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The Sacred Chain: The History of the Jews Hardcover – November 1, 1994

by Norman F. Cantor (Author)

14 customer reviews

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Offering a comprehensive, up-to-date, readable history of the Jews, a distinguished historian focuses on how the Jewish identity and consciousness were formed through three millennia, from ancient times to the present, developing a unique and persistent culture.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Full of unorthodox opinions, Cantor's searching, critical, captivating history of the Jewish people is bound to be controversial. He deems the biblical account of Jewish origins, featuring Abraham and Moses, "a romantic fantasy" in light of historical and archeological research. In chapters rich in sociological insight, he discusses the fate of Jews in the Roman empire and medieval Christendom; the symbiotic interaction of Jews and Muslim Arabs in Spain and the Mediterranean; the "Jewish Reformation" undertaken by Hasidism, Kabbalism and other movements; European Jews' emancipation and their key role in the vanguard of cultural modernism; the Holocaust and the creation of Israel. Building on the work of David Wyman and other historians, he indicts American Jewry for failure to take action that might have mitigated the Holocaust. Cantor, a prolific historian and professor at New York University, sets the achievements of Jesus, Maimonides, Buber, Spinoza, Freud and others in the context of Jewish and world history. Contemporary American Jews may be committing "racial suicide by intermarriage," opines Cantor; nevertheless, he maintains, "the Jews have fulfilled their role in history" by giving the world monotheism and puritanical ethics, and spawning Christianity and Islam.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this one-volume, popularly oriented history of the Jewish people from ancient times to the present, Cantor (history, New York Univ.) states that the "sacred chain," i.e., the 3000-year-old continuity of the Jewish people, probably will be broken during the next century. The Jews have accomplished their purpose in history. They gave the world ethical monotheism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Down through the ages this extremely gifted people has contributed mightily to the storehouse of the world's knowledge in the sciences, arts, and humanities. Now, Cantor says, unless a miracle occurs, they are a dying, fossilized people who will eventually disappear through massive assimilation. Of course, many Jews and Gentiles will hotly debate Cantor's thesis, and this book should generate much discussion. If your collection lacks a new history of the Jews, this book is the ticket. Recommended for medium and large Judaica collections in public libraries.
Robert A. Silver, formerly with Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 472 pages
Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (November 1, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780060167462
ISBN-13: 978-0060167462
ASIN: 0060167467
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 14 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,468,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3452 in Books > History > World > Religious > Judaism
- #4507 in Books > History > World > Jewish > Holocaust
- #13228 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism

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Thinkerthinker

Best, most nuanced book out there on Jewish History

December 28, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I've read a lot of history, including history of the Jewish people, and this book is one of the best. Nuanced, honest, courageous.Cantor begins his book with his intention, saying that the field of Jewish history must, and is, maturing beyond a "victimization/celebratory" one. Cantor, as a true historian, looks at Jewish history with its highlights--and its lowlights--as is true of the history of any people. A truly refreshing, fascinating study of where the Jewish people come from and to where they may be going, asking deep and relevant questions in the final chapter. Cantor's writing is excellent as well, thoroughly enjoyable.

2 people found this helpful

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September 1, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Fascinating, well-researched and scholarly book. A real eye-opener, covering the same old ground with a new an unorthodox perspective.

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Gayle J.

This book I did not like on the first reading

April 25, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book I did not like on the first reading, the second reading I understood more and this reading is excellent. Not only about the Jewish history, but about finance, government, etc. It also made me look up a lot of words I had never read or used. I have never read a book
three times, but this one is excellent. I feel so much more knowledgable in regards to history of both Jews and gentiles.

One person found this helpful

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June 9, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fascinating book

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July 11, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Excellent seller. Item was as described and I’m very pleased with my purchase.

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Narwhal Bacon @ Midnight

Four Stars

April 29, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a good jam. turn it up!

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February 21, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

An interested book

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zonaras

This book is both really good and really bad.

March 1, 2003

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

SACRED CHAIN is a fun book to read for anyone interested in history, and especially the influence that religion and economics has had in it. The book is very well written and surprisingly lucid and easy to follow, not a single part of it was uninteresting. What the SACRED CHAIN represents is the pure, unmitigated view of Establishment history. There are few in the sea as hypocritical as this fish. Cantor's analysis and summary of 3,000 years of Jewish history is interpreted in only two ways: Marx's dialectic materialism and whether or not a social movement, religion, government, etc. was beneficial to the Jews economically.
Cantor explains everything in Marxist terms--that all events and ideas in history are shaped by an individual's or group's economic status. And anything is good as long as it helped the Jews in general. Communist leader Trotsky/Bronstein is lauded as being an avenger of the Jews upon the peasants of the pro-Czarist Christians of the Ukraine. But earlier on, it is acknowledged that these peasants actually had legitamate grievances against Jews in the region that provoked a pogrom in earlier centuries. Another example is where Cantor praises Jewish anthropologist Franz Boas as being the foremost propagator of the idealogy that all races and cultures of mankind are equal, but on the next page Cantor goes on about the Jews' "superior genes," and his belief that "Jews have to be better than everyone else." Cantor is in constant awareness of "anti-Semitism," and references to the Holocaust can be found on every page. He even accuses the authors of the New Testament Gospels of being hatemongers who would have had no problem if their writings inspired the Holocaust. As for the scattered Jewish communities around the globe in the latter half of the twentieth century, Cantor judges their worth by how much they did to stop the Holocaust.
For a social policy, he likes to see non-Jews following free-market capitalism and moral relativism. But as for Jews, he wants them to be racially conscious (he figures the intermarraige rate of Jews with non-Jews a type of "Holocaust"), and devoted to (some) of their old traditions and religion. Cantor's analysis of the Bible period is terrible, because he does not cite any sources to where he gets his information, so the book is one long Norman Cantor's opinion of everything. In fact, on the back cover, a review is quoted praising Cantor for not concealing his biases. This stands in sharp contrast to a writer from any other ethnic group. Imagine if someone were to write a biased history of the Anglo-Saxons of Britain and Germany, and after catalouging their history and speculating on their religious outlook, philosophy and technical achievements, said that white Anglo-Saxons were just "better than anybody else?" Again the liberal double standard applies in writing the history books.
SACRED CHAIN is intentionally biased, praised for it. It is well worth reading, because some the massive influence of the Jews upon the West is catalouged, but take every statement Cantor makes with a couple grains of salt.

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