A richly illustrated, panoramic history to be treasured and passed down from generation to generation. What an extraordinary chronicle of upheaval, sorrow and achievement is the saga of the Jews in the twentieth century - and who better to narrate it than the renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert, whose lifework has been the study of the events and personages of our time. In this richly illustrated volume he vividly describes the individuals, the historic movements the watershed moments, and the horrific years that so profoundly changed the world and the Jewish People. In a text interwoven with and illuminated by more than 500 fascinating photographs, many never before published, we meet the widely dispersed turn-of-the-century Jewish communities of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Then we encounter, with startling intimacy, the impassioned Zionists who set out to reclaim Palestine, and the immigrant waves that poured out of Eastern Europe in search of a better life in North America. Among them, the brilliantly creative writers, composers, actors and comedians who enthralled millions; and the scientists, judges, legislators, entrepreneurs and intellectuals whose numbers can hardly be counted but whose thoughts and deeds help shape the modern world. Chapters include: - Migration - First World War - The Crucible Years - Challenge and Response - Second World War - Rehabilitation, Statehood and Renewal - Successes, Threats & Dilemmas - Towards the Twenty-First Century This is the extraordinary story of the Jewish people in the twentieth century: a saga of migration, toil, unprecedented achievements, creativity, and the building of a new nation. It will be an enduring and definitive record. (2001)

MARTIN GILBERT is the author of more than seventy books and a leading historian of the modern world.
Gilbert was born in London in 1936. He was sent to Canada at the age of three-and-a-half in an effort to escape the war, but returned home soon thereafter. He graduated from Oxford in 1960 and wrote his first book, called The Appeasers. In 1961, after a year of research and writing, Gilbert was asked to join a team of researchers working for Winston Churchill. At the age of 25, he was formally inducted into the team, doing all of his own research. Gilbert became known as Churchill’s official biographer and has remained so ever since. He is a fellow of Merton College at Oxford and has written numerous books—some on Churchill, such as his multivolume treatise called Churchill, some on the Holocaust (Surviving the Holocaust), and some on the war itself (The Second World War). He continues to write on the struggles of Jews during the war and the histories of this world, from culture to culture.
In 1995 he was knighted “for services to British history and international relations” and in 1999 he was awarded a Doctorate of Literature by the University of Oxford for the totality of his published work. He now divides his time between London, Ontario, and London, England.

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