Table of Contents

About the Author

Mark R. Cohen is Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His books include Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt and The Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi, both published by Princeton University Press.

Reviews

Cohen's is a polemical text in the best sense of the word: it tries to open debate, not stifle it, and asks questions where they are traditionally shouted away... A reassuringly balanced and judicious assessment of Jewish life in the Middle Ages. -- Andre A. Aciman New York Newsday Cohen's concern in this important new book is with a historiographically far more interesting and useful question [than the debate over the Jewish experiences in the medieval worlds of Christendom and Islam]: why the difference? ... Cohen's argument is buttressed with an impressive range of evidence drawn from both Jewish and non-Jewish sources in the Islamic and Christian worlds. -- David Wasserstein The Times Literary Supplement Cohen advances our knowledge through a fine treatment of the huge literature and the application of social anthropological theory. Scholars will welcome the sound synthesis; general readers will appreciate the lucid style. Library Journal

Cohen's is a polemical text in the best sense of the word: it tries to open debate, not stifle it, and asks questions where they are traditionally shouted away... A reassuringly balanced and judicious assessment of Jewish life in the Middle Ages. -- Andre A. Aciman New York Newsday Cohen's concern in this important new book is with a historiographically far more interesting and useful question [than the debate over the Jewish experiences in the medieval worlds of Christendom and Islam]: why the difference? ... Cohen's argument is buttressed with an impressive range of evidence drawn from both Jewish and non-Jewish sources in the Islamic and Christian worlds. -- David Wasserstein The Times Literary Supplement Cohen advances our knowledge through a fine treatment of the huge literature and the application of social anthropological theory. Scholars will welcome the sound synthesis; general readers will appreciate the lucid style. Library Journal

Did medieval Jews enjoy peace and security while living in an interfaith utopia under the crescent of Islam but experience hostility and persecution under the cross of Christianity? In this important comparative history study, Cohen (Near Eastern studies, Princeton Univ.) sketches the social, political, and economic status of Jews in Christian and Muslim theology, law, and social practice from the beginning of the common era to Spain's expulsion of the Jews in 1492. He shows that while European Jews were first marginalized and then expelled from the social order, under Islam Jews participated fully in commercial and professional activities. Islamic culture gave the merchant great respect; Christianity did not. While much of this is known to specialists, Cohen advances our knowledge through a fine treatment of the huge literature and the application of social anthropological theory. Scholars will welcome the sound synthesis; general readers will appreciate the lucid style. For research and general collections.-Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.