The Jewish World in the Modern Age

The Jewish World in the Modern Age is a highly readable account of Jewish life and history in Europe, America, and Israel since the 18th century. Adopting a somewhat unusual approach in a book for general readers, each chapter is amply provided with authentic documents from the period it covers that further the reader's understanding and give a true sense of what Jewish life and thought were at the time. Separate chapters recount events in Russia, Germany, Central Europe, France, and England, as well as in Israel, and in the United States and Canada. Unlike many general treatments of modern Jewish history, this volume gives as much attention to religious developments as to political and social patterns, focusing not merely on the rise of Zionism and of Reform and Conservative Judaism, but on the manifold ways in which Orthodox Judaism adjusted to the ideological, social, and philosophical challenges of life in the modern era. Those who do not acquaint themselves with the Jewish past cannot pretend to understand the Jewish present. Anti-Semitism, for example, cannot be fully understood without an examination of its roots in history, its development over time, and the myths about Jews and Judaism that it has promoted. Zionism and the State of Israel cannot be understood without a study of their history, nor can the emergence of the present denominational forms of Judaism be appreciated without careful historical study.