Jews and Judaism in African History

By Richard Hull
Markus Wiener Publishers, 2009

      A history of Jews and Judaism in Africa, from antiquity to present, this book looks at a population that has often been marginalized, but yet has played a role in the history of the continent hugely disproportionate to its numbers. Jews have enriched Africa culturally and economically, serving as innovators and middlemen, government servants and educators. Along the way, they have been victims and victimizers, mercenaries and proxies for others, as well as adjuvants in long-distance trade and sustainable development.
      And while Jews and Judaism have practically disappeared from Africa today, the legacy of both endures.
      Hull, professor of history at NYU, covers such topics as Jews in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt; Jews in the western Mediterranean region throughout the Inquisition; Jews in Ethiopia from antiquity to the 20th century; and Jewish communities in the Muslim world, including Morocco and West Africa.