An illustrated description of a battle that was for many years known to be described only in the Old Testament, but now supported by archaeological finds in the 19th and 20th century. The Assyrian were tough, brutal and uncompromising. The fortified city of Lachish lay in its path to conquer the Judean Kingdom, at the time led by Hekekiah. Hezekiah led a reformation in observance to the Moasaic laws. Lachish fell, but Jerusalem did not.
The book is quite short, but does inspire me to find out more about the topic. Going to the British Museum to see some of the Assyrian reliefs is also on the agenda - if only it is not 12,000 km away.
For those interested more information, the Chronicles of the Kings series (http://www.librarything.com/series/Chronicles+of+the+Kings) is a wonderful set of historical fiction books covering period of Kings Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. ( )