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A History of the Jews
by Paul Johnson
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harper & Row (1987)
ISBN: 0060156988
EAN: 9780060156985
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 644 pages
Edition: 1ST
SKU: L10-28090216011
Condition: Collectible: Very Good
Comments: This First US Edition, First Printing with full numberline 1-10 is in very good condition. No visible markings, highlights, underlining, tears to text. Tight spine. Clean Hard Cover. On inside of front Dust Jacket flap, the price is cut-off. Dust Jacket has small crease on spine edge with minimum shelf/edge wear. Very interesting copy, worth having at an affordable price. (L10-28)
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"The world tended to see the Jews as a race which ruled itself in antiquity and set down its records in the Bible; had then gone underground for many centuries; had emerged at last only to be slaughtered by the Nazis; and, finally had created a state of its own, controversial and beleaguered. But these were merely salient episodes. I wanted to link them together, to find and study the missing portions, assemble them into a whole, and make sense of it" Paul Johnson in his Prologue
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Amazon.com Review
Paul Johnson says that writing A History of the Jews was like writing a history of the world "seen from the viewpoint of a learned and intelligent victim." Johnson's history begins with the Bible and ends with the establishment of the State of Israel. Throughout, Johnson's history is driven by a philosophical interest: "The Jews," he writes, "stand right at the centre of the perennial attempt to give human life the dignity of a purpose. Does their own history suggest that such attempts are worth making? Or does it reveal their essential futility?" Johnson's history is lucid, thorough, and--as one would expect of almost any project with such a broad scope--a little wrong-headed. By the end of the book, readers will be grateful for Johnson's questioning of the Jews' confidence in their cosmic significance. However, readers may also be a little annoyed by his energetic inquiries as to whether this significance was man-made or providentially provided. Either way, it's a given: for a historian of Israel, this should adequately settle the question. Johnson's 600-page history is probably the best we've got by a living gentile--which is no small accomplishment at all. --Michael Joseph Gross
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