Jews, God and History: Revised and Updated Edition [Paperback]

Max I. Dimont (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1994

This unique account of the rich four-thousand-year history of the Jewish people stretches from ancient Palestine, through Europe and the Orient, to America and the birth of Israel. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The vitality and longevity of Jewish culture raises the question: How did this tenacious people survive throughout history when many other cultures and religions were annihilated or absorbed? Uniquely, they accomplished this without a homeland for nearly 2000 years. The work, a revision of a huge history written shortly after World War II, doesn't dwell on the Holocaust but presents a history of ancient and modern Jewish states and spells out how Torah and Talmud kept alive a tradition of abstract thought: a potent survival tool. The work also details differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews and the split that created Christianity. The rift among the Semites, i.e., with Islam and the Arabs, gets less attention. Anna Fields narrates this classic, which, to Jews and non-Jews alike, successfully captures the history of the Jewish experience. A useful addition to most collections.AJames Dudley, Copiague, NY.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Max I. Dimont, author of The Indestructible Jews, The Jews in America, The Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People, and Appointment in Jerusalem, was born in Helsinki, Finland, and came to the United States in 1930. He taught himself English by reading Shakespeare’s plays, the Bible, and American plays translated into Finnish. After serving in intelligence with the U.S. Army during World War II, he worked in public relations and employee relations for Edison Brothers Stores in St. Louis. Following the first publication of the bestselling Jews, God and History, he lectured extensively on Jewish history throughout the United States, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and Finland until his death in 1992.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Signet; Rev&Updtd edition (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451628667
• ISBN-13: 978-0451628664
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 21, 2003

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jews, God and History: Revised and Updated Edition (Paperback)

I had not much luck with finding a really good history of Judaism until I stumbled across this book and bought it on a whim. What I got was what I really wanted: a well-written history of the Jews from ancient times to today.

Two things make this book great. First, Dimont is a good writer, both insightful and entertaining, with occasional flashes of ironic humor. Second, Dimont puts the history of the Jews in the larger context of World History and keeps from a narrower Jewish perspective.

On the one hand, Dimont does not hide his general admiration for the Jews, both for their endurance and their contributions to society that are far out of proportion to their percentage of the populace. On the other hand, for those who believe that Jews have suffered nothing but persecution for thousands of years, Dimont presents a different viewpoint which shows Jews often prospering.

No one will find Dimont fully objective in his history, but they should find that he presents an overall balanced work. Written with both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences in mind, Dimont has put together a wonderful book that is good for both those interested in Jewish history or those interested in Western history in general.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Israel lives!, March 28, 2007

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jews, God, and History: 2nd Edition (Mass Market Paperback)

This popular history of the Jewish people succeeds in bringing the four thousand year saga alive for the general reader. The author observes that even though the furniture of the West may be Greek, the house of Western civilization is Jewish. One of the questions examined in this book is: How did the Jewish people survive the disappearance of every civilization in which they lived? The following six eras are discussed in the Preface: the Pagan World, Greco-Roman civilization, Diaspora, Islam, European Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Dimont accepts the psychoanalytic, philosophical and existentialist interpretation of history that holds that ideas motivate mankind and shape history.

Part One: The Portable God, explores the age of paganism, the origin of the Hebrews and of monotheism and the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah, until the coming of the Greeks and the clash of Greek and Hebrew culture. In Part Two: Age Of The Apikorsim, he looks at the survival of Jewish culture and religion under the Greeks, the Roman take-over of the land, the destruction of Jerusalem and the various Jewish revolts until the final banishment from the Holy Land.

Part 3: Moses, Christ and Caesar investigates the birth of Christianity as a Jewish sect, how the religions were separated during the aforementioned wars and revolts and the spread and ultimate triumph of Christianity in Europe. The next section, Invisible World Of The Talmud, explains how Judaism and Jewish identity were preserved in the diaspora by means of Talmudic learning.

In Part 5: Mohammed, Allah and Jehovah, the author covers the rise of Islam and the Arab expansion, the golden era of Jewish scholarship and the end of that period with the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Christian reconquest of Spain, whilst the following, The Prince And The Yellow Star, considers the Middle Ages, Crusades, Renaissance and Reformation. It also examines the role of the Jewish people in the feudal age and the origin of Kabalah.

Part 7: On The Horns Of Modern Isms, chronicles the emancipation from the ghetto to the enlightenment when Jews started occupying important positions and became intellectual leaders in Europe. This section looks at Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the United States, Nazism and finally, Zionism and the birth of the State of Israel. In the last part: Cultural Mosaic, Dimont attempts an historical explanation of the incredible survival of this miracle nation.

In his view, the first 2000 years represent that third of the Torah and Talmud which concerns priesthood and sacrifice that preserved the Hebrews from paganism. The second 2000 years had to do with that third of the Torah and Talmud that preserved ethnic identity through ritual while spreading Biblical ideas of humanism. He speculates that the last one third now remains, that part that deals with universal concepts of justice, morality and ethics.

There is an extensive bibliography divided into various sections and an index. Although here and there certain observations in the text have become a little outdated since publication, Jews, God and History remains a magisterial work and a gripping read inhabited by fascinating ideas, personalities, events and historical facts. The style is engaging and accessible throughout. I also recommend A History Of The Jews by Paul Johnson and WorldPerfect by Ken Spiro.

A History of the Jews

WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization

Standing With Israel

Your People Shall Be My People

Epicenter: Why current rumblings in the middle east will change your future

The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible summary of an incredible people, June 24, 2004

By 

J A W (Norman, OK United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jews, God and History (Paperback)

A book that spans Abraham to Maimonides to Disraeli can't get every detail in, but I still found the book very informative. I found Dimont's interpretation of events enlightening -- for example, in the Middle Ages the ghettoization and ostracization of Jews, in a way, helped the Jews, because they were free from the ludicrous system of Feudalism. Could we consider the Jews the originators of the Free Market system (which is a good thing)? Dimont hints at this.

I also didn't know that the Church was in many ways the *protector* of the Jews (Gregory the Great forbade the forced conversion of Jews), and that it was lay Christians who incited and joined the Anti-Semitic mobs. This makes "sense" in a social psychological way(not to give credence to Jew hatred). You have a bunch of serfs, illiterate, ignorant of their own religion, ignorant of the Tanach/Old Testament (Catholic Church liturgy really builds entirely from the NT), ostensibly owned by their lords, and then you have a bunch of educated, "free" Jews who were different religously from the oppressed Christians. Jealousy, envy, perception of a disruption in the "natural" order, thus Anti-Semitism. The Nazis would pick up on this later, quite literally emphasizing the "natural order", except the Nazis, as Dimont shows, aren't Christian but anti-Christian as well as anti-Jew. Their hatred of Jews had nothing to do w/ "deicide", rather motive that can only be described as Darwinian pagan "Blood and Soil". The Nazis had enough Zyklon-B gas to kill 20 million more, yet only 3 million Jews left in Europe after the evils of the Final Solution. The Nazis were going to go after everyone.

I also liked the tidbits Dimont throws in: Germans during WWII had a higher suicide rate than Jews in the concentration camps. Amazing! What spirit pulses through the seed of Abraham! This book reaffirmed my faith in the Creator. This is an excellent book for Christians to read, so that all Christians may understand and appreciate the history of our Jewish brethren.