David by Duff Cooper Cape, 1943 224 pages out of print but available secondhand
It’s always a pleasure to read a book on a subject written with such good English with which the author shows such mastery. David is here the hero of the Jewish faith.
Duff Cooper was an aristocrat (1st Viscount Norwich) who served as a Conservative MP in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He held several senior Cabinet positions and was British Ambassador to France from 1944 to 1948.
His biography of King David is true to the relevant Old Testament narratives with such imagined links as to make the story both readable and credible including copious quotes from the psalms written by David himself.
The life of David is chronologically arranged in seven chapters starting with Samuel and ending with Abishag and Adonijah.
Duff Cooper’s commitment to this Old Testament hero is most clearly revealed in the book’s dedication – ‘This book is dedicated to the Jewish people to whom the world owes the Old and New Testaments and much else in the realms of beauty and knowledge, a debt that has been ill repaid.’
Altogether, an excellent book well worth reading for the beautiful language alone.