In 70 CE, the Jews were an agrarian and illiterate people living mostly in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia. By 1492 the Jewish people had become a small group of literate urbanites specializing in crafts, trade, moneylending, and medicine in hundreds of places across the Old World, from Seville to Mangalore. What caused this radical change? The Chosen Few presents a new answer to this question by applying the lens of economic analysis to the key facts of fifteen formative centu...

In Jared Diamond’s follow-up to the Pulitzer-Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, the author explores how climate change, the population explosion and political discord create the conditions for the collapse of civilizationEnvironmental damage, climate change, globalization, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of societies around the world, but some found solutions and persisted. As in Guns, Germs, and S...

From the author of Jews, God, and History, this comprehensive history of the Jewish people is "an epic drama, searching and nobly conceived" ( Publishers Weekly).A compelling and readable account of the four thousand year history of a people that spans the globe and transcends the ages. From the ancient and simple faith of a small tribe to a global religion with adherents in every nation, the path of the Jews is traced through countless expulsi...

A vivid and eminently readable story of Jewish history covering 4,000 years, and including extensive illustrations and historical photographsHoward Fast, the bestselling author of Spartacus, tells the sweeping story of the Jewish people and Judaism over four millennia, from their nomadic beginnings and the rise of Moses, to the kings David and Solomon, through the Diaspora and the unthinkable horror of the Holocaust, culminating in the founding of the stat...

A rich study of Jews and Jewish history that offers a unique look at a people who have persevered through unspeakable adversity and have contributed incredible advancements to the world we know today.How have the Jews survived through so many millennia while other civilizations have declined and perished? What qualities mark the culture that has produced Moses, Christ, Spinoza, Marx, Freud, and Einstein?From ancient Palestine through Europe and Asia, to Ame...

Normon Solomon's succinct book is an ideal introduction to Judaism as a religion and way of life. Demonstrating the diverse nature and ethnic origin of those with the Jewish faith, Solomon explores how the Jewish religion has developed in the 2,000 years since the days of the Bible. This Very Short Introduction starts by outlining the basics of practical Judaism - its festivals, prayers, customs, and various sects - and goes on to consider how Judaism has responded to, and dealt w...

National Bestseller"A tour de force. . . . A remarkable achievement." —New York Times Book Review"A marvelous book. . . . This is history: richly textured, provocative and wise." —Plain DealerFrom acclaimed historian Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times and A History of American People, this brilliant 4000 year survey covers not only Jewish histor...

There has never been a more important time for a study of the social, economic, and political origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three important world religions that share a common root. This book adopts a Marxist, that is a materialist, view of human development, so it takes as its starting point the idea that gods, angels, miracles, and other supernatural phenomena do not exist in the real world and therefore cannot be taken as explanations for the origin and rise of these ...

**From an eminent scholar of Yiddish literature and of Jewish history, a bold reconceptualization of the Jewish relationship to power and powerlessness“[A] brilliant analysis. . . certainly a book for our times—courageous, honest, and cogent.” —Jewish Book CouncilPart of the Jewish Encounter series**Taking in everything from the Kingdom of David to the Oslo Accords, Ruth Wisse offers a radical new way to think about the Jewish relationship to power. Traditi...

What is a homeland? When does it become a national territory? Why have so many people been willing to die for such places throughout the twentieth century? What is the essence of the Promised Land?Following the acclaimed and controversial The Invention of the Jewish People, Shlomo Sand examines the mysterious sacred land that has become the site of the longest-running national struggle of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Invention of the Land of Israel

It says 'Judaism' on the front of this book, so perhaps you are expecting a book that explains the Jewish religion. But that would be selling you short.This is a book about the Jewish people - and the Jewish people with their long history and diversity, are bigger than the sum total of Jews' beliefs and rituals. Not all Jews share a common belief system and not all are religiously practicing. So this book will discuss the Jewish religion but it will also d...

Who were the Sephardic Jews of the Ottoman Empire?What lasting lessons does their spiritual life provide for future generations?“How did the Judeo-Spanish-speaking Jews of the Ottoman Empire manage to achieve spiritual triumph? To answer this question, we need to have a firm understanding of their historical experience…. We need to be aware of the dark, unpleasant elements in their environments; but we also need to see the spiritual, cultural light in their ...