A common refrain heard by students, among the thousands who have taken Jewish studies courses in the last decades, is that “there is no textbook for the class” (a number of fine anthologies and source readers exist but are not, in the minds of most undergraduates, the equivalent of a textbook). Without commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of the general Jewish histories that predate the work under consideration, the editor's contention about the demand for such a single-volume book is well founded. On the one hand, the lack of a Jewish history textbook has led to frustration, probably more for students than their teachers. No clear-cut, central address exists—where to go for basic information and a cogent narrative, situated in a more general context—even with the recent publication of a new edition and relative accessibility of the Encyclopaedia Judaica (2006), and the splendid two-volume YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (2008). On the other hand, the fact that Jewish history faculty have not been able to assign a conventional textbook has been something of a badge of honor, perhaps tinged with arrogance: Compared to other historical fields, our own is so vast and complex that there could not possibly be a textbook to convey the entirety of “Jewish history.”

The Jews: A History, edited by John Efron, with contributions by Efron, Steven Weitzman, Matthias Lehmann, and Joshua Holo, puts the claim that “there is no textbook,” and its more ardent corollary, that there could never be such a textbook, firmly to rest. This book is, in sum, a phenomenal achievement. It comprehensively treats almost everything that belongs in the realm of Jewish history from the roots of biblical Israel to modern Jewry in nearly all of its recognizable manifestations. But perhaps most important: it explains events, persons, terms, and ideas clearly, and consistently situates its subject matter in appropriate historical and cultural contexts. Students will not simply be exposed to the historical experiences of Jews by reading this book: They stand to learn a great deal about history, generally, from this utterly brilliant collective, yet elegantly unified, effort.

Obviously and admittedly, this work is the product of more than one scholar. But it seems that Efron, as overall editor and coordinator of the project, and author of the modern sections, has exercised a strong hand. The writing in total, over the broad range of an unusually unwieldy subject, is remarkably consistent. The text is sophisticated without being long-winded. Subjects are dealt with on their own terms, but idioms and language that will be meaningful to students in the twenty-first century also are employed. The tone is pitched exactly right. It is not simply the first Jewish history textbook of its kind: It is one of the best history and social science texts one can imagine. It is a thoughtfully conceived, well-written, well-organized, and well-illustrated book—with pictures, photographs, maps, timelines, study questions, and reproductions of notable texts.

At first glance, this appears to be a book written mainly for undergraduates. In this respect, it provides an unequivocal, exemplary service. Yet it goes far beyond this primary objective. The Jews: A History will also, no doubt, be tremendously appreciated by a diverse body of graduate students and scholars who seek to gain a better understanding of Jews, whose depiction in both mainstream historiography and specialized monographs is often distorted, minimized, or altogether absent. Furthermore, this book will be immensely useful for those who seek to better integrate, or introduce, in the first instance, a dimension of Jewish history into their courses. To give but two of many possible examples—those teaching British history or Italian history will find this an excellent means of intelligently incorporating these nations' Jews into lectures and course materials. To be sure, the number of Jews in these countries has always been small, but The Jews: A History shows that despite their minuscule population, the vicissitudes of Jews speak volumes about the nations of which they have been a part. Last: professors in disparate fields, not just those who teach about the Holocaust, German, or East European history, find that they frequently have students interested in pursuing essays, or independent research, on some aspect of Jewish history. Although this will continue to be a challenge, The Jews: A History, affords them an initial port-of-call for such demands. It is strongly advised, therefore, that the book be purchased not only by Jewish studies scholars, Europeanists, and Americanists—but also by historians in every other historical subfield. There should be multiple copies in every university library, as well as in any repository of reference material and textbooks.

As one would expect, this mainly is a work of synthesis. Yet along with demonstrating unusual skill in knitting together the disparate literatures necessary to construct the separate sections, each of the editors evinces a distinctive approach and includes little-known gems. In addition to correlating the work of fellow scholars, there is a determined effort to include examples from contemporary sources, which endow the book with a kind of liveliness that is not often found in history textbooks. Jewish studies scholars of any type can gain new and important insights from reading the portions relevant to their specialties, as well as those areas outside their own fields.

It is difficult to imagine how this work could have been better, but some caveats, which are not criticisms in a conventional sense, may be addressed. There are bound to be quibbles with certain remarks and presentations, and the favoring of some interpretations over others. This book is big; the word count, it seems, is huge. Although it runs to 430 pages, the text mainly comprises double columns, and there are some sixty-three “sidebars” on specific topics of various sizes. But the common denominator of the sidebars is that the typeface is smaller than the primary text. The Glossary, another treasure trove, runs twenty-four pages; this appears in small print, and double columns. To put it simply—there is a lot to read. The “modern” section, beginning with Chapter 10, should be offered by the publisher as a separate book. Other segments can also stand alone. Dividing it in such ways should not be prohibitive in our rapidly changing technological environment. But none of this should detract from the massive achievement represented by this work and the fact that it will be most useful in its full form.

Perhaps even more impressive than the creative composition, fluidity, and coherence of this textbook is the fact that it allows for interwoven overarching ideas concomitant with rich descriptions of a strikingly diverse people. As early as the fifth century BCE, in the context of “Judahite society,” we learn that texts such as Jeremiah reveal how proto-Jews were “able to survive the devastating impact of Mesopotamian conquest despite losing so many central institutions, illustrating a process of creative adjustment that allowed the exiles to sustain their Judahite identity even as they adapted to life in exile under foreign rule” (20). Speaking for himself and his team, Efron writes in the preface that

This is not simply an excellent textbook for a field in which such a volume is long overdue. It is, in itself, a fabulous work of Jewish history, “a creative adjustment” in terms of Jewish historiography that should be appreciated by an extensive and broad readership.