The Contemporary Relevance of History

"In his latest book the author of the classic multivolume 'Social and Religious History of the Jews' steps back from his usual close, archival work to survey the entire field of historical scholarship from a perspective possible only from someone with his long and vast experience. Salo Baron covers history from antiquity to today, from the Mediterranean region to the Western world, critically assessing the various approaches to the study of history that have come into (and fallen from) fashion during his own years of writing history. Included are psycho-history, quantitative history, the socio-religious approach, and social-cultural analysis. While many of Baron's examples are taken from his field of expertise, Jewish history, they often have universal connotations since the Jewish past spans three milennia and tremendous geographical distance."