The Illustrated History of the Jewish People [Hardcover]

Nicholas de Lange (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1997

A wonderfully accessible, beautifully illustrated chronicle of Jewish life through the ages, based on the best recent scholarship. With essays by Jane Gerber, Oded Irshai, Ora Limor, Michael Marrus, Derek Penslar, Seth Schwartz, David Sorkin, and Bernard Wasserstein. Maps; black-and-white illustrations; 48 full-color pages.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

By most accounts Jewish history begins with the Babylonians' destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. This well-made compendium, written by many hands, is in agreement. However, The Illustrated History of the Jewish People departs from traditional history in many ways, most notably in its attempts to understand figures who have been reduced to symbols. Herod, for example, "deserved his reputation for ruthlessness, cruelty and paranoia," but was also a product of his time, caught in a complex web of politics only partly of his own making. Editor Nicholas De Lange and the volume's contributors do a fine job of gathering the many strains of Jewish history into a single narrative, which ends with a discussion of the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East.

From Library Journal

In the 13 years since the appearance of the best-selling documentary and popular history Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (Summit), much has happened in the Jewish world. Translator and author De Lange (Atlas of the Jewish World, Facts on File, 1992) has edited a collection of eight essays by respected scholars in the field that chronologically survey Jewish history from biblical times to Prime Minister Rabin's assassination. Understandably, no topic is fully explored, but this work does provide a well-illustrated, balanced format to encourage historical exploration. This will definitely become a major Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Chanukah gift item and will be of interest to the general public, but its lack of citations might discourage students from using it as a place to begin research. The lack of a glossary is also a major omission for the general reader, since the essayists freely use a variety of useful but otherwise undefined terms. Recommended for Judaica collections.?Andrew B. Wertheimer, Woodman Astronomical Lib., Madison, Wis.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151003025
• ISBN-13: 978-0151003020
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,712,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting essays and pictures, August 7, 2003

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Illustrated History of the Jewish People (Hardcover)

I think in the West, we sometimes are not aware of Jewish history after the Old Testament, but this book, presents 8 chapters of Jewish history, at least 7 in the last two millennium. Each of the esteemed authors presents a unique perspective and analysis on the time period they covered, such as "Herod's reforms", or the "impact of Christianity". The chapters on the relationship of Jews with Muslims, and the slow march into the Modern World were most interesting. The book concludes with a discussion of Arab-Israeli relationships that helps in understanding some of the current tensions.

There are some remarkable pictures, such as a coin from Jerusalem when under Persian Rule, an Ivory pomegranate from King Solomon temple, or pictures of the refuge ship the SS St. Louis waiting for news in Havana's Harbor. A map at the start of each chapter helps place the history in a larger regional context.

I might have enjoyed a little more explanation of some of the ideas of the time, such as the Philosophies of Hillel, the laws of Moses Maimonides, the radical thoughts of Spinoza, or some of the mysticism of the Kabbalah.