Manuel shows that the story of Europe’s discovery of Judaism was as rich, as complex, and sometimes as paradoxical as the better-known story of the discovery of ancient Greece and Rome… Manuel tells his complicated story with clarity and panache… The Christian enterprise of understanding Judaism has been, and probably will remain, a torment as well as a stimulus to both parties. It is a situation that is not likely to change—except, perhaps, in Manuel’s utopian future. But his learned and honest book exposes the twisted, bitter roots of error. A master historian has practiced his necessary craft.
-- Anthony Grafton New Republic

Mr. Manuel’s aim is to set Jewish and Hebrew scholarship against the background of Christian obsessions, in a sense to see it as an aspect of Christian ideas, a subject that the author of books on Isaac Newton and modern utopias, who has long taught history at Brandeis and New York University, is well qualified to present in grand perspective… [A] tightly packed and learned book.
-- George Holmes New York Times Book Review

[An] erudite and pioneering work on the Christian relationship to Judaism.
-- Shalom Goldman Newsday

This work by a distinguished intellectual historian of early modernity charts the developing image of Judaism held in various Christian circles from the 13th century to the present… [It] is a treasure of information and is full of deeply perceptive insights.
-- Choice