Review (PDF)

History Of The Jews In Modern Times

Lloyd Gartner provides a vivid description of the changing fortunes of the Jewish communities of the Old World--Europe, the Middle East, and beyond--and their gradual expansion into the New World of the Americas. The book begins in 1650, when the Jewish population had fallen to roughly 1.25 million, less than one-sixth of its peak at the start of the Christian era. Gartner leads us through the traditions, religious laws, communities, and their interactions with their neighbors, through the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and into Emancipation, the dark shadows of anti-Semitism, and the Second World War, bringing us up to the present with Zionism and the founding of Israel. Eminently readable and impeccably researched, the book is a superb introduction to one of the central threads of modern history.

Paperback: 480 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (February 8, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0192892592

ISBN-13: 978-0192892591

Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.3 x 4.9 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #487,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #518 in Books > History > World > Religious > Judaism #1709 in Books > History > World > Jewish #9364 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History

As of this writing, I see that no one has reviewed this book on , which is unfortunate. The book is worthy of a review. So here is my effort.Gartner covers the period from about 1650 to 1980. He explores the world events that affected Jewish communities, from the Cossack revolt in the Ukraine and Poland in which perhaps 90,000 Jews lost their lives, to the French Revolution and Jewish emancipation, immigration to America, the rise of German nationalism, Naziism and the Holocaust, and the founding of the state of Israel.Jewish responses to and participation in these events were quite varied. In the early period they were mainly religious. Participation in the wider world was essentially impossible. Self-defense was impossible. What was possible was withdrawal, mysticism, Hasidism, and a yearning for a Messiah. Gartner covers this in what, to me, was surprising and interesting depth. However, starting in the late 18th century, the first sparks of the European enlightenment reached the Jews of France and Germany and, with the coming of the French Revolution - traditional Jewish life began to undergo radical change - welcomed by some Jews and rejected by others.Jewish emancipation led to the first integrations into the larger and more cosmopolitan Christian culture, mainly in France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. New forms of the religion arose, such as the "Reform" movement that attempted to understand Judaism as a religion in a larger national culture, rather than a separate and self-contained culture. New occupations became possible, especially in business, but also in medicine and the arts and professions. A great awakening of Jewish aspirations occurred. A great increase in population occurred.

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