to get through it...finally I was able to finish it in audiobook form after reading the Kindle version about 75% through.  If you are a history buff like me, The Source provides an excellent framework to build a good sense of the attitudes of different people and societies in this area (while explaining how various expressions of Judaism came about), but at the same time there is the built-in confusion as to what specific events told in it really happened and which characters really existed.  So it's great as a starting point for further research...just keep in mind that some of your facts garnered from Michener's book (as in many of his other works) are liable to be fictional...albeit in all likelihood in close concordance with the trends he expounded upon.  If you've been considering this book, go for it...I'm glad I did and recommend it...