Notes: About half of this detailed yet briskly-written study, which begins with the Jews of Roman Gaul, focuses on the very end of the 19th century and all of the 20th, examining the immigration to and life in France of today's Jews and their immediate forebears. Benbassa treats such social, political and economic issues as assimilation and diversity, as well as the ravaging effects of the anti-Semitism that developed in the late 19th century and active (and ongoing) efforts to combat it. Her overall philosophy is expressed in the last sentence of the text: "Despite doubts in various quarters and the temptation from time to time to withdraw from French society, the ties binding the Jews of France and the republic, sometimes quite passionately felt indeed, cannot easily be undone" (p. 199). This book, translated by M. B. DeBevoise, was very well received in France at the time of its publication in 1997, under the title Histoire des Juifs de France. (Limited availability.)