This is a great overview on Jewish life from the beginning of the Diaspora until roughly the 1960's. Although many other books do great work discussing the period of the Destruction of the Second Temple and the Pogroms and Holocaust, this book does a great job filling in the blanks with what happened to the Jewish people in the interregnum. There are detailed accounts of Jewish life and the quality of Jewish living under various despots and monarchs, and we are guided through numerous libels, expulsions, and oppressive measures. Overall a great overview of the Jewish Diaspora.