A Guide to Jewish Studies: History

"How have the Jews survived? For millennia, they have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. This book charts the long journey of the Jews through history. At the same time, it points to two unlikely factors to explain the survival of the Jews: antisemitism and assimilation." - from the publisher

"Three published volumes cover the history of Judaism from the Persian period up to the third century, and a fourth is in preparation on the late Roman-Rabbinic period. Taken together, The Cambridge History of Judaism provides the fullest and most authoritative account of its subject and will endure as an important scholarly resource." - from the publisher

"In The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism, a team of internationally-renowned scholars offer a comprehensive and authoritative overview of Jewish life and culture, from the biblical period to contemporary times.Provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the main periods and themes of Jewish history, from Biblical Israel, through medieval and early modern periods, to Judaism since the Holocaust, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Judaism today.Brings together an international team of established and emerging scholars across a range of disciplines.Discusses how to present Judaism - to both non-Jews and Jews - as a religious system on its own terms and with its own unique vocabulary.Explores the latest scholarship on a range of issues, including folk practices, politics, economic structure, the relationship of Judaism to Christianity, and the nature of Zionism diaspora and its implications for contemporary Israel.Considers Jewish historiography and the lives of ordinary people, the achievements of Jewish women, and the sustained interaction of Jews within the environments they inhabited." - from the publisher

"Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other. In this magisterial and elegantly written book, Martin Goodman takes readers from Judaism's origins in the polytheistic world of the second and first millennia BCE to the temple cult at the time of Jesus. He tells the stories of the rabbis, mystics, and messiahs of the medieval and early modern periods and guides us through the many varieties of Judaism today. Goodman's compelling narrative spans the globe, from the Middle East, Europe, and America to North Africa, China, and India. He explains the institutions and ideas on which all forms of Judaism are based, and masterfully weaves together the different threads of doctrinal and philosophical debate that run throughout its history." - from the publisher

"Details the story of the Jewish experience, tracing it across three millennia, from their beginnings as an ancient tribal people to the opening of the New World in 1492 to the modern day. A tie-in to the PBS and BBC series The Story of the Jews. It is a story like no other: an epic of endurance against destruction, of creativity in oppression, joy amidst grief, the affirmation of life against the steepest of odds. It spans the millennia and the continents, from India to Andalusia and from the bazaars of Cairo to the streets of Oxford. It takes you to unimagined places: to a Jewish kingdom in the mountains of southern Arabia; a Syrian synagogue glowing with radiant wall paintings; the palm groves of the Jewish dead in the Roman catacombs. And its voices ring loud and clear, from the severities and ecstasies of the Bible writers to the love poems of wine bibbers in a garden in Muslim Spain. And a great story unfolds. Not, as often imagined, of a culture apart, but of a Jewish world immersed in and imprinted by the peoples among whom they have dwelled, from the Egyptians to the Greeks, from the Arabs to the Christians. Which makes the story of the Jews everyone's story, too." - from the publisher

"The history of the Jewish people is one of the greatest historical tapestries of modern times. Starting in 1650, when there were no more than one and a quarter million Jews in the world, Gartner looks at the Jewish traditions and communities, and how they interacted both externally and internally. The story moves through the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and into Emancipation, through the dark shadows of anti-Semitism, and up to the twentieth century with Zionism, the impact of World War II and the Holocaust, and the foundation of Israel." "This authoritative and lively introduction contains the story of the changing fortunes of the Jewish communities as they move through the Old World, Europe, the Middle East, and on to the New World of the Americas." - from the publisher

"From Europe and America to the Middle East, North Africa and other non-European Jewish settlement areas, the 'Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture' covers the recent history of the Jewish people from 1750 through the 1950s. Originally published in German as the 'Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur' by J.B. Metzler Verlag (Stuttgart/Weimar) in 2011 the work includes approximately 800 entries that present the state of international research and reveal a complex portrait of Jewish life - illuminated by many maps and illustrations. Central themes convey information on topics such as autonomy, exile, emancipation, literature, liturgy, music, and science of Judaism. The encyclopedia provides knowledge in an overall context and offers academics and other interested readers new insights into Jewish history and culture. The work is an outstanding contribution to the understanding of Judaism and modernity." - from the publisher

"Chronicles the Jewish experience from ancient times to the present day through a cast of historical characters, vivid storytelling, location photography, and more." - Publisher description

"Presents a history of East European Jewry from its beginnings to the period after the Holocaust. It gives an overview of the demographic, political, socio-economic, religious and cultural conditions of Jewish communities in Poland, Russia, Bohemia and Moravia. Interesting themes include the story of early settlers, the 'Golden Age', the influence of the Kabbalah and Hasidism. Vivid portraits of Jewish family life and religious customs make the book enjoyable to read." - from the publisher

"For many centuries Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world: right up to the Second World War the area was home to over 40 per cent of the world's Jews. Nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland alone, with nearly three million more in the Soviet Union. The majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States and a large proportion of the Jews of Israel originate from these lands, and many of the major movements that have characterized the Jewish world in recent times have their origins there, but the history of their Jewish communities is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing that fails both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization that emerged there and to illustrate what was lost in its destruction: Jewish life in these parts, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity." - from the publisher

"The two decades since the last authoritative general history of Dutch Jews was published have seen such substantial developments in historical understanding that new assessment has become an imperative. This volume offers an indispensable survey from a contemporary viewpoint that reflects the new preoccupations of European historiography and allows the history of Dutch Jewry to be more integrated with that of other European Jewish histories. Historians from both older and newer generations shed significant light on all eras, providing fresh detail that reflects changed emphases and perspectives. In addition to such traditional subjects as the Jewish community's relationship with the wider society and its internal structure, its leaders, and its international affiliations, new topics explored include the socio-economic aspects of Dutch Jewish life seen in the context of the integration of minorities more widely; a reassessment of the Holocaust years and consideration of the place of Holocaust memorialization in community life; and the impact of multiculturalist currents on Jews and Jewish politics. Memory studies, diaspora studies, postcolonial studies, and digital humanities all play their part in providing the fullest possible picture. This wide-ranging scholarship is complemented by a generous plate section with eighty fully captioned colour illustrations." - from the publisher

"Morocco was once home to the largest Jewish community in the Arab world. Jews are also among Morocco's oldest inhabitants: the Jewish presence in Northwest Africa predates the rise of Islam in the seventh century and continues to the present day, combining elements of Berber (Amazigh), Arab, Sephardi, and European culture. In this setting, Muslim-Jewish relations have long been recognized as uncommonly intimate. For these reasons alone--and many more besides--the history of Morocco simply cannot be told without the history of its Jews. In Jewish Morocco, Emily Gottreich examines the history of Jews in Morocco from the pre-Islamic period to postcolonial times, drawing on newly acquired evidence from archival materials in Rabat. The book traces the development of five thematic "pillars" of Moroccan identity: Malikism (the dominant school of Islamic jurisprudence), Amazighity ("Berber" identity), Sharifism (ideology of genealogical privilege), Europeanization, and Arabness. But the book is unique in doing so from the original perspective of the Jewish historical experience. Fitting into a growing body of scholarship that consciously strives to integrate Jewish and Middle Eastern studies, this book is as much a history of Jews of Morocco as a history of Morocco from the point of view of its Jews. Emily Gottreich also places pressing issues in contemporary Moroccan society into their historical, and in their Jewish, contexts." - from the publisher

"K. E. Fleming's Greece--a Jewish History is the first comprehensive English-language history of Greek Jews, and the only history that includes material on their diaspora in Israel and the United States. The book tells the story of a people who for the most part no longer exist and whose identity is a paradox in that it wasn't fully formed until after most Greek Jews had emigrated or been deported and killed by the Nazis. For centuries, Jews lived in areas that are now part of Greece. But Greek Jews as a nationalized group existed in substantial number only for a few short decades--from the Balkan Wars (1912-13) until the Holocaust, in which more than 80 percent were killed. Greece - a Jewish History describes their diverse histories and the processes that worked to make them emerge as a Greek collective. It also follows Jews as they left Greece - as deportees to Auschwitz or émigrés to Palestine/Israel and New York's Lower East Side. In such foreign settings their Greekness was emphasized as it never was in Greece, where Orthodox Christianity traditionally defines national identity and anti-Semitism remains common." - from the publisher