My spouse (who was not raised Jewish) and I listened to this book together on Hoopla. It focuses more on Jewish philosophy and practices over time rather than history, but that just reminds me how much Jewish history there is in the last 2,000 years alone so that it cannot all be covered in a book this length and also have room to talk about Jewish religion and famous thinkers. For me, this was a good refresher plus introduced me to a few pieces of information that were new to me. For my spouse there was a lot that was new, though he found it a little dryer than I did. It seems rather clearly a lecture series that the author likely has taught many times in university settings, but as a former university professor myself I had no problem with that format.
Clear audio, H. Lupivitch was concise and very interesting to listen to.
I got to know more about the Jewish community, their start and somewhat where they are now and where they are heading
What I heard changed my perspective on them; instead of perpetual victims or something of the nature, however misinformed/wrong , I see the strength, revolutionary thoughts, process within community etc,
I lament that this is not written but I’ll definitely revisit this audio some time in the near future.
Really good overview of Jewish history. It's more of a lecture series talking about Jewish people from a more academic outside perspective. I really enjoyed it, but if your interest is primarily on theology or complex viewpoints within the religion, there are many better books for that. This is more historical and anthropological.