The Jews

. . the choosing people rather thanthe chosen." Chaim Bermant caters neither to sentimentality nor facile prejudice in this striking portrait of a culture that has always resisted easy understanding. His candid examination of thepersonal and social history of the Jewsthrough the ages does not overlooktheir human foibles nor underestimatetheir uniqueness. The Jews is enlightening and amusing, liberally sprinkledwith anecdotes about the many outstanding and prominent ]ews whoseem to epitomize the cliches so manybelieve. Half truths and myths areseparated from their true nature andreality with disarming directness in anadroit blend of history, sociology andphilosophy. Here are the Rothschilds,the Warner brothers, Karl Marx, JonasSalk, Chaim Weizmann, Sandy Konfax, julius Rosenwald, Modiglianialive as individuals, part of the jewishpeople. Their classic struggle to survive centuries of oppression has lent apoignant urgency to their search foran identity, a drive that is deep andabiding in the human experience.