Armstrong Chapters 16-18

The main thing that I enjoyed about these last few chapters was seeing Jerusalem modernize as well as being able to more easily understand the conflicts because of it being a more modern period in history. It was nice to be able to review back to more recent history and know other problems going on around the rest of the world that directly or could have contributed to the conflicts in Jerusalem. The part about archeology and modern technology was also interesting, but I wish she would have gone into more detail on how that might have led to problems instead of shoving them off and just talking about countless leader changes.
Now, I did not however enjoy the ending of the book. I read this massive book with all these facts with Armstrong making claims and in some peoples minds having strong opinions and large amounts of knowledge on the subject. She is a "scholar" on the subject and obviously has large amounts of passion towards the topic. Then as soon as she could express her view or perhaps a vague plan or proposal of what she thinks the best situation for Jerusalem might be (coming from a scholar so I would be interested and respect her opinion greatly) she just plainly says no one knows what to do. Then she goes on by saying all three religions are going to have to give a bit of tolerance and that Jerusalem was always in better shape when governments in the past had tried this idea. Well, I could have said that theory before reading the book. You mean when people are more tolerant there is less fighting? Places are always better when there is a bit of peace? Thanks for the heads up and saying something that everyone already knows... How about a little help on the topic now...
But, besides that rant I did enjoy reading all the history of Jerusalem and how it has come to be such a focal point and complex city because of it's long painful past and countless days of turmoil.