The Story of the Jews : A 4,000-Year Adventure

by Stan Mack

A Fresh Look at 4,000 Years of Jewish History―Authoritative, Complete...Funny Through witty, illustrated narrative, celebrated artist Stan Mack will take you on a rewarding pictorial journey through 4,000 years of ups and downs in Jewish history. The first "graphic history book" of its kind, The Story of the Jews celebrates the major characters and events that have shaped the Jewish people and culture, illustrating what it means to be Jewish. You will visit all the major Jewish happenings from biblical times to the twenty-first century―from Abraham and Sarah on the banks of the Euphrates to the Diaspora, intermarriage, and the State of Israel. Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, The triumph of King David, The creation of the Talmud, The rise of Christianity and Islam, The Crusades, The Inquisition, The Enlightenment, Life in the new Babylon (the United States), The birth of the state of Israel, And―of course―the world's first “Oy!”

Genres: History, Jewish, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Religion, Humor

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Josette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with my 10-year-old son, who thought it was funny and now knows a lot more about his people. I also really enjoyed it and thought it handled the difficult stuff with humor and insight.

[Amy Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun and fabulous way to survey 4,000 years of history.

I absolutely recommend.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic book history is a great introduction to Jewish history and culture. It covers a lot of ground in a very short space, touching on a broad span of time and physical area, and manages to be incredibly accessible as it does. It's a bit out of date by this point (published a little over twenty years ago), but it manages to cover more than enough for folks in need of a place to start. The author keeps a good sense of humour about it all, which makes it more enjoyable to read.

Recommended for folks in need of a starting point in learning Jewish history.

[kylie (allegedly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars of david

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and fun broadbrush overview of a massive expansive of history. I thought it was cleverly put and engagingly condensed, most likely good for children. I did think it was unnecessarily critical of Christianity (blaming Christians for the plague, for example, since they were apparently killing off the cats at the time) and overly complementary of Islam and it's spread (although it did acknowledge that it was spread by scimitar initially, they represented it as being a much more friendly and benign violence than the crusades for example, despite the fact that Christianity had long been in force before that point and was spread largely by the pen and peaceful means etc). Overall, though, I thought it was a good resource, and an interesting read for adults and children alike.

[Ruth Adar · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so it isn't exhaustive. A truly exhaustive history of the Jews takes up an entire library shelf. For a reasonable overview of Jewish history, you can't do much better than this little book.

I recommend it to my Introduction to the Jewish Experience classes at Lehrhaus Judaica, because it is a quick read and I can supplement it with other short readings. Stan Mack has done an amazing job.

Enjoy, and then if you are hungry for more, start looking at the big fat wordy history books with no pictures.

[Jos dujardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good and fast read on the fascinating story of a people, scattered around the (western) world and a good introduction into words that otherwise remain obscure such as haskalah.
I am very impressed by the hardship this people underwent, and how they were able to take this as an advantage as they got out of the Ghetto's and pretty much thrived in business and entertainment.
I found this a great introduction, and I love his drawing style.

[John Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great summary of the Jews in a graphic format. Well done.

[Michelle L · Rating 5 out of 5]

The comic book format pretty much blew me away and gave me an amazingly broad historical survey that in a text or serious tome would have required a lot more intensive attention. (I've done that too), but this was such a fun sweep. There were characters and incidents of which I'd been wholly unaware. Yay for Beruriah and boo on the necessary but appalling bar Kochba. I never knew. If only I knew some kids to give it to, it'd be perfect for 8 years old up -- and up.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So it has pictures and glosses over major historical events! I'm not saying it beats a real jaunt into research, but I did enjoy the brush up from 4000 yrs ago till now and it gave me a different perspective from which I was brought up in. AND . . . sue me, but the pictures were at times quite funny.

[Emilia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

YAY. I really enjoyed this. I learned some new things and saw the way some things connected to each other and for the most part appreciated the goofiness. On the other hand, the vast amount of time it had to cover in single panels made it sort of choppy. And it was very history focused rather than custom focused. Which is cool. I got other books for that. Jews!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book and stan mack's work

[Devorah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, informative cartoon history of the Jews. Engaging for older children and teens. A useful conversation starter for parents.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a pretty impressive feat, to retell Jewish history from the beginning of the Hebrew Bible up to the present day, in one graphic volume, & to do it accurately & with balance. I really enjoyed this book; I would also recommend it to anyone who wants to "brush up" their knowledge of Jewish history, or who is just starting.