Rating: 
Summary: An excellent one- volume history
Review: To relate in one coherent volume a subject as complex as the history of the Jews is no mean achievement. To do this with sympathy and understanding is a moral triumph. Paul Johnson one of the best intellectuals we have, a deeply believing Christian writes a work which shows how the Jews have through their long history of persecution nonetheless managed to provide great gifts for mankind as a whole. He moreover understands how strong the whole theme of return to Zion, the Biblical promise to return to the land of Israel has been through the Jewish generations. And he writes informatively about the struggle of the modern state of Israel to come into being.
As a citizen of Israel and as a believing Jew I cannot help but feel a depth of gratitude to a non- Jew who has given so much effort, and has worked with such dedication and brilliance to present this positive and uplifting view of Jewish history.
Rating:
Summary: A genuine achievement
Review: This is the finest single volume history of the Jews that I've ever read, and I've read a few. Johnson wrote this book after completing his History of Christianity, during which he realized how these two great religions are irretrievably intertwined, and how much of a theological debt Christianity owes the older faith. Once he got into the subject he also realized that Jewish history is really a world history. Refining it to a single volume -- without unfortunate deletions or superficiality -- is supremely hard, but Johnson does it.Johnson makes plain at the beginning what fascinates him about the Jews: the fact that numerous peoples have come and gone over the millenia but the Jews, arguably the most persecuted people in history, are still here. Why? (And how?) From these initial query Johnson leads you on a tour of Jewish history from the Bible through the 1980s, and his excitement is infectious. Johnson's position as an apparently religious, but not Jewish, commentator serves him well. It enables him to be an insightful, sympathetic observer, but also an objective one. This book is well worth your time, and the best thing Johnson's written so far.
| 
