Two decades after its original publication in 1986 - decades rife with controversy and spirited debate about virtually every aspect of the history of ancient Israel - "A History of Ancient Israel and Judah" continues to serve classrooms. However the research that has forged ahead in the intervening two decades, in "Biblical Studies, Epigraphy and Palestinian Archaeology", and critical new discoveries such as the "Tell Dan Inscription" discovered 7 years after the first edition was published, all render a second edition of this work long overdue. This second edition is largely re-written, taking into consideration current research methodologies. Whilst in the eighties, it was necessary to devote considerable space to explaining why the biblical presentations of Israel's origins could not be taken even at face value, today, it is equally necessary to make a case for utilizing the biblical materials at all in historical research, and to explain and justify how they can be used in relation to other ancient written sources and archaeological evidence. Every chapter has been reviewed and largely re-written. Two new chapters have been added and material greatly expanded.The number of charts has increased from 16 to 20, the number of photographs from 39 to 79, the number of maps from 29 to 34 and the number of texts from 18 to 20. Rather than one final bibliography there are now end of chapter bibliographies to reflect the increase and specialisation of publications that are now available within the area of Biblical history.