Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book could be more accurately described as a collection of essays by a scholar with specific interests in selected topics of Jewish history. The most notable omission is the lack of discussion of Jewish experience outside the Middle East except for Spain, North Africa, Ethiopia, China, and Cochin. There is nothing about the great migration of Jews into the tolerant Polish Commonwealth, so there is nothing about the role of Jews in Eastern Europe until Zionism and anti-Semitism spring up in the nineteenth century. He describes the destruction of the Jewish communities in Poland, but how did they get there and what was their anthropology? I bought the book to find out, but there was nothing. Also, his footnotes and bibliography make no reference to sources that place this vital topic in a wider historical context, as a general history of Eastern Europe or even of Jews in the Habsburg Monarchy, for example, or Russia. What is the culture that gave us Freud, Marx, and Mahler? Nothing on that. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a refuge for Jews from Western Europe. Nohting on that. This is definitely not a book for the general reader.

Rating:
Summary: A Tour de Force
Review: This book is an absolute tour de force. While it is a scholarly and erudite synthesis of history, theology, anthropolgy, philosophy and many other disciplines, it reads more like a great novel, albeit one laced with poetry as well. Konner takes us on a wonderful trip--- an adventure story in which we come to understand how and why this small people, the Jews, have occupied such an important place in the story of how we have come to be who we are in the modern Western world. Reading it is like listening to a wise old uncle weave together strands of different tales into a coherent story that finally, ultimately makes sense of a heretofore perplexing question. I have not only enjoyed the book myself, but have already bought several copies for others, all of whom are enjoying it immensely! I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: A Tour de Force
Review: This book is an absolute tour de force. While it is a scholarly and erudite synthesis of history, theology, anthropolgy, philosophy and many other disciplines, it reads more like a great novel, albeit one laced with poetry as well. Konner takes us on a wonderful trip--- an adventure story in which we come to understand how and why this small people, the Jews, have occupied such an important place in the story of how we have come to be who we are in the modern Western world. Reading it is like listening to a wise old uncle weave together strands of different tales into a coherent story that finally, ultimately makes sense of a heretofore perplexing question. I have not only enjoyed the book myself, but have already bought several copies for others, all of whom are enjoying it immensely! I URGE YOU TO READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful sweeping account
Review: This wonderful sweeping, seminal account of the Jewish experience is a must have for anyone interested in the Jewish people. This book includes everything. It looks at the origins of the tribes of the Jews and their founding in fire of the original kingdom of Israel. It explains why the zealots took to the hills to fight most of the great powers of the day from Assyria to Rome. The author gives a wonderful tour of the Diaspora, life under the Christians and intolerance under the Muslims. Special chapters deal with Yiddish and the life of `Jews in Exotic Places' like Ethiopia, China and India. Separate chapters also look at the Holocaust as well as Jewish resistance in World War Two and Jewish life in the United States. Of course the birth of the state of Israel makes up the last portion of the book. The only downside is a total lack of maps and the loss of essential chapters detailing Judaism in places like South America and Russia. Nevertheless this is a wonderful book which includes much poetry and literary sources as well as personal insights and experiences.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful sweeping account
Review: This wonderful sweeping, seminal account of the Jewish experience is a must have for anyone interested in the Jewish people. This book includes everything. It looks at the origins of the tribes of the Jews and their founding in fire of the original kingdom of Israel. It explains why the zealots took to the hills to fight most of the great powers of the day from Assyria to Rome. The author gives a wonderful tour of the Diaspora, life under the Christians and intolerance under the Muslims. Special chapters deal with Yiddish and the life of 'Jews in Exotic Places' like Ethiopia, China and India. Separate chapters also look at the Holocaust as well as Jewish resistance in World War Two and Jewish life in the United States. Of course the birth of the state of Israel makes up the last portion of the book. The only downside is a total lack of maps and the loss of essential chapters detailing Judaism in places like South America and Russia. Nevertheless this is a wonderful book which includes much poetry and literary sources as well as personal insights and experiences.