There has long been need of a modern and comprehensive historical treatment of the Jewish people This book answers that need in a brilliant and authoritative form. This book is the product of over five years' intensive labors on the part of the authors and the editor. Successive historic eras as well as special cultural and religious aspects of the historic record are treated by scholars of world wide renown in their respective fields. There are chapters on the Biblical period, the post-Biblical period and Jewish history in the middle Ages. There are chapters on the Biblical period, the post-Biblical period, and Jewish history in the middle Ages. There are chapters on the Bible, Jewish Law, Hebrew poetry, modern Hebrew literature, the Jewish contribution to philosophy and ethics, to law, science, literature, music and art. The contemporary situation--political, sociological and economic--is also surveyed as an important element in the achievement of the Jews. Throughout the book the work of the Jews is related to that of their contemporaries to a greater extent than has been attempted in previous scholarly works. The book is organized under four general areas of concern: The History of Judaism and the Jews; The Role of Judaism in Civilization; The Sociology and Demography of the Jews; and The Jewish Religion. As a force for deeper and better understanding of the Jewish cultural and religious contribution to mankind, this book promises to sand as a classic of our generation. Illustrated with four maps and fourteen pages of halftones. The Editor, Louis Finkelstein, was the President of the Jewish theological Seminary of America.......