Product Description

A national bestseller, this brilliant 4000 year survey covers not only Jewish history but he impact of Jewish genius and imagination on the world. By the author of Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the Eighties.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18848 in Books
• Published on: 1988-09-14
• Released on: 1988-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Amazon.com Review
Paul Johnson says that writing A History of the Jews was like writing a history of the world "seen from the viewpoint of a learned and intelligent victim." Johnson's history begins with the Bible and ends with the establishment of the State of Israel. Throughout, Johnson's history is driven by a philosophical interest: "The Jews," he writes, "stand right at the centre of the perennial attempt to give human life the dignity of a purpose. Does their own history suggest that such attempts are worth making? Or does it reveal their essential futility?" Johnson's history is lucid, thorough, and--as one would expect of almost any project with such a broad scope--a little wrong-headed. By the end of the book, readers will be grateful for Johnson's questioning of the Jews' confidence in their cosmic significance. However, readers may also be a little annoyed by his energetic inquiries as to whether this significance was man-made or providentially provided. Either way, it's a given: for a historian of Israel, this should adequately settle the question. Johnson's 600-page history is probably the best we've got by a living gentile--which is no small accomplishment at all. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly
Less a seminal contribution than a distillation of a wide range of sources, this history of the Jews focuses on their four-millennia interplay with, and adaption to, other, often hostile, civilizationsa "world history seen from the viewpoint of a learned and intelligent victim." Weaving biblical and archeological data, Johnson (Modern Times and A History of Christianity is particularly deft at placing the patriarchs and early Israelites (the Bronze Age through the destruction of the First Temple) in their historical context. His dense, somewhat arbitrary, capsule extols Judaic rational scholarshipwhich contributed to ethical monotheism and the 18th-century economic system, in turnand denigrates mystic kabbalah"heresy of the most pernicious kind." Although Johnson, who seeks to acknowledge "the magnitude of the debt Christianity owes to Judaism," traces "an inherent conflict" between the religion and the state of Israel through the various ages, the work is incontrovertibly sympathetic to Zionism. BOMC and QPBC featured alternates; author tour.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Famous author-historian Johnson ( Modern Times, LJ 5/1/83; A History of Christianity, LJ 7/76) presents a provocative history of the Jewish people, religion, and culture from earliest times to the present. Astutely divided into seven sections, (Israelites, Judaism, Cathedocracy, Ghetto, Emancipation, Holocaust, and Zion), the work describes the complex interplay between Jewish and world history and shows how the course of Western civilization has been immensely influenced by this numerically small group. It's no mean feat to successfully compress 4000 years of history into 645 pages, but Johnson has more than met the challenge. Despite a few reservationsE. G. Johnson's theories regarding Jesus and the incipient Christian movement are debatablethis is an excellent, nonscholarly history for general readers. Highly recommended for public libraries. Robert A. Silver, Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing.....
This is a superbly written resource. No doubt about that. But that is really all it is. I'm not sure why Johnson bothered to write it. There is nothing new here. No insights that offer a clearer perspective on Jewish history. Its approach derives entirely from the mindset of the intellectual High Church establishment, so Paul Johnson is careful not to judge, not to offend, but also not to stick his neck out. As to the meaning behind the amazing Judaic phenomena - who knows what that is? This great historian apparently isn't concerned. But then again he is a professed "Christian" so maybe he feels the answers are self-evident.

Received expeditiously!
The book arrived quickly and in excellent condition -- no damage in shipping. I Am delighted to add this to my personal reference library,and to recommend it as good resource material for the classes I teach.

A History of the Jews
Paul Johnson's `History of the Jews' is a well written, entertaining, and informative 4000-year history of the Jewish people. Coming in at just under 600 pages, it is exhaustive, and thus an exhausting read. Johnson makes no secret of his deep admiration for the Jews-he is a Christian who feels religiously in debt to them-and thus the entire book is written from a highly philo-Semitic perspective. The book is arranged chronologically into the following seven sections:

Part One: Israelites
Part Two: Judaism
Part Three: Cathedocracy
Part Four: Ghetto
Part Five: Emancipation
Part Six: Holocaust
Part Seven: Zion

In the Prologue, Johnson writes; "At a very early stage in their collective existence they believed they had detected a divine scheme for the human race, of which their own society was to be a pilot. They worked out their role in immense detail. They clung to it with heroic persistence in the face of savage suffering. Many of them believe it still. Others transmuted it into Promethean endeavors to raise our condition by purely human means."

Now this seems to be an accurate appraisal of the essence of Judaism, and a worldview with which Johnson agrees. He clearly believes that the Jews are God's gift to mankind and they, the enlightened ones, are here to lead the gentiles along the path to righteousness. He believes the Jews hold a "special genius" that the rest of us apparently don't. He cites their numerous contributions throughout the ages, starting with the concept of ethical monotheism, and continuing on with an "endless continuum of patient study, fruitful industry" and an untiring commitment to bettering the human condition. Of course there is some truth to the Jew's consistent intellectual proficiency, but it should be obvious that this grandiose, self-appointed scheme is inherently antagonistic and thus anti-Semitism is an inevitable result.

Although Johnson tends to downplay it at times, the book documents how Jewish actions and attitudes have played a major part in anti-Semitism since ancient times. He describes how even the ancient Greeks and Egyptians had their share of anti-Semitism due to the aloofness and subversion of this peculiar people. Of course there are and always has been irrational extremists who take anti-Semitism to a different level, but as they say, there is (at least) a grain of truth in all stereotypes, and anti-Semitism is no different. I found Johnson's handling of the anti-Semitism topic to be somewhat puzzling though. On several occasions, he comes out and describes exactly how Jewish actions led to anti-Semitism, and then turns around and writes the anti-Semites off as irrational bigots. That being said, he does document some of the more irrational incarnations of anti-Semitism, most notably the superstitious variety of Christian medieval Europe. It seems to me that throughout the ages, anti-Semitism has been a turbulent mishmash of the rational and irrational, part natural reaction to Jewish behaviors, and part memetic superstition that is passed on from one generation to the next.

As he goes through the different time periods, Johnson creates mini biographies of some of the most prominent Jews throughout history. Abraham, Moses, Maimonides, Spinoza, Disraeli, Marx, and Rothschild-among others-are all covered. I found his take on Marx to be especially interesting. Johnson claims that Marx's anti-Semitism was the foundation of communism. Indeed, Marx was virulently anti-Semitic-a self-hating Jew if you will-and Johnson argues that it was Marx's association of Jews with bourgeois capitalism that led him to his desire to crush capitalistic society. Then in his typical paradoxical style, he admits that Marx was a typical Jew in the sense that he was rabbinical, messianic, and apocalyptic. Indeed, he admits that there is something inherent in the Jewish character that lends itself toward radical movements such as communism.

The remaining sections were generally very good, although he does engage in a fair amount of speculation, and at times comes across as very anti-Gentile. Especially when it comes to the Germans and the Holocaust, where his analysis seems to be along the line of Goldhagen, i.e. "The German people knew about and acquiesced in the genocide." Though when it comes to his people, the Brits, Johnson can't seem to refrain from telling the reader what a good friend to the Jews they have always been. I actually found this more amusing than anything, but I digress.

My criticisms aside, I did find this to be a very scholarly and enjoyable work. Although I took off a star for Johnson's tendentiousness, I can't deny that he is a great scholar and talented writer. This is a thorough and engrossing history of the Jewish people from ancient times until the present, and I would whole-heartedly recommend it to Jew or Gentile alike.