Now available in paperback. *** "This riveting collection of essays covers a breathtaking scope, the amount of research is impressive, and the level of analysis is as refreshing as it is innovative. It is hard to name any other work that covers such a diverse range of fascinating questions in Jewish history in such a learned and professional manner. The author has an uncanny ability to synthesize a diverse range of material with interpretations and analyses that are as brilliant as they are straightforward. This collection will make an excellent companion to extant English and Hebrew language works on modern Jewish history. It will also make for interesting reading in undergraduate classes and graduate seminars on social history, east European history, and Jewish history. In short, this is a gem of a book, the kind that you will want to read, the kind that students will love to read, the kind that scholars as well will not be able to put down." -- Scott Ury, Religious Studies Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, March 2012 *** "For many years, Shaul Stampfer has been recognised as an authority in all things dealing with nineteenth-century Jewish Eastern Europe... his] focus is not on the purely intellectual debates between rabbinic elites. He is more interested in social history, how average people and in particular women lived. Even his discussions of rabbis emphasize such matters as inheritance of rabbinic positions and the rabbi's role in communal life. His sources are quite broad: traditional rabbinic works as well as Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian texts and newspapers...there is much more that can be said about Stampfer's careful scholarship, which is a treat for all readers." -- Marc B. Shapiro, H-Judaic *** "This book of essays by an exceptionally wide-ranging social and cultural historian is much more than a rich investigation of 'traditional society'." -- Kenneth B. Moss, Journal of Modern History *** "Represents decades of intensive study of Jewish daily life in eastern Europe. The book brings together many of Stampfer's previously published writings, although several appear here in English for the first time...provides us with the oeuvre of a scholar who has spent years thinking about these issues and provides a wonderful context for further study." --- Jeffrey Veidlinger, East European Jewish Affairs *** "Accessible and lively...a good read not only for scholars, but also for general readers interested in seeing just how far we have come from that vanished world." -- Jewish Book World