A People Apart: The Jews in Europe, 1789-1939 (Oxford History of Modern Europe) - Hardcover

Vital, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198219806 ISBN 13: 9780198219804

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1999

Synopsis

The twentieth century has seen both the greatest triumph of Jewish history and its greatest tragedy: the birth of the nation of Israel, and the state-sponsored genocide of the Holocaust. A People Apart is the first study to examine the role played by the Jews themselves, across the whole of Europe, during the century and a half leading up to these events.

David Vital explores the Jews' troubled relationship with Europe, documenting the struggles of this 'nation without a territory' to establish a place for itself within an increasingly polarized and nationalist continent. He examines the clash within the Jewish community between politically neutral traditionalists and a new group of activists, whose unprecedented demands for national and political self-determination were stimulated both by increasing civil emancipation and the mounting effort to drive the Jews out of Europe altogether. Controversially, Professor Vital concludes that the history of the Jewish people was indeed in crucial respects although certainly not all of their own making; at times by their own autonomous action and choice; at others by inaction and default.

This powerful and stimulating new analysis represents a watershed in our understanding of the history of the Jews in Europe.

About this title

Review:

gradually reveals a treasure trove of fascinating and unfamiliar details about the history of the Jews in most countries of Europe from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of WW II. (Professor Albert S. Lindemann, Reviews in History.)

A People Apart is a tour de force. Here, at last, is a one-volume history of the Jews in modern Europe that is up to date, comprehensive and challenging. (David Cesarani, THES, 3/3/00)

a grave and exhaustive account of the political background to the monstrous crime against a gifted, civilised and peaceful people. (Naim Dangoor, The Scribe September 1999,)

valuable book (The Economist 18/09/99)

powerful account ... A People Apart is a valuable addition to our knowledge of European Jewish history in its most sombre aspects ... David Vital provides a grave and exhaustive account of the political background to this monstrous crime against a gifted, civilised and peaceful people. (Paul Johnson, TLS, 18/06/99.)

a work as impressive in its scope and as awesome in its command of sources as it is perceptive in its depth of analysis... an admirable introduction to its subject matter, and it will surely earn its place as a text of first resort. (Professor Geoffrey Alderman, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Middlesex University, Jewish Chronicle, 18/06/99.)

A Monumental and magisterial work. A People Apart offers the necessary historical perspective, without which one cannot hope to understand either the holocaust or the creation of the state of Israel. Destined to be the definitive study of our time. (Kirkus Reviews 1999)

I confidently predict that it will become a historical classic ... The first thing that strikes one about Vital's book, apart from its epic scale, is the elegance of his prose ... here are elaborate, stately though never sententious sentences, often with a sting in the tail ... His brave elegy to an indomitable people is itself part of the legacy of hope. (Daniel Johnson, Daily Telegraph)

David Vital's magesterial survey explores what happened to those Jews who responded to the challenges of modernity ... a nuanced and sensitive exploration of European Jewry from within. (John Klier, History Today, Jan 2000)

David Vital's densely argued and documented A People Apart: The Jews of Europe 1789-1939 is a fiercely dispassionate, perhaps definitive analysis of what led to the destruction of European Jewry (Frederic Raphael The Sunday Times)

About the Author:

From 1977 to his retirement in 1995, David Vital was Nahum Goldmann Professor of Diplomacy at Tel-Aviv University. present: Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0198219806
• ISBN 13: 9780198219804
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 962