Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews

by Melvin Konner

Far reaching, intellectually rich, and passionately written, Unsettled takes the whole history of Western civilization as its canvas and places onto it the Jewish people and faith. With historical insight and vivid storytelling, renowned anthropologist Melvin Konner charts how the Jews endured largely hostile (but at times accepting) cultures to shape the world around them and make their mark throughout history—from the pastoral tribes of the Bronze Age to enslavement in the Roman Empire, from the darkness of the Holocaust to the creation of Israel and the flourishing of Jews in America. With fresh interpretations of the antecedents of today's pressing conflicts, Unsettled is a work whose modern-day reverberations could not be more relevant or timely.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Judaism, Religion, Jewish, Anthropology, Judaica

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Melvin Konner, M.D. is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology at Emory University. He is the author of Women After All, Becoming a Doctor and Medicine at the Crossroads, among other books.

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although beautifully told in narrative format, this book does not likely carry positive scholarly merit for a few reasons, which I discuss in my comments on it. It would be a fascinating project to take this writer to task based on a review by a very knowledgable Jewish scholar who reviewed him in The New York Times Book Reviews.

What do you think?

[Jordon Gyarmathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this anthropology of the jewish people from the specific perspective of Melvin Konner, a jew who lost his faith, studied anthropology and resparked an interest in the religion and community. The book is formatted well in a digestible way and the concluding section of the book ties a wonderful bow around the jewish experience from conception to the unsteady future. Konner raises great questions and hints at answers through statistics and well sourced quotes. Overall highly informative and a very pleasant read.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful overview of Jewish history from Moses to current times. The Jews have always been hated but remain steadfast as "God wrestlers". Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Spanish, Russians and Germans have shown violence towards them by capture, pograms, destruction - Shoah, and terrorism. With a dwindling population, less than 2% of the US what is their future?

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book started out interesting enough, however halfway through, the author started jumping around in time. It got very confusing and he lost me. I also got the impression that many of his conclusions were not based entirely on scholarly research and more just a conclusion he felt fit. But I don't know if that is the case.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a scholarly work, not a pleasure-read.

I read a few selected chapters out of the middle and then put it in the library at my UU church. I don't think I was the target audience. But from a historical perspective it was interesting to read a collection Jewish resistance efforts in WWII.

[Deke Moulton · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF on page 82. It’s just really bizarrely written and hard to follow and concrete lines of thought. It’s almost written as a stream of conscious instead of an actual history.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very informative but very slow going, I didn't finish it to be honest.