Great Ages and Ideas of the Jewish People
New York, N.Y. The Modern Library, 1956. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Hardcover. xxvii, [1], 515, [1] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Front board has some weakness. Cover worn. Underlining and ink marks. Some highlighting. Page 22/23 separated but present. Includes Foreword, Introduction: Historians to the Reader, Suggestions for Further Reading, and Index. Includes chapters on The Biblical Age; The Hellenistic Age; The Talmudic Age; The Judeo-Islamic Age; The European Age; and the Modern Age. This is an exploration of the history of the Jewish people and an interpretation of the major ideas and values that have grown out of that unique historical experience. It is a human story that combines an inventory of the past with an assessment of the present. Salo Wittmayer Baron (May 26, 1895 – November 25, 1989) was a Polish-born American historian, described as "the greatest Jewish historian of the 20th century". Baron taught at Columbia University from 1930 until his retirement in 1963. After World War Two, Baron ran the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc., an organization established in 1947 to collect and distribute heirless Jewish property in the American occupied zones of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of books, archives, and ceremonial objects were distributed to libraries and museums, primarily in Israel and the United States. On April 24, 1961, Professor Baron testified at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Baron explained the historical context of the Nazi genocide against the Jews. He further explained that in his birthplace, Tarnow, there had been 20,000 Jews before the war but, after Hitler, there were no more than 20. His parents and a sister were killed there. Derived from a Kirkus review: Intending to select from the accumulated knowledge the data relevant to survival, adaptation and expression of the Jewish people, six historians with formidable and suitable career backgrounds for the task at hand offer an interpretation of Jewish culture and experience. Sections and authors are as follows: Biblical Age, Yehezkel Kaufmann; Hellenistic Age, Ralph Marcus; Talmudic Age, Gerson D. Cohen; Judeo-Islamic Age, Abraham S. Halkin; European Age, Cecil Roth; Modern and Contemporary Age, Salo W. Baron. There is always an interest in the impress and influence of out-groups on the Jews whether this is in terms of reaction for survival or emergence in literature. The people as a historical entity, as a religious group, as a nation are encompassed. Factually full-bodied, word-packed, offered as a guide to self-aware and intelligent Jewry. Condition: Fair.
Keywords: Judaism, Jewish, Israel, Canaan, Prophecy, Greco-Roman, Talmud, Rabbinic, Judeo-Islamic, Emancipation, Nationalism, Migration, Anti-semitism, Palestine, Survival
[Book #80281]
Price: $25.00