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Wide-ranging study, enhanced with over 250 illustrations, offers a fascinating history of the Jewish house of worship from antiquity to modern times. Describes their functions, furnishings, and architectural changes through the centuries, with specific accounts of individual European synagogues and insightful discussions of fortifications, materials of construction, women's galleries, and more.

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CHOICE Review

The basic thesis here is disarmingly simple: the history of the synagogues of Europe, an architectural and cultural history, and, above all, the story of a minority's insistence on the right to worship within the dominant culture. A quorum of ten male Jews could establish a place of worship anywhere, anytime, subject to the consent of the majority society. With no archetypal design to serve as model, the synagogue became subject to the forces of the prevailing architectural styles; the synagogue's design depended on the majority's interpretation and manipulation of the prevailing styles dictated as appropriate for the minority community. Thus, this history of the synagogue is also a history of the political uses of architecture and an astounding document of the emancipation of Jews in Europe. In the second half of the book, synagogues throughout Europe from antiquity to modern times are discussed in detail as to their architectural and historical significance. Each section contains an extensive bibliography and the book is well annotated throughout. This is an overwhelming work of research, scholarship, and analysis. It is encyclopedic in content, yet reads like a suspense novel. The book's design, paper, and illustrations also provide great visual and tactile satisfaction. The book is a ``best buy'' for academic and college libraries and medium-to-large public libraries, all levels of readers.-B. Jacob, University of Minnesota