The Jews: Story of a People

This is a factual, frank history of the Jew as a group of people and not as a religion per se. If you want to look at the Jew and how this group of people affected history and civilization, then this is the book for you. If you want to reinforce or elaborate on your knowledge of the Jew as a religious body, you will be disappointed. The author relates the historical facts in a very readable but unbiased manner from the beginning of civilization through the 20th century. Delightful, informative reading.

This particular book on the history of the jews is just amazing. The writer did an excellent job of making something very complicated-like the history of a nation over thousands of years-into something easy to read and understand. And enjoy! History is not easy to write nor to read. This book makes use of extensive reasearch, yet it is laid out in in a surprisingly enjoyable format. Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history of the jews.

Howard Fast's "The Jews: Story Of A People" tells the magnificent story of the Jewish nation. Covering thousands of years in a 360 pages, Fast paints in broad strokes, emphasizing themes and movements, highlighted by exceptional individuals. Beginning with Moses, he carries the story through the period of the Judges, the Kingdom of David and Solomon, the divided kingdom, the exile, the Diaspora and the establishment of the state of Israel. Throughout this history, Fast highlights several turning points in the Jewish story. Moses' role in the establishment of the Jews as a people provides a beginning point. The status of the Davidic Kingdom is placed in perspective among the neighboring realms. The crucial role of the Babylonian Exile in defining the Jewish idea and the Jews' relationship to the Samaritans aids the reader's understanding. The explanation of the Diaspora which occurred during Biblical times and after the destruction of Jerusalem helps the reader appreciate the new status of the Jews as a people living outside of their homeland. The narrative of the role of the Jews in Europe during the centuries of the Christian era makes for fascinating reading. Their role as physicians and in the transmission of knowledge of medicine other professions helps place them in the saga of European civilization. Fast does a good job of explaining the shifting locations and distinctive traits of Jewry in Spain, Germany and Eastern Europe over the centuries. Much attention is directed to the role of the United States in the history of the Jews. Early American Jews are examined as well as the role of America in molding the Jewish identity. The differing characteristics among the different waves of Jewish immigration, particularly the German, Spanish and, later, Eastern European Jews gives the reader a better appreciation for the Jewish experience in America. The state of the Jews during World War II is covered in relatively little depth, but little is possible in a book with such a broad scope. Fast makes an attempt to describe the Holocaust from the perspective of the Jews. The post war establishment of the State of Israel provides an appropriate conclusion of the story. This book is told from a Jewish perspective, but does maintain a balanced view. Fast's suggestion that Jesus probably lead a rebellion will be dismissed by many readers. His frequent characterization of the role of Christians in institutionalizing anti-Semitism probably contains a great deal of truth. While chastising Britain and the U.S. for their refusal to open their doors, and those of Palestine, to Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, he does give credit to the U.S. for the shelter which it did provide. Viewed form a Christian perspective, I found the sections dealing with the Biblical era to be fascinating. I find the later sections to be valuable for the overall view they give of the Jewish role in history. While one will often encounter the role of Jews in

The Jews : Story of a People by Howard Fast Howard Fast was a most brilliant author. I have read his novels that revolve around the history of Ancient Israel: My Glorious Brothers; Moses, Prince of Egypt and Agrippa's Daughter. In this work , published in 1968, he puts his pen to the service of documenting the history of the Jewish Nation. The result is compelling and fascinating, in the incredible style of Howard Fast. The first three chapters deal with his theory as to the origin of the Hebrew people, and cannot be said to be really history. It is simply theory - which largely departs from the Biblical narrative- without any real proof or substance. Yet it is an interesting theory nonetheless. He deals comprehensively with Israel at the time of Herod and Hillel, and the life of Yehoshuah Ben Yosef (Jesus) and the birth of Christianity, under the ideas of Saul of Tarsus (Paul). Fast writes at length about how the Church planted the seeds of hatred that lead to the centuries of anti-Semitic terror and bloodshed against the Jewish people in Europe. He documents the Diaspora of the Jews when most of them where forced out of their homeland of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), by the Roman Empire, into the Mediterranean Lands the Balkans, Spain, Greece and Italy, and from there into Germany, France and England and then into Poland, Russia, the Baltic Lands, Belarus and the Ukraine. The story of the Jews is a long and tragic tale of suffering and bloodshed of a people separated from their homeland for so many centuries and unable to determine their own future... Take this passage about the genocide visited upon the Jews in Mediaeval Germany by the Crusaders: " In Neuss, the Crusaders where drunk, and in the spirit of good fun they flung more than twenty women and a hundred children into the river, seeing how far two men could fling a screaming child. At Mors almost a thousand Jewish bodies where observed floating in the Rhine. At Alternah, the humane Archbishop Egbert attempted to defend the Jews and was beaten half to death. In Regensburg, the Jews where cut down in the streets. A Count Agthar likened it to rabbit hunting. A great pile of Jewish bodies was dragged into the main square, and crusaders amused themselves by beheading the dead. Over four thousand Jews where killed in the Rhine district alone." But it also the story of their great contribution to all the lands in which they where dispersed, how they gave so much to the advancement of finance, commerce, medicine, navigation, astronomy, science, medicine and ideas. And we also read in this volume the intriguing story of the Jews in other lands, like China and India, where thriving Jewish communities existed, as well as the large Jewish communities of the Middle East, which lived under the ebb and flow of alternating prosperity and persecution by their Muslim overlords. There is a chapter of the Jews in America, and their remarkable contribution to that remarkable land.

This book gives a clear, detailed, fascinating depiction of the progress and evolution of the Jews and their God from earliest Nomadic times of wandering the desert, through the centuries, to the beginning of the state of Israel. It tells historically and accurately, but with the fascination of a novel, the contributions made by the Jews to the places and the peoples among whom they lived, and the harsh, many times inhuman treatment they received. It includes their participation in the development of the New World and their homeland of Israel. Of particular interest is the description of the start of Christianity and its influence throughout the centuries.