Overview

Rise and Decline of Civilizations: Lessons for the Jewish People is a thought experiment in which the author examines the work of 23 historians of the last 2,400 years, from Thucydides to Jared Diamond, who describe the rise and decline of nations and civilizations. None of these is a historian of Judaism. The key question of the book is whether the reasons that explain the rise, decline, and fall of other civilizations could apply to the Jews as well. The answer of the author is a qualified yes. From the work of these historians he extracts 12 ""drivers,"" or factors that explain rise and decline, from religion to natural catastrophes. Reviewing the Jewish history of more than 3,000 years against the background of these drivers opens fascinating new vistas for the general reader, and may be particularly useful to historians and politicians.

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9781618113771

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Reviews

Rise and Decline of Civilizations could not come at a more appropriate time. . . . Within its well-constructed chapters Rise and Decline of Civilizations repeatedly stresses the idea that we can learn from history, carefully examines modern-day problems through theoretically-crafted historical frameworks, and progressively lays out numerous examples of how civilizations have successfully and unsuccessfully delayed their decline and death. --Fred Reiss, Ed.D. San Diego Jewish World (12/15/2014)

This sweeping examination of the history of civilizations as it applies to Jewish civilization is an impressive, long-overdue look at the way by which Jewish history should be examined in today's fast-moving world. . . . Wald selects twenty-three Jewish and non-Jewish writers from Thucydides (ca. 460-400 BCE) to Arthur Herman (1956 - ) and skillfully encapsulates their philosophy of history. He demonstrates his broad familiarity with historical analysis and has produced a work which should be read by history buffs, teachers, and librarians. --Morton Merowitz Rise and Decline of Civilizations could not come at a more appropriate time. . . . Within its well-constructed chapters Rise and Decline of Civilizations repeatedly stresses the idea that we can learn from history, carefully examines modern-day problems through theoretically-crafted historical frameworks, and progressively lays out numerous examples of how civilizations have successfully and unsuccessfully delayed their decline and death. --Fred Reiss, Ed.D. San Diego Jewish World (12/15/2014)

This sweeping examination of the history of civilizations as it applies to Jewish civilization is an impressive, long-overdue look at the way by which Jewish history should be examined in today's fast-moving world. . . . Wald selects twenty-three Jewish and non-Jewish writers from Thucydides (ca. 460-400 BCE) to Arthur Herman (1956 - ) and skillfully encapsulates their philosophy of history. He demonstrates his broad familiarity with historical analysis and has produced a work which should be read by history buffs, teachers, and librarians. --Morton Merowitz Rise and Decline of Civilizations could not come at a more appropriate time. . . . Within its well-constructed chapters Rise and Decline of Civilizations repeatedly stresses the idea that we can learn from history, carefully examines modern-day problems through theoretically-crafted historical frameworks, and progressively lays out numerous examples of how civilizations have successfully and unsuccessfully delayed their decline and death. --Fred Reiss, Ed.D. San Diego Jewish World

This sweeping examination of the history of civilizations as it applies to Jewish civilization is an impressive, long-overdue look at the way by which Jewish history should be examined in today's fast-moving world. . . . Wald selects twenty-three Jewish and non-Jewish writers from Thucydides (ca. 460-400 BCE) to Arthur Herman (1956 - ) and skillfully encapsulates their philosophy of history. He demonstrates his broad familiarity with historical analysis and has produced a work which should be read by history buffs, teachers, and librarians. -- Morton Merowitz Rise and Decline of Civilizations could not come at a more appropriate time. . . . Within its well-constructed chapters Rise and Decline of Civilizations repeatedly stresses the idea that we can learn from history, carefully examines modern-day problems through theoretically-crafted historical frameworks, and progressively lays out numerous examples of how civilizations have successfully and unsuccessfully delayed their decline and death. -- Fred Reiss, Ed.D. * San Diego Jewish World *

Author Information

Shalom Salomon Wald is a Senior Fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in Jerusalem, specializing in the history of Jewish civilization, Israeli S&T policy, and Jewish-Israeli links with China and India. Dr. Wald's wide-ranging research interests include economics, sociology, history, and the history of religion and philosophy. His PhD thesis on the sociologist-historian Alfred Weber received the University of Basle's prize as the best thesis in the social sciences in 1962. From 1964 to 2001, Dr. Wald served at the OECD Paris, the West's biggest policy think-tank and advisory body, as an educational, science and technology expert, and as the co-founder and head of the OECD-DSTI Biotechnology Unit, authoring numerous OECD papers and publications (his last before retiring: Biotechnology and Healthy Aging). He joined the JPPI in 2002.

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