Must a Jewish history stress suffering? Marc Saperstein argues against excess fatalism

THE INDEPENDENT
By Marc Sapertein

'Stories of oppression': Expulsion of Jews from from Spain in 1492

UNITED KINGDOM---Upon first encountering, in 1988, Simon Schama's "The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age", I was in awe of the depth of scholarship, the integration of historical and fine-art analysis, the power of the elegantly crafted sentences. The following year, Schama's "Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution" revealed a similar mastery of a period 150 years later, with a totally different theme. It seemed astounding that a historian could produce two such diverse and impressive books in less than two years. "The Story of the Jews" presents even greater challenges. The 2500-year time-span in this first volume encompasses Jews living in four civilisations: the ancient Near East, the Hellenistic and Roman world, medieval Christianity, and Islam. In this age of specialisation, writing authoritatively about such diverse material is a daunting task rarely undertaken by scholars. [link]