A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Presentsecond, Expanded Edition - Hardcover

Gitelman, Zvi

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9780253338112: A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Presentsecond, Expanded Edition

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253338115 ISBN 13: 9780253338112

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2001

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A century ago the Russian Empire contained the largest Jewish community in the world, numbering about five million people. Today, the Jewish population of the former Soviet Union has dwindled to half a million, but remains probably the world's third largest Jewish community. In the intervening century the Jews of that area have been at the center of some of the most dramatic events of modern history -- two world wars, revolutions, pogroms, political liberation, repression, and the collapse of the USSR. They have gone through tumultuous upward and downward economic and social mobility and experienced great enthusiasms and profound disappointments. In startling photographs from the archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and with a lively and lucid narrative, A Century of Ambivalence traces the historical experience of Jews in Russia from a period of creativity and repression in the second half of the 19th century through the paradoxes posed by the post-Soviet era. This redesigned edition, which includes more than 200 photographs and two substantial new chapters on the fate of Jews and Judaism in the former Soviet Union, is ideal for general readers and classroom use.

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About the Author:

Zvi Gitelman is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. He is author of Jewish Nationality and Soviet Politics: The Jewish Sections of the CPSU, 1917-1930 and editor of Bitter Legacy: Confronting the Holocaust in the USSR (Indiana University Press).

From Library Journal:

Through a remarkable collection of photographs from the YIVO Institute and private sources, this book traces the uncertain relationship of the Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union with their state and society. It shows how Jews have remained torn between a love for the land of their birth and loyalty to their own heritage, while contending with both the prejudices of the majority population and the continually shifting policies of the government, tsarist and communist. Well written, well documented, and unique as a pictorial record, this is appropriate for general collections and an important addition to those devoted to Jewish history and life. Quality Paperback and History Book Club selections. Rena Fowler, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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