THE BOOK OF THE TORAH, SECOND EDITION

The first five books of the Bible contain many of its most famous stories, populated by vivid characters altogether human in their triumphs and failings--and an equally complicated deity. Many works of Western art and literature appeal to these stories, from Michelangelos painting of Adam and Eve to a novel like William Faulkners Go Down, Moses. The three great Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are rooted here. So is much of Western political theory and constitutional polity, for a good half of these books contains legislation (torah) of various kinds, as indicated by the ancient title