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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wanderings: History of the Jews (Mass Market Paperback)
Potok's history of the Jews is flat-out the best-written history of any people I've ever read. Some of it sprawling and vast, other parts poetically sparse -- the 100 word passage on the Holocaust is one of the most heartrending in the English language -- the work is a sweeping review of history.Potok assumes truth in the scriptures, then goes to set the scene with copious bits of history. Even for those who reject Biblical stories, the scene-setting history is wonderful, and Potok's means of working in the thread of Biblical history gives a marvelous idea of what the history looks like to one who does believe. The only major problem is that the book is not properly footnoted, so it is difficult to follow up on Potok's sources if you want to go more deeply into any of the many subjects he brings up.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
5-millenum history by a great story-teller,
By
This review is from: Wanderings: History of the Jews (Mass Market Paperback)
This story reads like a novel despite many names, places, and years. The narrative worked best for me when he intersperses his own experiences, such as meeting his father-in-law, who fled Russia as a 16-year old boy. I would have benefited from more descriptions of how the Jews developed history into ritual, such as Channnuka and discussion of changing beliefs (e.g., the current Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox branches) (Rabbi Dosick's Living Judaism does this well). This book presents common elements such as the contribution and personalizing of whatever community they are in, e.g., the development of Yiddish in Eastern Europe. There is often a strong intellectual development and reawakening, such as the "Sandhedrin", after the fall of Jerusalem. It is remarkable they have kept their identify despite wide spread dispersal and torture. The irrational hatred for the Jews is troubling both in its intensity as in the Crusades, but also among "learned people" such as Voltaire and Martin Luther.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Epic Work,
By David James Trapp "author of Dog Days in Bedl... (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews (Mass Market Paperback)
Potok's History of the Jews is a powerful work that inspires, intrigues and challenges. He writes with graceful prose, has excellent research (footnotes would have helped but would have bogged down his natural style), offers sharp opinions, but keeps to his central theme. Catholic/Christian readers might object to its brutal description of countless persecutions without sufficient inclusion of Christian devotion and charity. The sections on Jesus and Paul are mostly good, but more could have been written about the Christian Gospels, especially John. Still, this is a history of the Jews, not the Christians. I learned a lot from this book, especially about the time periods after the common era. The book also does an excellent job in summarizing the stories given in scripture. Some of these stories are Potok's opinions, but most are reasonable interpretations. This is an excellent read.
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