New Israel / New England

"An extremely important book for early American and Jewish studies, based on extensive scholarship, clearly and interestingly written, and suitable for general readers as well as scholars interested in either of those topics."—William Pencak, author of Jews and Gentiles in Early America, 1654-1800

"Offers a sustained analysis of how the ancient biblical Israelites and the physical presence of their latter-day descendants in colonial America figured prominently in Puritan typology, eschatology, and covenant theology. What makes this study intriguing is that Hoberman goes beyond the ideological similarities of Puritan theology and biblical Judaism by scrutinizing the personal interactions between Puritan elites and Jewish merchants, scholars, and rabbis."—Reiner Smolinski, author of The Threefold Paradise of Cotton Mather

"New Israel / New England has performed an invaluable service by providing a clear and focused account of Puritan-Jewish interaction in early New England and the young nation."—American Jewish History

"The merits of the book lie in its presentation of the interaction of particular Jews and particular Puritans and how that interaction was interpreted and recounted by those particular Puritans."—American Historical Review

"[The author's] decision to analyze Jews as both subjects and objects of representation in early America makes New Israel/New England an indispensable work of scholarship that engages with and updates the classic works of scholars such as Perry Miller and Sacvan Bercovitch."—Early American Literature

"Michael Hoberman's New Israel / New England traces some of the most important sources of Protestant America's ambivalence toward Jews. . . . Hoberman examines the interplay between abstract, imaginary, sometimes fantastical notions and face-to-face interactions between Protestant New Englanders and Jews . . . and presents a convincing, if not too surprising, argument that New England became gradually more receptive of Jews, and tolerant of a visible Jewish presence, over the course of the colonial period."—The Historical Journal