Book Notes

146 American Jewish Life SHOFAR Winter 1998 Vol. 16, No.2 Book Notes A New Beginning: The Jews ofHistoric Lowell, Massachusetts, by Shirley Kolack. New York: Peter Lang, 1997. 101 pp. $19.95. ISBN 0-8204-2263-0. Using case studies over generations of representative Jewish families, this book examines the settlement patterns ofJews, their occupational roles, and the founding ofsynagogues and self-help organizations. It documents the adjustment of Jews to the industrial city of Lowell, as well as to the larger society. A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, by Jack Wertheimer. Hanover, NH: University Press ofNew England, 1997. 286 pp. $17.95 (P). ISBN 0-87451-848-2. Jack Wertheimer examines how fundamental changes in American society have affected Jewish religious and communal life. Reprint of the 1993-94 National Jewish Book Award winner. Taking Hold ofTorah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America, by Arnold M. Eisen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. 224 pp. $24.95. ISBN 0-25333314 -8. Arnold M. Eisen argues in this book that it is possible to prevent the dissolution of communities and vibrant religious traditions of an earlier age by building on diversity. Using the framework of response to the five books of the Torah, Eisen discusses issues relating to the meaning and purpose of Jewish tradition and a new agenda for politics in American Jewish life. Tzedakah: Can Jewish Philanthropy Buy Jewish Survival, by Jacob Neusner. New York: UAHC Press, 1997. $10.00 (p). ISBN 0-7074-0637-6. Judaism in America is intimately tied to tzedakah, charity. Jacob Neusner compares primary resources-Tosefta, Talmud, and Maimonides-and the practice of synagogues, organizations, and communities in the United States today. Book Notes Ancient World and Archaeology 147 Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian, by Louis H. Feldman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. 692 pp. $24.95 (P). ISBN 0-691-02927-X. Evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time ofAlexander the Great to the fifth century C.E., the author fmds that Judaism elicited strongly positive responses from the non-Jewish population, and he challenges the conception of Jewish history as years ofuninterrupted weakness and suffering. Now in paperback. The Rise and Fall ofJewish Nationalism: Jewish and Christian Ethnicity in Ancient Palestine, by Doron Mendels. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. 460 pp. $35.00. ISBN 0-8028-4329-8. This volume offers an analysis ofhistorical and literary sources, from Josephus to New Testament apocrypha, to explore the development of Jewish nationalism, raising such concerns as the status of non-Jews in the land ofIsrael, the historical impetus behind boundary disputes, and the use of violence to achieve a prophetic vision. Art, Music, and Film Jerusalem and the Holy Land Rediscovered: The Prints ofDavid Roberts (1796-1864), original text by the Reverend George Croly. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996. 392 pp. $89.95. ISBN 0-938989-15-4. Traveling from Egypt across the Suez to Mqunt Sinai, Petra, and Jerusalem, British artist David Roberts produced a large corpus of drawings and watercolors ofall the major holy sites. These works formed the basis of the tinted lithographs that were collected and published soon after his return to England. This book is a reproduction ofthese lithographs along with the unabridged text by the Reverend George Croly, L.L.D., which accompanied the prints when they first appeared in 1842. Includes 147 illustrations including 143 colorplates and one map. The Threat to the Cosmic Order: Psychological, Social, and Health Implications of Richard Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, edited by Peter Ostwald and Leonard S. Zegans. Madison, CT: International Universities Press, 1997. 190 pp. $32.50. ISBN 0-8236-6528-3. This volume explores the psychological, social, and health implications of the dramas of the Ring and of the man who created them. 148 Biblical and Rabbinic Literature SHOFAR Winter 1998 Vol. 16, No.2 The Bible as it Was, by James Kugel. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1997. 800 pp. $35.00. ISBN 0-674-06940-4. James Kugel shows how a group ofanonymous, ancient interpreters transformed the Bible into the book that has come down to us today. Drawing on the Dead Sea...