This narrative history surveying one thousand years of Jewish life integrates the Jewish experience into the context of the overall culture and society of medieval Europe. It presents a new picture of the interaction between Christians and Jews in this tumultuous era. Alienated Minority shows us what it meant to be a Jew in Europe in the Middle Ages. The story begins in the fifth century; when autonomous Jewish rule in Palestine came to a close; and when the papacy; led by Gregory the Great; established enduring principles regarding Christian policy toward Jews. Kenneth Stow examines the structures of self-government in the European Jewish community and the centrality of emerging concepts of representation. He studies economic enterprise; especially banking; constructs a clear image of the medieval Jewish family; and portrays in detail the very rich Jewish intellectual life. Analyzing policies of Church and State in the Middle Ages; Stow argues that a firmly defined legal and constitutional position of the Jewish minority in the earlier period gave way to a legal status created expressly for Jews; who in the later period were seen as inimical to the common good. It was this special status that paved the way for the royal expulsions of Jews that began at the end of the thirteenth century.
#2501599 in Books Harvard University Press 2000-09-29Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .67 x 5.84 x 8.52l; #File Name: 0674004442176 pages
Review
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Excellent analysisBy TammyJo EckhartBut chosing five mainstream feature films; Davis has allowed the average reader into the rather closed world of film criticism and historical analysis. A historian herself; Davis applies performance theory to examining how feature films do and can be an educational vehicle for history. Five films are examined: Spartacus; Burn!; The Last Supper; Amistad; and Beloved. The last four all deal with slavery in the "new world" of the Americas. Davis points out incidents where historical fact has been replaced with fiction; where events have taken on a modern twist; and how film-making has hindered or aided in connecting the past to the modern audience. None of the five films are perfect but Davis feels they are good overall because their goals are all to make the audience feel what the slaves or freed felt so that we can form a better understanding of a social institution that currently is frowned upon in most of the developed world. It would have been better if she spent more time on the history of the period and events each movie covered but for an early attempt at using performance theory in history; it is an excellent start.
