Scattered Among the Peoples: The Jewish Diaspora in Twelve Portraits - Hardcover

Levine, Allan

4.14

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9781585673575: Scattered Among the Peoples: The Jewish Diaspora in Twelve Portraits

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1585673579 ISBN 13: 9781585673575

Publisher: Overlook Books, 2003

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In "Scattered Among the Peoples," historian Allan Levine presents a vivid and distinctly human perspective on how the Jewish people survived eight hundred years of persecution and forced migration, building and rebuilding their lives and communities. Structured as a chronological series of twelve moment-in-time portraits, focusing on individuals and their interaction with their families and society, the narrative carries readers through the economic, political, social and intellectual climates of some of the world's most famous and fascinating cosmopolitan centers.
From the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, to the emigration of Soviet Jews from Russia following the Six Day War in Israel in 1967, Levine's masterful account describes expulsions and scandals, false messiahs and the first ghetto, assassinations, blood libels, the learning and wealth that sprung up in distant cities, and some devastating reversals of fortune. Above all, this compelling saga chronicles the lives of a vibrant cast of characters-well-known historical figures, as well as many who have been forgotten. The successes and the failures of so many-as teachers, rabbis, merchants, writers, soldiers, and physicians-add a colorful and accessible dimension to this sprawling history of the Diaspora.
"Scattered Among the Peoples" is an impressive and immensely readable book, one that is an important contribution to the literature of Jewish history.

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About the Author:

Allan Levine has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Toronto. He teaches history and world issues and his book Fugitives of the Forest: The Heroic Story of Jewish Resistance and Survival During the Second World War was awarded the Yad Vashem Prize in Holocaust History and was a selection of the Jewish Book Club.

From Publishers Weekly:

This sprawling, highly readable historical survey seeks to answer the question of Jewish survival: "What mysterious power had permitted this remarkable ancient people to withstand centuries of persecution and tragedy?" Rather than weave a massive tapestry of 5,000 years of Jewish chronology, historian Levine (Fugitives of the Forest) focuses on 12 Jews who, between the years 1492 and 1967, were forced into exile. This focus on individuals-mostly noted historical figures although not necessarily popularly known-provides the book with a firm organizational spine, and allows the author to paint vivid, emblematic portraits. Samuel Oppenheimer, for instance, embodies the European "court Jew"; Abraham Pereira epitomizes Sephardic Jews who fled Portugal and settled in the Netherlands; and Boris Kochubiyevsky is emblematic of Jews who fought in the 1960s to leave the Soviet Union and emigrate to Israel. At its best, Levine's account is insightful, informative and great popular history. He has an easy style and can pack a wealth of information into a brief essay-in discussing Judah Leib Gordon, mid-19th-century poet, Levine deftly explicates the politics of prerevolutionary Russia, the cultural meaning of "the pale of settlement," the Haskalah and the Jewish anti-Zionist movement. The downside is that at times the book sacrifices scholarly detail for popular impact. Levine is more eager to find similarities than differences among the Diaspora experiences, and as wide-ranging as his study is, it reflects a degree of homogenization of the Jewish experience. In spite of this, he has produced an entertaining and useful book for readers new to the subject. 36 b&w illus.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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