A History of the Jews

De: Paul Johnson

Narrado por: Nadia May

This historical magnum opus covers 4,000 years of the extraordinary history of the Jews as a people, a culture, and a nation. It shows the impact of Jewish character on the world - their genius, imagination, and, most of all, their ability to persevere despite severe persecutions. Compelling insights into events and individuals are chronologically detailed, from Moses and Jesus to Spinoza, Marx, Freud, the Rothschilds, and Golda Meir.©1987 Paul Johnson (P)1989 Blackstone Audio, inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"It's no mean feat to successfully compress 4,000 years of history into 645 pages, but Johnson has more than met the challenge....an excellent, nonscholarly history for general readers." ( Library Journal)
"A tour de force....A remarkable achievement." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"A marvelous book....This is history: richly textured, provocative and wise." ( The Plain Dealer)

A great book ruined by a screeching narrator

Out of many audiobooks I’ve listened to, this is the first one that’s simply painfully unbearable because of the narrator whose voice tone is equivalent to a screeching cat simultaneously clawing at a chalkboard.

Johnson is almost persuaded by history that

God exists, but he still denies Him!!! How sad. Read the book of Romans and you will understand more about why.

Returned because of poor narration

The narrator's voice was mono-tonal, and she managed to mispronounce just about every Hebrew related word. If you're hired to narrate History of the Jews, is it too much to expect the narrator to correctly pronounce the greatest Jewish philosopher? I returned it and purchased the Kindle version instead. I'll use one of those robotic readers to listen to it. Probably get better hit rate on pronunciation.

Very interesting

What did you like best about this story?

The history was very detailed and started much further back than I expected. Very well researched and written.

Great Listen

This book is very informative. I didn’t like the Christian point of view with BC and AD. They must have gotten a new narrator. The reviews by other listeners say there was a Nadia May, but mine says the narrator was Wanda Mccaddon. She did a great job.

Poor pronunciation

There are so many words and names that are not pronounced correctly. The reader should have been instructed in correct pronunciation.

Good story, not such good audio

What did you love best about A History of the Jews?

This book gives great insight into the overarching history of the Jewish people, though its breadth takes a bit away from its depth, though this is probably a mercy since there is just so much history to review here!

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

I'm sorry to say that the narration was not very satisfying. Nadia May is a wonderful reader, but here, perhaps because of poor recording equipment?, her voice sounded yappy and incessant. I was surprised by this since some of her other readings have been among my favorites.

Any additional comments?

This is one of those books which is great to fall asleep to. I look for a good long book that will send me off to sleep, and this one is definitely in that category! On the other hand, listening to it during my waking hours has been very interesting. My respect for the Jewish people, and my compassion for their years and years of suffering has intensified thanks to this book. I believe that this is the sort of history many people should be aware of.

Inaccurate history

It mentions that Saul was killed one year after becoming king and that Samuel mourned the death of Saul. This is totally inaccurate. Saul was king for 40 years. Samuel died before Saul. It’s the reason Saul went to the witch to bring up Samuel. Weird!!!!

Excellent!

Paul Johnson, as usual, was thorough and thoughtful in his imitable examination of one of the most complex peoples and their long and complex history--the Jews. Most importantly he was very fair in portraying the good, the bad and the ugly of their long saga... and of all humanity in general. I doff my hat to this masterpiece.

Thousands of years of history made accessible and remarkable

The Jews are a fascinating people, having survived for 3,000 years, and being the precursor, even inspirer, to Christianity and Islam.

How did Jews outlast Rome, Western Rome and Byzantium?

The book answers this fascinating question by delving headlong into the complexity, the tugs and pulls of Judaism with the practical reality of living and most of the time…basic survival.

Anti-Semitism is stripped bare; the origins, and its evolutions. Why it happened, and why it’s a load of bogus. A people separate from the rest, secretive, and a little bit strict in their ethics and ways of doing things, the Jews made for a natural outlier, and not always the best of friends, as Hadrian would attest before crushing Judea and creating the Jewish Diaspora. But the reactions to this state of things is hysterical and completely out of proportion with the actual realities of the situation, such as the blood libel conspiracy,

Its fierce form would arrive with the persecutions of the Medieval Church and Byzantium, and persist in various forms. At once useful and strongly proficient in the societies they made home, and at once strongly traditional and sequestered off.

And then Anti-Semitism would truly transmorph into its worst forms with the turn of the 19th century, and culminate in the personality of Adolf Hitler in the 20th century.

An overreaction to correlations, and a willful stupidity, anti-Semitic nonsense is revealed for the origins of its prejudice, and exposed for its stupidity, but it never takes an overwhelming focus, and Jewish survival against it played a role in their own activities, for better or worse, and helped to shape their character, individually and collectively.

All while the narrator takes a balanced hand in describing the historical trajectory of this people. If you want to understand the Jews and their place in history and the world, this is a great audiobook to listen to.