Bibliography By Author  ||  Bibliography by Subject

The library at the Center for Cultural Judaism is accessible to the general public and includes a well-stocked section with books for purchase. Please contact the Center for details.

History: Pre-Enlightenment

Jewish Life in the Middle Ages

By Abrams, Israel
Jewish Publication Society, 1993, Paperback, 480 pp., ISBN: 827605420, $26.95

Abrahams describes in vivid detail customs, manners, and mores of medieval Jewish life, much of which was hidden from the inquisitive and not infrequently hostile gaze of Christian Europe.

Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age, The

By Alon, Gedaliah
Harvard University Press, 1989, Paperback, Out of print, ISBN: 0674414953, $28.95

This is a masterly narrative of the land of Israel from 70 to 640 C.E. by an eminent Israeli historian.

Judaism: Myth, Legend, History and Custom from the Religious to the Secular

By Arnold, Abraham
Robert Davies Press, 1995, Paperback, ISBN: 1895854261, $16.99

In this book, the author explores the history and religion of the Jewish people from a secular, humanistic vantage point.

Social and Religious History of the Jews, The

By Baron, Salo W.
Columbia University Press, 1958

Social Structure of Ancient Israel: The Institution of the Family (Beit'ab) from the Settlement to the End of the Monarchy, The

By Bendor, S.
Eisenbrauns, 1996, Paperback, ISBN: 0614963672, $31.50

Social World of Ancient Israel, The

By Benjamin, Don C. and Victor H. Matthews
Hendrickson Publishers, 2005, Paperback, 327pp., ISBN: 1565639480, $24.95

Getting a fix on the social context of the Hebrew Bible is imperative for anyone reconstructing either the "story" of the text or the "history" behind the text.

Power & Powerlessness in Jewish History

By Biale, David
Schocken , 1986, Paperback, 260 pp., ISBN: 0805208410, $19.00

To shed light on the tensions he observed between Jewish perceptions of power versus political realities which "are often the cause of misguided political decisions," like Israel's Lebanese War, Biale analyzes Jewish history from the point of view of politics and power.

Trial and Death of Jesus, The

By Cohn, Haim
Konecky & Konecky, 2004, Hardcover, 448 pp., ISBN: 1568525028, $12.98

Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Haim Cohn, examines Biblical and contemporary documents to provide a startling and provocative look at the Trial and Passion of Jesus from a legal perspective.

Judaism: History, Belief and Practice

By Cohn-Sherbock, Dan
Routledge, 2003, Paperback, 432 pp., ISBN: 0415236614, $37.95

This all-encompassing textbook is an unrivalled guide to the history, belief and practice of Judaism, written by a scholar and rabbi who is also an experienced university teacher.

What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? What Archeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel

By Dever, William G.
Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002, Paperback, 326 pp, ISBN: 080282126X, $22.00

Dever (archaeology and anthropology, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson) rigorously challenges revisionists who deny any historical basis for an "ancient Israel" as portrayed in the Old Testament.

Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?

By Dever, William G.
Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005, Paperback, 280 pp., ISBN: 0802844162, $18.00

Dever (Near Eastern archaeology, University of Arizona) explores controversies regarding the true nature of ancient Israel and presents the archaeological evidence for assessing the accuracy of biblical narratives.

Outline of Jewish History, An

By Dubnow, Simon
Maisel, 1929, Out of print

History of the Jews in Russia and Poland from the Earliest Times Until the Present Day

By Dubnow, Simon M. and Israel Friedlaender (Trans.)
Avotaynu, 2000, Hardcover, 603 pp., ISBN: 1886223114, $69.50

This history ranges from the earliest times until the present day.

Jewish Civilization: The Jewish Historical Experience in a Comparative Perspective

By Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah
State University of New York Press, 1992, Paperback, 314 pp., Out of print, ISBN: 079141096X

Explains why the best way to understand the Jewish historical experience is to look at Jewish people, not just as a religious or ethnic group or a nation.

Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism in Late Antiquity, The

By Elior, Rachel and David Louvish (Trans.)
Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2005, Paperback, 301 pp., ISBN: 1904113338, $24.95

Elior (Jewish philosophy and Jewish mystical thought, Hebrew U. of Jerusalem) argues that the early Jewish mystical literature associated with the Merkavah, the divine Chariot Throne, was composed in three distinct but interrelated stages.

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths

By Feiler, Bruce
Harper Perennial Publishers, 2005, Paperback, 272 pp., ISBN: 0060838663, $12.95

The first monotheist (and, Feiler argues, the first martyr), Abraham serves as a patriarch for three very different faiths -- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Walking the Bible

By Feiler, Bruce
Harper Perennial Publishers, Paperback, ISBN: 0380807319, $14.95

This book merits a place on any intellectually minded traveler's bookshelf simply on the strength of its premise: a compelling journey of 10,000 miles across the Near and Middle East, in search of the locales at which many of the Old Testament's key events took place.

Jews and Gentiles in the Ancient World

By Feldman, Louis H.
Princeton University Press, 1993

Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate, maintain most studies of that topic.

Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, The

By Finkelstein, Israel and Neil Asher Silberman
Free Press, 2002, Paperback, 400 pp., ISBN: 0684869136, $15.00

Finkelstein and Silberman do not aim to undermine the Bible's import, but to demonstrate why it became the basic document for a distinct religious community under particular political circumstances.

Racism: A Short History

By Fredrickson, George
Princeton University Press, 2003, Paperback, 224 pp., ISBN: 0691116520, $16.95

Are antisemitism and white supremacy manifestations of a general phenomenon?

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