Alexander Lee The First Ghetto : Venice & the Jews Hardcover Book

A sweeping, riveting history of the Venetian Ghetto, the world&rsquos first Jewish ghetto.&#39Brilliantly researched and deeply moving&#39 Roger Crowley, author of City of Fortune&#39Alexander Lee combines expertise in Venetian history, with sensibility to the Jewish past, and a gift for storytelling. Highly recommended&#39 Professor Miri Rubin, author of Cities of StrangersIn the early sixteenth century, amidst the ruins of war, and in an atmosphere of religious hatred, the world&rsquos first Jewish &lsquoghetto&rsquo was established in Venice. Constrained in cramped, often insanitary conditions, the Jews who were forced to live there were extorted, abused and subjected to countless humiliating restrictions. Before long, Venice&rsquos Ghetto became the prototype for ghettos throughout Europe, paving the way for a more vicious and enduring form of antisemitism. Yet the Ghetto&rsquos story is also a testament of hope. Despite all they faced through the centuries, its residents thrived, creating a flourishing literary, musical and religious community. They sustained Venice&rsquos economy &ndash and, as more migrants arrived, the Ghetto became a microcosm of the Jewish world. Historian Alexander Lee traces this vivid story from the first Jewish arrivals in the early fourteenth century to the present day, reconstructing the Ghetto through the eyes of its inhabitants &ndash from the domestic squabbles of a sixteenthcentury rabbi to the agonising wait of a family bound for... | Alexander Lee The First Ghetto : Venice & the Jews Hardcover Book