Description
In his three-volume history, Antony Polonsky provides a comprehensive survey-socio-political, economic, and religious-of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe from 1350 to the present. Until the Second World War, this was the heartland of the Jewish world: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland alone, while nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of the Jews of Europe and the United States, and many of the Jews of Israel, originate from these lands, their history there is not well known. Rather, it is the subject of mythologizing and stereotypes that fail both to bring out the specific features of the Jewish civilization which emerged there and to illustrate what was lost. Jewish life, though often poor materially, was marked by a high degree of spiritual and ideological intensity and creativity. Antony Polonsky recreates this lost world-brutally cut down by the Holocaust and less brutally but still seriously damaged by the Soviet attempt to destroy Jewish culture. Wherever possible, the unfolding of history is illustrated by contemporary Jewish writings to show how Jews felt and reacted to the complex and difficult situations in which they found themselves. This second volume covers the period from 1881 to 1914. It considers the deterioration of the position of the Jews during that period and the new political and cultural movements that developed as a consequence: Zionism, socialism, autonomism, the emergence of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, Jewish urbanization, and the rise of popular Jewish culture. Galicia, Prussian Poland, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Tsarist Empire are all treated individually, as are the main towns of these areas. Volume 1 covers the period 1350-1881; Volume 3 covers 1914-2008.
About the Author
Antony Polonsky is Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University, and Chief Historian of the Global Educational Outreach Project at the Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw (2010) and the Jagiellonian University (2014), and in 2011 was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Polonia Restituta and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Independent Lithuania. His many publications include The Jews in Poland and Russia, 3 vols. (Littman Library, 2010-12), which in 2012 was awarded the Pro Historia Polonorum prize of the Polish Senate for the best book on the history of Poland in a non-Polish language written in the previous five years.
Reviews
'Combines a masterful grasp of Jewish history with that of eastern Europe. While underlining the unique features and achievements of the Jewish communal experience he authoritatively integrates them into the history of the countries in which Jews lived . . . Incorporating current, ground-breaking scholarship from North America, Israel, and Europe these beautifully narrated volumes should not only be seen as a staple of university courses, but also as a must-read for anyone attempting to understand any aspect of modern Jewish history and religious tradition, wherever it may be playing out . . . With this extremely important book, Antony Polonsky not only writes history but, following the example of his illustrious predecessors, makes it.'
- Katarzyna Person, European Judaism
'The first two volumes of Antony Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia trilogy provide a much-needed addition to the landscape of Jewish historical studies . . . [a] significant achievement in presenting the most modern findings in a clear, readable, comprehensive survey . . . his narrative is grand and his analysis tight . . . an excellent synthesis of this community's history, incorporating much of the groundbreaking scholarship of the last few decades. Repeatedly, the volumes remind us of the many lost opportunities for real reform in the region. They help correct the nostalgic and romanticized portraits of what is sometimes considered a lost civilization, while simultaneously demonstrating the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life in the region . . . essential reading for those seeking a thorough and balanced understanding of Jewish life in pre-twentieth century Eastern Europe.'
- Jeffrey Veidlinger, H-Judaic
'For several decades now, Antony Polonsky has been at the forefront of Polish-Jewish studies . . . It is thus fitting that Polosnky, who has nurtured young scholars, especially in Poland itself and North America, should bring together old and new work in this remarkable multi-volume synthesis of Jewish history and culture . . . These volumes will provide the first port of call for any student of east European Jewry.'
- Tony Kushner, Jewish Chronicle
'We can only commend Antony Polonsky for his massive effort to explain seven centuries of Jewish history in a mere 2,000 pages . . . Polonsky's strength lies in his ability to illuminate intellectual and cultural developments . . . Because of the excellent bibliographies, extensive annotation, and wonderful maps included in each volume, any reader wishing to read in greater detail about Polish and Russian Jewry will have plenty of resources to enable the search.'
- Alexandra S. Korros, Jewish Quarterly
'An excellent synthesis of recent research on east European Jewish culture and history. As such it fills a definite need for an accessible introduction to the current scholarship and thinking about the Jews of Poland and Russia . . . should be on the reading list of anyone interested in the history and folk cultures of eastern Europe, whether they work specifically with Jewish history and folk culture, or with other regional cultures.'
- David Elton Gay, Journal of Folklore Research
'Any reader who invests the time and money to read the book . . . will find it very rewarding-and not just because of the wealth of information it contains. What Polonsky's book brings home, in a way that a narrower study could not, is the sheer complexity and vitality of Jewish life in that time and place . . . this broader picture is needed to make sense of the social changes that were accelerating by the late nineteenth century-above all, in the situation of women, the subject of one of Polonsky's best chapters . . . Polonsky's panoramic book, which packs so much vivid detail and statistical information into its 500 pages, helps to show just how rich, and how difficult, that life really was.'
- Adam Kirsch, The New Republic and Tablet Magazine
'Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia is one of those rare works that can hope to bridge the gap between specialist and "intelligent general reader", providing a strong narrative and appealing prose for the latter as well as an up-to-date distilled knowledge of both primary and secondary sources for the former. No one interested in Jewish, Polish, or Russian history can afford to be without these volumes . . . will long remain the standard work on this crucial Jewish community . . . While a survey of this sort requires a goodly bit of politics . . . Polonsky has gone out of his way to include culture, religious life, gender, Jewish mass culture, and social history . . . The books' structure is entirely appropriate for its primary purpose: to provide a basic overview of this Jewish community's history . . . strikingly high level of scholarship . . . [The publisher] is particularly to be commended on its allowing Polonsky to cite at length from the Jewish literary sources he is considering and not begrudging space for a dozen pages of useful statistics (not a small thing in a publishing world where bibliographies are often considered superfluous!) . . . This history, written by a major scholar of both Polish and Jewish history and a person profoundly attached to both communities, is exemplary in its efforts to integrate Jews into Polish history, neither white-washing sources of friction nor painting an overly rosy picture. The most important thing one can say about Antony Polonsky's The Jews in Poland and Russia is: get it and read it!'
- Theodore R. Weeks, The Polish Review
'This superb and very up-to-date book is very well written, carefully documented, balanced, and will be a standard reference in the field. It has a glossary and a wide-ranging bibliography, very useful maps, and statistical tables, all of which make it a good starting point for any reading on east European Jewry.'
- Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies Review
'Exemplary and formidable . . . Polonsky, as much as anyone else, has created the field of modern Jewish history as a subject to be considered and understood rather than simply a tragic past to be mourned. He is too good a historian to confuse the history of Jewish life with the German policies that brought Jewish death . . . The barely visible commitment in these three wonderful volumes is to rescue a world from polemic, for the sake of history.'
- Timothy Snyder, Wall Street Journal
Book Information
ISBN 9781904113836
Author Antony Polonsky
Format Hardback
Page Count 492
Imprint The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Weight(grams) 930g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 43mm
About the Author
Antony Polonsky is Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University, and Chief Historian of the Global Educational Outreach Project at the Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw (2010) and the Jagiellonian University (2014), and in 2011 was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Polonia Restituta and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Independent Lithuania. His many publications include The Jews in Poland and Russia, 3 vols. (Littman Library, 2010-12), which in 2012 was awarded the Pro Historia Polonorum prize of the Polish Senate for the best book on the history of Poland in a non-Polish language written in the previous five years.
Reviews
'Combines a masterful grasp of Jewish history with that of eastern Europe. While underlining the unique features and achievements of the Jewish communal experience he authoritatively integrates them into the history of the countries in which Jews lived . . . Incorporating current, ground-breaking scholarship from North America, Israel, and Europe these beautifully narrated volumes should not only be seen as a staple of university courses, but also as a must-read for anyone attempting to understand any aspect of modern Jewish history and religious tradition, wherever it may be playing out . . . With this extremely important book, Antony Polonsky not only writes history but, following the example of his illustrious predecessors, makes it.'
- Katarzyna Person, European Judaism
'The first two volumes of Antony Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia trilogy provide a much-needed addition to the landscape of Jewish historical studies . . . [a] significant achievement in presenting the most modern findings in a clear, readable, comprehensive survey . . . his narrative is grand and his analysis tight . . . an excellent synthesis of this community's history, incorporating much of the groundbreaking scholarship of the last few decades. Repeatedly, the volumes remind us of the many lost opportunities for real reform in the region. They help correct the nostalgic and romanticized portraits of what is sometimes considered a lost civilization, while simultaneously demonstrating the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life in the region . . . essential reading for those seeking a thorough and balanced understanding of Jewish life in pre-twentieth century Eastern Europe.'
- Jeffrey Veidlinger, H-Judaic
'For several decades now, Antony Polonsky has been at the forefront of Polish-Jewish studies . . . It is thus fitting that Polosnky, who has nurtured young scholars, especially in Poland itself and North America, should bring together old and new work in this remarkable multi-volume synthesis of Jewish history and culture . . . These volumes will provide the first port of call for any student of east European Jewry.'
- Tony Kushner, Jewish Chronicle
'We can only commend Antony Polonsky for his massive effort to explain seven centuries of Jewish history in a mere 2,000 pages . . . Polonsky's strength lies in his ability to illuminate intellectual and cultural developments . . . Because of the excellent bibliographies, extensive annotation, and wonderful maps included in each volume, any reader wishing to read in greater detail about Polish and Russian Jewry will have plenty of resources to enable the search.'
- Alexandra S. Korros, Jewish Quarterly
'An excellent synthesis of recent research on east European Jewish culture and history. As such it fills a definite need for an accessible introduction to the current scholarship and thinking about the Jews of Poland and Russia . . . should be on the reading list of anyone interested in the history and folk cultures of eastern Europe, whether they work specifically with Jewish history and folk culture, or with other regional cultures.'
- David Elton Gay, Journal of Folklore Research
'Any reader who invests the time and money to read the book . . . will find it very rewarding-and not just because of the wealth of information it contains. What Polonsky's book brings home, in a way that a narrower study could not, is the sheer complexity and vitality of Jewish life in that time and place . . . this broader picture is needed to make sense of the social changes that were accelerating by the late nineteenth century-above all, in the situation of women, the subject of one of Polonsky's best chapters . . . Polonsky's panoramic book, which packs so much vivid detail and statistical information into its 500 pages, helps to show just how rich, and how difficult, that life really was.'
- Adam Kirsch, The New Republic and Tablet Magazine
'Polonsky's magisterial The Jews in Poland and Russia is one of those rare works that can hope to bridge the gap between specialist and "intelligent general reader", providing a strong narrative and appealing prose for the latter as well as an up-to-date distilled knowledge of both primary and secondary sources for the former. No one interested in Jewish, Polish, or Russian history can afford to be without these volumes . . . will long remain the standard work on this crucial Jewish community . . . While a survey of this sort requires a goodly bit of politics . . . Polonsky has gone out of his way to include culture, religious life, gender, Jewish mass culture, and social history . . . The books' structure is entirely appropriate for its primary purpose: to provide a basic overview of this Jewish community's history . . . strikingly high level of scholarship . . . [The publisher] is particularly to be commended on its allowing Polonsky to cite at length from the Jewish literary sources he is considering and not begrudging space for a dozen pages of useful statistics (not a small thing in a publishing world where bibliographies are often considered superfluous!) . . . This history, written by a major scholar of both Polish and Jewish history and a person profoundly attached to both communities, is exemplary in its efforts to integrate Jews into Polish history, neither white-washing sources of friction nor painting an overly rosy picture. The most important thing one can say about Antony Polonsky's The Jews in Poland and Russia is: get it and read it!'
- Theodore R. Weeks, The Polish Review
'This superb and very up-to-date book is very well written, carefully documented, balanced, and will be a standard reference in the field. It has a glossary and a wide-ranging bibliography, very useful maps, and statistical tables, all of which make it a good starting point for any reading on east European Jewry.'
- Shaul Stampfer, Religious Studies Review
'Exemplary and formidable . . . Polonsky, as much as anyone else, has created the field of modern Jewish history as a subject to be considered and understood rather than simply a tragic past to be mourned. He is too good a historian to confuse the history of Jewish life with the German policies that brought Jewish death . . . The barely visible commitment in these three wonderful volumes is to rescue a world from polemic, for the sake of history.'
- Timothy Snyder, Wall Street Journal
'The first serious, and most successful, effort thus far to summarize the history of the Jews of "Eastern Europe" . . . the first book to synthesize the vast research that has emerged since the seventies . . . comprehensive and multidisciplinary . . . there is no book today that can compare to its scope and to the vast and new materials that he brings forth and analyzes with a broad imagination, an intensive approach, and a moderate style.'
- Moshe Rosman, Zion
Book Information
ISBN 9781904113836
Author Antony Polonsky
Format Hardback
Page Count 492
Imprint The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Weight(grams) 930g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 43mm
