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Norman F. Cantor
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Sacred Chain, The Paperback – October 19, 1995

by Norman Cantor (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 24 ratings
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An important, controversial account of the history of the Jewish people that is both scholarly and compulsively readable.
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  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 19, 1995
  4. Dimensions
    5.31 x 1.28 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    006092652X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0060926526
  7. See all details
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4.2 out of 5 stars
24 global ratings

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Customers find the book well-written and easy to follow. They describe it as interesting and enjoyable.

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6 customers mention "Readability"6 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy reading the book. They find it interesting and well worth reading.

"...of history, including history of the Jewish people, and this book is one of the best. Nuanced, honest, courageous...." Read more

"...the first reading, the second reading I understood more and this reading is excellent...." Read more

"Fascinating book" Read more

"...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..." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing quality good and lucid.

"...Cantor's writing is excellent as well, thoroughly enjoyable." Read more

"...Cantor didn't take sides, and he wrote well. Unfortunately, Dr. Cantor has a great deal of skin in the game here...." Read more

"...The book is very well written and surprisingly lucid and easy to follow, not a single part of it was uninteresting...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Thinkerthinker
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best, most nuanced book out there on Jewish History
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2009
    Verified 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.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Gayle J.
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book I did not like on the first reading
    Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2015
    Verified 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.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • norboo
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Fascinating book
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  • KZO
    2.0 out of 5 stars Skin in the Game (see below)
    Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    The thing I've always loved about Civs of the Middle Ages is Norman Cantor had no "skin in the game": most mediaeval histories are written by Protestants or Catholics, and almost invariably "take sides" ahead of the Reformation because they have skin in the game (and nearly all histories of the Reformation itself are hopeless, including the Marxist ones). Cantor didn't take sides, and he wrote well.

    Unfortunately, Dr. Cantor has a great deal of skin in the game here. And he can't help but slam Hellenistic Judaism and by extension Reform Jews and anyone else in every era since the frickin' Seleucids who were foolish enough to think that the Jews can ever safely, etc. No one else I've read takes sides on Alexandrian Jews based on modern Jewish politics.

    I actually tossed the book, rather than shelve it, which I never do; but it seems explicitly hateful toward other Jews in every age--he even has to diss Shaye J.D. Cohen because he doesn't like From Maccabees to Mishnah, and maybe also because Cohen writes well, which he concedes, but IDK--as well as unhelpful for my novel about an alternative Alexandria. I don't read people who slam my reviews so don't bother, those who do that kind of thing.

    I'm not Jewish and I don't live on Long Island, but I have friends who are and do, Dr. Cantor. Have a good pesach, everyone.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • brandi chandler
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2018
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    Excellent seller. Item was as described and I’m very pleased with my purchase.
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  • zonaras
    3.0 out of 5 stars This book is both really good and really bad.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2003
    Verified 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.
    43 people found this helpful
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  • Lee F
    5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
    Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2016
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    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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  • Zebadiah Ohland
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2015
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    This is a good jam. turn it up!
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Top reviews from other countries

  • David Pearl
    2.0 out of 5 stars Deeply flawed but readable
    Reviewed in Australia on March 1, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Cantor is a medieval historian of high repute, but this book, while readable and provocative, is a disappointment. In the preface, he states that it emerged from years of arguments around his kitchen table and it shows. While it purports to be a historical work it reads more as a succession of long held opinions. The more provocative and critical of middle class Jews and their religious leaders, the better. A number of Cantor’s judgements are highly questionable, including that that the Holocaust could have been averted by an early deal with Hitler on the part of the Allies. Whenever he strays into economics, he shows he is out of his depth, applying a facile brand of Marxist materialism to events and wrongly claiming that the Jew David Ricardo was the father of free market theory. The most disturbing aspect of this book, however, is its explicit racism. We are repeatedly told that the Jews have a superior genetic make-up and that inter marriage is racial suicide. I say this as a part Jew myself. If a White or Asian historian spoke in this was they would be roundly condemned. Yes, Jews have undoubtedly made disproportionate contributions to our intellectual life, as Cantor points out, but attributing this to their inherent superiority as opposed to cultural and other influences plays into the hands of anti-Semites in my view. If you want to read Cantor, go first to his wonderful books of Medievalism. Unlike this one, they are balanced, fair and well considered.
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