But Were They Good For the Jews? focuses this classic question directly on the great figures of world history. Relative to the Jewish people, were history's "good guys" really good? Were its "bad guys" truly villainous? These historical sketches from this unusual perspective will be of interest not only to students and teachers of Judaism, but to everyone who enjoys a different view of history.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
The history most of us remember and were taught in school is usually from the viewpoint of the conquerors. Rosenberg, a former history teacher in New York's public schools, has selected many of the leading non-Jewish personalities and he questions their conventional wisdom appraisal with the folk question, "But were they good for the Jews?" Some of these are quite interesting mixed cases, such as Nixon's anti-Semitism and his actions in defense of Israel. Using a variety of secondary literature, Rosenberg has created a very readable record of the philo-Semitic or more commonly anti-Semitic acts and writings of history's most notable. These include leaders from Antiochus IV to President Clinton, along with select cultural figures, including Wagner, Tolstoy, and others. This may become popular reading because of Rosenberg's conversational writing style, but more serious readers might be encouraged to examine biographical entries in the Encyclopaedia Judaica or more detailed monographs.?Andrew B. Wertheimer, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Madison
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worthwhile overview,
By A Customer
This review is from: But Were They Good For The Jews?: Over 150 Historical Figures Viewed from a Jewish Perspective (Hardcover)
In his introduction, author Elliot Rosenberg recounts that, after telling his uncle Louis about the exploits of Richard the Lion Hearted, his uncle replied, "Yes, but was he good for the Jews?" Rosenberg, a former history teacher in New York public schools, attempts to answer by studying more than 150 major historical characters, from Alexander the Great through Bill Clinton, in each case delivering a brief summary of their careers and a longer discussion of how their attitudes and actions affected Jews. The reader gets the good (Alexander, Charlemagne, Cromwell, Suleiman, Franz Joseph, Churchill), the bad (Tiberius, Hadrian, St. Louis, Voltaire, Napoleon, the Romanovs) and the in-between, including most of the Western political leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries. This is a prodigious feat of scholarship but is not supported with footnotes. While Rosenberg is admirably succinct in his summaries, he sometimes omits relevant nuances. For example, he counts Harry Truman as "good" because he supported creation of the State of Israel, but neglects to note that Truman originally opposed Israeli statehood as a sop to our tottering British allies, and had his hand forced by the Soviet Union's cynically motivated exploitation of Western indifference to Jewish aspirations. Likewise, he cites Richard Nixon's support of Israel during the Yom Kippur war, but doesn't mention that Nixon and Henry Kissinger deliberately delayed resupplying Israel for several critical days during the early part of the war so that Arab foes could "taste victory"-a decision that cost Israel hundreds, perhaps thousands, of casualties and may have contributed to subsequent Arab diplomatic intransigence.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good on older leaders, less so on recent politicians,
By
This review is from: But Were They Good For The Jews?: Over 150 Historical Figures Viewed from a Jewish Perspective (Hardcover)
This book was most interesting when discussing long-ago statesmen, synthesizing what little information exists about them. But Rosenberg's brief discussions don't do as much justice to modern controversies. For example, his discussion of Franklin Roosevelt is a one-sided attack which seems to be based on just one book; you would never know from reading Rosenberg that there is a lot of material out there debating how much Americans could have done to save European Jewry- some taking Rosenberg's view, others less so.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Historical Review,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: But Were They Good For The Jews?: Over 150 Historical Figures Viewed from a Jewish Perspective (Hardcover)
This is a top-notch book presenting the Jewish view of various historical figures: Were they positive or negative in terms of their effect on Jewish well-being. This is not a deep, scholarly volume, but rather a quick overview of history as analyzed through Jewish eyes. For those interested in such an analysis, this is a highly worthy book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
