This is an absolutely fabulous book. It is the history of a language that is 1,000 years old.

From the back cover: "Here is the remarkable story of how this humble language took vigorous root in Eastern European shtetls and in the Jewish quarters of cities across Europe; how it achieved a rich literary flowering between the wars, in Europe and America; how it was rejected by emancipated Jews; and how it became victim to the Holocaust. And finally, in yet another twist of destiny, how Yiddish today is becoming the darling of academia. Yiddish is a history as story, a tale of flesh-and-blood people with manic humor, visionary courage, brilliant causes and glorious flaws."

This "reference" book reads like a novel and is just as fascinating.

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