A History of the Jews

By: Paul Johnson

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 28 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Critic reviews

"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)

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.

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.

Excellent History

This is a great book: lively writing, well researched and for the most part, well paced. Criticism of the narration are petty: the woman is English and pronounces some words per the Queen's not American English. Jewish words are in fact recognizable. I almost didn't buy this book because of the complaints about the narration. I am so glad I did not heed the naysayers. A GREAT listen.