This erudite book is premised on an intriguing, and what should be controversial, notion: certain peoples believe they have a special covenant with God. These people maintain that the land they struggled to obtain is theirs by divine right, if their covenant with the all-powerful Maker is kept. According to Akenson, a Canadian historian, this is what is perceived by the Afrikaaners, the Ulster-Scots and the Israelis. When a nation's very existence and raison d'être is believed by its citizens to be based on a cultural and religous covenant with God, dealing with it may not always be easy.