The Dead Sea and the Jordan River

For centuries travelers have been drawn to the stunning and mysterious Dead Sea and Jordan River, a region which is unlike any other on earth in its religious and historical significance. In this exceptionally engaging and readable book, Barbara Kreiger chronicles the natural and human history of these storied bodies of water, drawing on accounts by travelers, pilgrims, and explorers from ancient times to the present. She conveys the blend of spiritual, touristic, and scientific motivations that have driven exploration and describes the modern exploitation of the lake and the surrounding area through mineral extraction and agriculture. Today, both lake and river are in crisis, and stewardship of these water resources is bound up with political conflicts in the region. The Dead Sea and the Jordan River combines history, literature, travelogue, and natural history in a way that makes it hard to put down.

Part I. This Strange Water
1. Some Early History, Travellers, Myths

Part II. Nineteenth-Century Exploration
2. Three Sailors, and a River
3. Along the Briny Strand

Part III. Origins and Evolution
4. The Life of a Lake

Part IV. Further Exploration
5. Gentleman from Siberia
6. A Lake Divided

Part V. The Twenty-First Century
7. The River and Lake in Distress
8. Reclamation, and a Vision of the Future
Afterword