---
product_id: 164386
title: "The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD"
price: "€ 80.29"
currency: EUR
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reviews_count: 10
url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/164386-the-story-of-the-jews-finding-the-words-1000-bc
store_origin: HR
region: Croatia
---

# The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD

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## Description

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD [Schama, Simon] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD

Review: The Brightness Of The Scholar - All the books that enrich the history of the Jews deserve to be well received. In this sense, Simon Schama's book is very good for offering a chronology of landmark events in Jewish History. Schama dresses himself as an archaeologist and analyzes traces since 1000 BC. to 1492 AD. I am conscious that there are points in common with my book "Dutch Connection - The Jewish Saga From Spain To America", also avalable at www.desertcart.com. It is good for the Jewish History as a whole. First of all, this first volume of Schama's work ends where I begin mine. But let us return to our historian. In precise narrative, he traverses meadows and deserts in this walk of about five thousand years. Schama works the history properly, but with detachment from the human truth accumulated by the Jews throughout the centuries. In certain passages he puts in check the divine value of sacred words. One of his favorite phrases is "If the Bible was right, as the Orthodox rabbis say (...)." However, the writer admits the importance of Deuteronomy in the formation of Jewish culture. In presenting the book, Simon makes it clear that he considers himself as "the" Jewish historian, not "a" Jewish historian. He says he was the only to be chosen to continue Cecil Roth's work, but decided to build his own castle. "The Story of the Jews - Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD" is his first monument in this way.
Review: What I most like about Schama’s book was the emphasis on the tangible - What I most like about Schama’s book was the emphasis on the tangible. He concentrates on archeological discoveries, surviving papyrus letters and fragments, the ruins of ancient synagogue, their styles, locations and decorations, in other words, things that can be seen, felt, read. He does not start the history with Abraham, Moses and similar mythic characters for whom there is no real evidence. Since he deals mainly with the tangible, the history does not start as early as one might have thought, but starts early enough, at around 1000 B.C.E., and follows the Jews through Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Ages up until nearly the 16th century. One question that always comes to mind when reading Jewish history is how did this particular group survive when just about all other cotemporaneous religions and ethnicities disappear ages ago. Schama stresses the great advantage literacy gave the Jews for enduring cohesively through two Temple destruction, numerous exiles, attempted annihilations, forced conversions, and other scourges. Literacy seems always to have been encouraged. After all, even Yahweh himself was depicted as literate, inscribing the Ten Commandants himself and tagging Belshazzar’s wall. What other early gods sent missives to their people? I don’t recall off the top of my head Astarte, Baal, Zoroaster, Zeus depicted as reading and writing; usually their intentions were interpreted by oracles, omens and the like. But the laws of the Jews (unlike, say, the Moabites) were transcribed early on and apparently could be read a wide range of the populace. As early as the eighth century B.C.E., even heavy laborers carving a water conduit left inscriptions strongly suggesting they were literate. And from twenty-five centuries ago survive the letters of a Jewish mercenary at a faraway post to his family back home. The book has many more such examples. Simon Schama is a noted British lecturer and TV documentarian. He has a pleasant, conversational manner of speech, and he attempts to infuse this manner into his writing. So his sentences often have asides, phrases and comments through the use of commas, parentheses, dashes, quotation marks and italics. The result is that, for a history, his style seems chatty. This chattiness might be off-putting to some, but I found it pleasant, like a friend telling a story.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #262,550 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #62 in History of Judaism #78 in Israel & Palestine History (Books) #137 in Torah |
| Book 1 of 2  | The Story of the Jews |
| Customer Reviews | 4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,336) |
| Dimensions  | 6 x 1.58 x 9 inches |
| Edition  | First Edition |
| ISBN-10  | 0060539186 |
| Item Weight  | 1.7 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 512 pages |
| Publication date  | March 18, 2014 |
| Publisher  | Ecco |

## Images

![The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Fr4PZbCGL.jpg)
![The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51j1z8Oca+L.jpg)
![The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81wW3e8KTuL.jpg)
![The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91n60jZvf8L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Brightness Of The Scholar
*by P***O on April 6, 2017*

All the books that enrich the history of the Jews deserve to be well received. In this sense, Simon Schama's book is very good for offering a chronology of landmark events in Jewish History. Schama dresses himself as an archaeologist and analyzes traces since 1000 BC. to 1492 AD. I am conscious that there are points in common with my book "Dutch Connection - The Jewish Saga From Spain To America", also avalable at www.amazon.com. It is good for the Jewish History as a whole. First of all, this first volume of Schama's work ends where I begin mine. But let us return to our historian. In precise narrative, he traverses meadows and deserts in this walk of about five thousand years. Schama works the history properly, but with detachment from the human truth accumulated by the Jews throughout the centuries. In certain passages he puts in check the divine value of sacred words. One of his favorite phrases is "If the Bible was right, as the Orthodox rabbis say (...)." However, the writer admits the importance of Deuteronomy in the formation of Jewish culture. In presenting the book, Simon makes it clear that he considers himself as "the" Jewish historian, not "a" Jewish historian. He says he was the only to be chosen to continue Cecil Roth's work, but decided to build his own castle. "The Story of the Jews - Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD" is his first monument in this way.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ What I most like about Schama’s book was the emphasis on the tangible
*by R***H on August 25, 2014*

What I most like about Schama’s book was the emphasis on the tangible. He concentrates on archeological discoveries, surviving papyrus letters and fragments, the ruins of ancient synagogue, their styles, locations and decorations, in other words, things that can be seen, felt, read. He does not start the history with Abraham, Moses and similar mythic characters for whom there is no real evidence. Since he deals mainly with the tangible, the history does not start as early as one might have thought, but starts early enough, at around 1000 B.C.E., and follows the Jews through Hellenistic, Roman, and Medieval Ages up until nearly the 16th century. One question that always comes to mind when reading Jewish history is how did this particular group survive when just about all other cotemporaneous religions and ethnicities disappear ages ago. Schama stresses the great advantage literacy gave the Jews for enduring cohesively through two Temple destruction, numerous exiles, attempted annihilations, forced conversions, and other scourges. Literacy seems always to have been encouraged. After all, even Yahweh himself was depicted as literate, inscribing the Ten Commandants himself and tagging Belshazzar’s wall. What other early gods sent missives to their people? I don’t recall off the top of my head Astarte, Baal, Zoroaster, Zeus depicted as reading and writing; usually their intentions were interpreted by oracles, omens and the like. But the laws of the Jews (unlike, say, the Moabites) were transcribed early on and apparently could be read a wide range of the populace. As early as the eighth century B.C.E., even heavy laborers carving a water conduit left inscriptions strongly suggesting they were literate. And from twenty-five centuries ago survive the letters of a Jewish mercenary at a faraway post to his family back home. The book has many more such examples. Simon Schama is a noted British lecturer and TV documentarian. He has a pleasant, conversational manner of speech, and he attempts to infuse this manner into his writing. So his sentences often have asides, phrases and comments through the use of commas, parentheses, dashes, quotation marks and italics. The result is that, for a history, his style seems chatty. This chattiness might be off-putting to some, but I found it pleasant, like a friend telling a story.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent work, clear and extensive.
*by G***G on May 18, 2025*

I enjoyed every single chapter of this work, learnt a lot on my people. Only one correction: Jews from Morocco still move the Seder plate over the head of every member of the family, chanting in judeo-Arab “bibi luya salu mimitzraim”, before “ha lahma Ania…”.

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*Last updated: 2026-03-12*