book on jewish history

[nokhor]

anyone no of any well done scholarly book on jewish history? i'm looking for mostly political, social and migratory history.

[and no, not the bible]

[Sethik]

If you're looking for books with a religious tinge check out some of the titles published by Artscroll.

[Mount Suribachi]

anyone no of any well done scholarly book on jewish history? i'm looking for mostly political, social and migratory history.

[and no, not the bible]

So you're excluding the number 1 source on the 1st half of the history of the Jewish people ~:P its got all the political, social and migratory history anyone could ask for

have you read any of the writings of Josephus btw?

[nokhor]

yeah, i've read some josephus. i'm looking for something like a textbook that i would get if i were to take judaism 101 at a college. but preferably something that another org member could vouch for. something along the lines of "a history of rome" by cary and scullard.

[Simetrical]

If you're looking for books with a religious tinge check out some of the titles published by Artscroll.

More than a "tinge." Artscroll's books are works of religion, pure and simple. They tend to be on the conservative side even of Orthodox Judaism (doubtless so as not to alienate potential customers). They don't print any serious historical works at all, to my knowledge. And I say that as an Orthodox Jew who must own at least two or three dozen Artscroll books.

-Simetrical

[kataphraktoi]

Dude! Martin Gilbert's "a History Of Israel" Combines Everything U R Looking For!

[Efrem]

LOL


Artscroll make Prayer Books not History Books, what are you smoking mate. Even I have a couple.

[nokhor]

the artscroll stuff is more religous than what i have in mind. hey kat, i took a look at Gilbert's book and it is about the modern state of israel but that is not what i had in mind.

i should have been more specific about what i was looking for. i want something that gives a good historical account up to the modern era. something that helps explain the shift from the priests [levis] to the teachers [rabbis]. something that shows the independent political history under eras such as solomon, and the macabees to political subservience under the persians, selucids, romans, arabs. something that explains the basic differences between religous groups such as say hasidic and orthodox, as well as explains social/ethnic differences such as the diasporas, persecutions, ashkenazis (sp?) vs other groups.

i've come across a lot of these terms from reading different materials and being exposed to them where they intersect with something else i was interested in, but i would like to be able to read it all from one underlying presentation. hope that makes sense.

[Efrem]

Try to find some Kind of Yeshiva place, they should have a sinaguoge somewhere in your area (if your in a big city.) They know all that kind of stuff off by heart and have MASSIVE librarys full of that kind of books, Aleit most of them have a religious slant I would count most of them as history books.

[Simetrical]

Really, I wouldn't rely on that. The religious tradition as passed down through the Bible, the Talmud, and so forth is quite different from what a secular historian would tell you. Besides, most of those Efrem is referring to wouldn't want to waste their time telling random strangers about Jewish history when they could be studying the Talmud.

-Simetrical

[Efrem]

The ones in aus would,

We get them to bring us food at school every week,

Half the people that turn up are our non jewish friends.


Edit:

The ones in aus, are actually american and canadian students that are doing special studies in aus.