Portland Public Library

The story of the Jews, Simon Schama, Volume two

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 710-757) and index

illustrationsportraitsplatesfacsimiles

index present

non fiction

The story of the Jews

bibliography

1006510351

Simon Schama

The second of a three volume cultural history that details the journey of the Jewish people from 1492 through the end of the nineteenth century, incorporating the stories of many who seldom figure in Jewish histories. Through Schama's passionate and intelligent telling, a story emerges of the Jewish people that feels as if it is the story of everyone, of humanity packed with detail. -- Adapted from book jacket"Simon Schama's great project continues and the Jewish story is woven into the fabric of humanity. Their search for a home where a distinctive religion and culture could be nourished without being marginalized suddenly takes on startling resonance in our own epoch of homelessness, wanderings, persecutions, and anxious arrivals. Volume 2 of The Story of the Jews epic tells the stories of many who seldom figure in Jewish histories: not just the rabbis and the philosophers but a poetess in the ghetto of Venice; a general in Ming China; a boxer in Georgian England, a Bible showman in Amsterdam; a teacher of the deaf in eighteenth-century France, an opera composer in nineteenth-century Germany. The story unfolds in Kerala and Mantua, the starlit hills of Galilee, the rivers of Colombia, the kitchens of Istanbul, the taverns of Ukraine and the mining camps of California. It sails in caravels, rides the stagecoaches and the railways, trudges the dawn streets of London with a pack load of old clothes, hobbles along with the remnant of Napoleon's ruined army. Through Schama's passionate and intelligent telling, a story emerges of the Jewish people that feels as if it is the story of everyone, of humanity packed with detail, this second chronicle in an epic tale will shed new light on a crucial period of history."--Provided by publisher

Could it be now? -- In transit -- The entertainer -- The time of the nightingale -- Music and mourning -- Jews without pain? -- Cohabitation -- The crown -- Meetings of minds -- Jews without beards -- Citizen-Jews -- Poh-Lin -- Americans -- Modernity and its Tsuris -- Turning point -- Should it be now? -- Glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms

Story of the Jews, Belonging 1492-1900Belonging, 1492-1900