Tradition says that the Jews are part of the Arab family of nations, but this is now disputed. Archaeology has revealed a very early civilisation in the land known as Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, now southern Iraq, and this beautifully illustrated book argues that the Jews are not Semitic at all but the descendants of this culture, the earliest civilization in recorded history. Indeed, some Jewish practices hitherto considered to be entirely religious can now almost certainly be explained as strategy for national survival after the destruction of the original homeland.