Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2019 - Humanities — Religion — Middle Eastern Studies

This is an outstanding work of innovative historical scholarship that also marshals vast amounts of highly localized data--arrayed and displayed for analysis in colorful maps and graphs--to reveal much that has not been previously known about the rise, development, growth, and survival of the Jewish Hasidic movement. Hasidism, born in 18th-century Poland, grew to become a dominant form of Judaism in most of Eastern Europe. Accessibly written, this book is marvelously illustrated with scores of detailed maps, graphs, and lists, along with many quite expressive paintings and photographs drawn from a variety of archives and private collections, as well as field research. The book points to the conditions in which Hasidism grew and flourished in a variety of forms that took shape in the different regions of Eastern Europe. The text highlights the East European cradle of Hasidism, but just as importantly it carefully examines the dynamic communal patterns of growth among the flourishing 21st-century Hasidic communities in New York and Israel. This large volume's ebook format lends itself well to classroom screens. This is an important work of scholarly and pedagogical excellence.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.