Salo Wittmayer Baron

Salo Wittmayer Baron was, alongside Simon Dubnow and Heinrich Graetz, one of the three most important figures in the study of Jewish history. His sweeping, multivolume history of Jewish life and culture covered the whole of recorded history from ancient to modern times and has been hailed as one of the most important books in the field of Jewish studies. Baron, for six decades the unchallenged symbol of Jewish studies, was, it can be argued, largely responsible for the blossoming of Jewish history as a field of study in America. In this first full-length biography of this seminal figure, the latest addition to Steven Katz's acclaimed Modern Jewish Masters series, award-winning author Robert Liberles traces the remarkable life and career of this influential man. An accessible introduction to Baron's life, work, and times, the book also examines Baron's major works within their proper chronological framework. Liberles further provides an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the politics of the academic communities Baron inhabited, especially during his tenure at Columbia University. Salo Baron's life sheds light on a range of broader issues facing American Jewry: the transplanting of Jewish studies from Europe to America, the use of social history in defense against antisemitism, and the emergence of the American Jewish community as leaders of world Jewry.