The emergence of monarchical polities in the Near East was accompanied by a shaping of political and ritual geography. The literary works from scribal authors, many of whom were closely bound to the monarchy, encode how space was shaped as a projection of royal power. In this elegant and careful book, Russell examines how space and power were related to one another in ancient Israel. The book consists of a number of studies drawn from Israel's historical books.

The first chapter provides a brief methodological introduction by way of Solomon's temple to Henri Lefebvre's theories about space as a social product and Anthony Giddens’ and Richard Blanton's theories about social actors and power. The second chapter examines David's claim to piety through the purchase of Araunah's threshing floor for cultic use (2 Sam 24). If the second chapter examines a case of ritual space being commissioned, the following chapter examines an example of decommissioning or ritual desecration: the destruction of Baal's Temple by Jehu (2 Kings 10:18–28). Russell discerns two different strands: one more aligned with the priestly literature and one with deuteronomistic concerns. In the fourth chapter Russell considers Absalom's appearance at the city gates winning the hearts and minds of the Israelites as a precursor to his rebellion against David. He shows how the city gate was the locus of the distributed collective power of the male citizens, but also a place where kings might seek to assert their power. Absalom seeks to leverage the Near Eastern ideal of the just king for the purpose of securing the loyalty of the cities’ collectives. In the fifth chapter Russell shows how Hezekiah's organisation of the water system should be understood in the context of Near Eastern depictions of royal water projects. The shaping of Jerusalem's urban landscape evidences his success as a monarch.

There is much to commend about Russell's study. His readings are sensitive to the literary nature of the biblical text, though this is also combined with an awareness of textual unevenness and a willingness to present redaction-critical solutions when they are needed. Russell has read widely in the literature of the Ancient Near East and each chapter includes a number of important examples that give his book colour and shine significant light on the dynamics in the biblical text. The study is also well-documented: almost half the book consists of end-notes in a small typeface. Nevertheless, Russell has worked hard to ensure a readable text.

For readers unfamiliar with the contours of recent Old Testament scholarship, the most helpful discussion is perhaps his careful account of the relationship between the distributed collective politics of town and centralised royal power in his chapter on Absalom. Whilst scholarship in the 1960s and 1970s created romantic notions of a pre-monarchic egalitarianism subverted by the centralising tendencies of the Hebrew monarchies, Russell rightly paints a subtler picture of the interaction of town governance and centralised power. He insightfully describes the dynamics of power in Iron Age polities and the degree to which towns enjoyed a degree of self-governing independence. It is not only narratives in Samuel that will benefit from his insights, but also stories in Genesis, Joshua and Judges. If I had one disappointment with the book, it is that Russell concludes with just a summary of his findings. His careful study of cult, power and space has many potential implications for groups and individuals that value the Old Testament as scripture, it is a shame that Russell doesn't begin to indicate what some of those might be.