Customer Reviews

But Were They Good For The Jews?: Over 150 Historical Figures Viewed from a Jewish Perspective

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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.

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.

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.

I learned so much from this book. Book was in a little worse condition than I expected - more marked up than advertised. Shipping was expedient.

I am not Jewish but nevertheless I read a lot about the Jews and their history. Jews have been around for quite a long time and I for one wish them good luck in the future.
Because I am interested in history, I am interested in the Jews. This book is great. I use it as a reference book in my writing of biographies. There is a point of view here that is important, pertinent, and enlightening. This is one of those book you can read again and again. There is so much information and the information is "different" because of the books perspective. It is a great book for lovers of history whether you are Jewish or not.

Richard Edward Noble - The Hobo Philosopher - Author of:

Mein Kampf - An Analysis of Book One.