From ancient Palestine through Europe and Asia, to America and modern Israel, Max I. Dimont shows how the saga of the Jews is interwoven with the story of virtually every nation on earth.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Non-Lachrymose Jewish History; Nazi Genocide of Jews and Slavs; etc.:
This fact-filled book [review based on the 1962 edition] offers so much! One might be surprised to learn that the Karaite revolt was quite similar to the later Protestant Reformation (pp. 204-208), that the Hasmonean John Hyrcanus had converted the Idumeans and the Galileans to Judaism by force (p. 91, 98), and that some Jews burned Maimonides' works even before Christians ever burned a single copy of the Talmud. (p. 182, 240) Thereafter, many more unauthorized copies of the New Testament went up in flames... more info
Jews, God and History:
I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Max Dimont wrote with a contagious enthusiasm that flows from chapter to chapter giving the feeling of almost being present in the time and moving with the writer from one era to the next, starting with the Pagan Period and the first obstacle to Jewish survival around 4500B.C. and coming to the conclusion around the time of Pasestine/Israel 1914. (The book was written in 1962, and Max Dimont passed away in 1992). He puts an almost storybook quality to his historical... more info
Excellent!:
This was an excellent book. When I originally picked the book up I wasn't sure what to expect. I wanted more than a general overview of Jewish history. I also wanted something that would help me understand the Middle East conflict better but also provide an objective analysis of it. This book did just that. That is not to say that there weren't parts of the book I found really subjective in its material. The first few chapters dealing with the biblical history of the Jews seemed to be presented in a more... more info
Israel lives!:
This popular history of the Jewish people succeeds in bringing the four thousand year saga alive for the general reader. The author observes that even though the furniture of the West may be Greek, the house of Western civilization is Jewish. One of the questions examined in this book is: How did the Jewish people survive the disappearance of every civilization in which they lived? The following six eras are discussed in the Preface: the Pagan World, Greco-Roman civilization, Diaspora, Islam, European... more info
