History of the Jews: A Captivating Guide to Jewish History, Starting from the Ancient Israelites through Roman Rule to World War 2 (History of Judaism) Paperback – January 12, 2021

A good read. It has some history that I didn’t know which is why I wanted to read it in the first place.

Good read for the uninitiated. Nice collection of relevant facts about the rise of the Jewish state. Worth the read.

I really liked this book and I didn't expect to. As a history teacher, I usually prefer the long, detailed tomes because they go in depth and look at multiple topics from many different perspectives. But...this book did that! It was concise, yet perfect. Honestly, it covered all of the most important areas in Jewish history, and did so with broad analysis. The only critique is that there is no bibliography - no endnotes either - so what sources were used to write this book? That is an absolute essential to any writing, and this book provides none of that - you simply have to accept what is written at face value. That is a HUGE red flag, especially today in the era of social media where everyone's opinion is considered important and largely ignores critical thinking. Having said that, I still think this book deserves credit for covering deeply complex issues as well as the history of an incredible people. Well done. As it states in the conclusion, "The story of the Jews is the story of the entire world." I'm not Jewish, but I find that statement to be absolutely spot on.

This was a pleasant and informative read, covering the biblical and post-biblical periods of the nation of Israel. You can read it in a day and get an overview of the historical account of the Jewish people! Exciting!

Of course the Captivating History series tends to give a condensed version of the stories they share, often missing key points that although not crucial, they may still give some interesting insights. That doesn't make them horrible of course, it's just a point to be aware of. In the case of the story of the Jews however, I think their tendency to downplay faith seriously hampered the story and led to a poorer than usual quality to be present, especially in the first half. In an attempt to please all sides (leading to neither side appreciating the effort), Captivating History tried to make the religious look unimportant while still covering it. Worse, when covering some early leaders they either highlighted their weakest points or only covered those who were weakest in faith. In typical Hollywood fashion, they talked as much as they could about Samson (who only remembered his covenants with God when convenient for him), but only mentioned Gideon (who led the most dramatic campaign against the Philistines ever) by name. Still, they really pulled the quality up near the end when writing about the struggles of starting up the state of Israel!

Truly history

One over whelming fact is apparent throughout this book and I am always dumbfounded by the hate of the Jews that seems to have existed from the very beginning of their existence as a ethnic/religious group.As the book notes, even when they were not being directly persecuted they were still considered second class citizens in almost every age and country. They seldom had the same rights as non-Jews even if they were born citizens of a country. There is little wonder, in my mind, so many Jews in the USA were drawn into the civil rights movement so heavily. The Jewish peoples entire existence on a world wide basis was similar to experienced by Americans of African decent during the post civil war through the 1960s+.I was glad to see when the book mentioned that, say even when the Muslim rulers weren't openly aggressive against the Jews, they still were not given complete citizen's rights and were often bullied and taxed at high rates to even be allowed to live. It also seemed their fate was often left in the hands of a single ruler, if he didn't mind the Jews or had need of them, they were alright but the next ruler could change all that. Is there any wonder they continuously dreamed of recovering their home land? Christian leaders were no better and even worse at times, again depending on the individual rulers, with Hitler and the Nazi's being the ultimate anti-Semitics.I liked the way this book tied the three major religions of Jews, Christians and Islam together. They did all indeed start with the basics of Judaism and develop into their own systems of belief. All there religions share some common stories and historical people/events.I have always found the post WW1 era of great interest. The attitude of the post war victors and the Treaty of Versailles seem to be at the core of many of the problems that exist in the middle east and other places. The book did not shy away from the Arb support of the Nazi's in WW2 or the role of Britain in the post war middle east. The book did a good job of trying to balance all sides of the efforts of the Jews to reclaim their home land while still showing the Arab side. There are some really good books on the post war efforts to establish Israel that go into much greater details and are very eye opening even for those of us that were alive during a lot of the actual events. Captivating History has several worth reading but Martin Gilbert's "Israel: A History is one of the best.This is a good read that gives the reader a big picture idea of the plight of the Jewish people, their history and ultimately the establishment of Israel.

Good book to read. It's the history of the Jewish people. How for centuries they have been trying to settle down and have a piece of land they can call home. Good book of the schools to have so the people who don't believe that the holocaust happened should read this.