The Lost Messiah by John Freely
This is the astonishing story of Sabbatai Sevi, 17th-century rabbi, Kabbalist and probable manic depressive, who convinced large numbers of Jews throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa that he was their long-awaited Messiah. And then, on threat of painful death from the Turkish Sultan, apparently converted to Islam and in so doing created the strange Donme sect - outwardly Muslim, yet clinging secretly to Sabbatai's strange form of mystical Judaism - a sect that may survive to this day. When John Freely came across this remarkable story in an old Jewish bookshop in Istanbul, he was instantly fascinated. Brilliantly evoking the world of 17th-century Jewish diaspora in the Ottoman empire, the ghettoes of Venice and Rome, the bazaars of Cairo, the Sultan's palaces in Istanbul and the synagogues of North Africa, Freely takes us deep into the esoteric world of Jewish mysticism and a messianic cult which still inspires belief in the Kabbalah.
"This is a tantalising account of a true enigma" Glasgow Herald
John Freely was born in New York in 1926, joined the US Navy at the age of seventeen and served in the Second World War. He received a Ph.D. in physics from New York University in 1960, and since then he has lived in New York, Boston, London, Athens, Istanbul and Venice. Freely's first book was STROLLING THROUGH ISTANBUL. Since then he has written over twenty books, including ISTANBUL and INSIDE THE SERAGLIO (1999).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780140284911 |
| ISBN 10 | 0140284915 |
| Title | The Lost Messiah |
| Author | John Freely |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2002-09-26 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |