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June 2020 Vol. 57 No. 10

Essentially an encyclopedia of transnational Jewish thought and creativity, this is the sixth volume of a projected ten funded by the Posen Foundation, but the second volume (after volume 10) published in the The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization set. Carlebach (Columbia Univ.) divides the volume in four parts—"Literature," "Intellectual Culture," "Visual and Material Culture," and "Performing Arts"—documenting the great shift in Jewish civilization, especially in the West, from religious particularism to integration in the cultural and civic life of nations. Overarching sections are further subdivided. The Jewishness of the primary source entries depends more on their Jewish authorship than on subject matter: multiple texts under “Isaac Sasportas” (pp. 311–13) include material authored by Sasportas regarding 1799 plans for emancipating slaves in Jamaica as well as his letter to the governor of Jamaica pleading for a delay in his death sentence (he was nonetheless hanged in 1799). Much of the visual art in the section devoted to visual and material culture depicts international Jewish creativity connected to ritual objects, along with portraits of Jewish notables (e.g., Benjamin Judah, Amalie Beer) by non-Jewish painters. A text in which to immerse oneself, the volume can be read cover to cover or surveyed chronologically or topically.

--A. Lieberman Colgan, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.