my name is levi. This book was a great book. besides for it being a very interesting book, this book was also very easy to read. Usually history books i read are very boring, and i cant read more than twenty pages at a time. With this book i wasnt able to put it down till i finished it. I was very impressed with the amount of information given in the book. And i love the footnotes. BUT.........
The ending was terrible. Ive read over 100 books on jewish history and ive noticed what historians like to do with ending their books. They all give their synopsis's on the jewish future, esp. in america.
The author of this book decided to end his book with writing that the orginization "Aish Hatorah" has over 26 institutions in North America and 12 over seas. And for the last 25 years are bringing jews back to their roots.
Hellllllllloo!! what happened to Chabad!!!!!! how do you forget chabad, and not mention them at all. Their are over 3500 chabd institutions world wide, and in every country that their are jews , Chabad is. Besides that , chabad has started their outreach over fifty years ago, by their leader, Rabbi Shneerson.

I live in florida, browad county to be pretty concise. And their are twenty chabd houses in broward, aish has one. in florida alone thier is over a hundred chabad houses. And thats only florida.
My problem mainly is that how can a person give a synosis of the future for jewish history and not write about chabad.
levi,

This book tells the stories of Europe's Jewish diaspora from 1492-1967 in a series of portraits of the communities. From Venice to Amsterdam to Spain to Russia and Vilna among others are given a slice of life/slice of time of these amazing and enduring Jews. We learn of a Jewish ghetto where the Jews are shut in every night(for their protection). We also learn of the open Amsterdam ghetto where Jews lived like equals and prospered. We learn fo the great Jewish communities of Spain that were crushed in 1492, including the land of Maimonidies. We learn of the Vilna ghetto and Abba Kovners partisans who fought to take revenge for the destruction of the Jeursalum on the Baltic. We also learn of the Russian Jews of 1967 who yearned to return to their land of Israel after the Six day war.

This is a wonderful book that explores many people and many cultures and sheds a light on the events of the Diaspora in Europe.

A must read.