Rescue the Surviving Souls - by Adam Teller (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A groundbreaking examination of a little-known but defining episode in early modern Jewish history

A refugee crisis of huge proportions erupted as a result of the mid-seventeenth-century wars in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Tens of thousands of Jews fled their homes, or were captured and trafficked across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Rescue the Surviving Souls is the first book to examine this horrific moment of displacement and flight, and to assess its social, economic, religious, cultural, and psychological consequences. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources in twelve languages, Adam Teller traces the entire course of the crisis, shedding fresh light on the refugee experience and the various relief strategies developed by the major Jewish centers of the day.

Teller pays particular attention to those thousands of Jews sent for sale on the slave markets of Istanbul and the extensive transregional Jewish economic network that coalesced to ransom them. He also explores how Jewish communities rallied to support the refugees in central and western Europe, as well as in Poland-Lithuania, doing everything possible to help them overcome their traumatic experiences and rebuild their lives.

Rescue the Surviving Souls offers an intimate study of an international refugee crisis, from outbreak to resolution, that is profoundly relevant today.

Review Quotes

"Res­cue the Sur­viv­ing Souls throws us back to a deci­sive moment in the his­to­ry of the Jew­ish peo­ple. . . . With exception­al eru­di­tion, pen­e­trat­ing intel­li­gence, and sparkling prose, Adam Teller depicts this hor­ren­dous moment in all of its com­plex­i­ty: as a moment of death but also of new life; dis­rup­tion and con­nec­tion; and sense­less vio­lence but also pre­cious moments of human sym­pa­thy. Based on research in dozens of archives and almost as many lan­guages, Res­cue the Sur­viv­ing Souls is a tour de force of his­tor­i­cal writ­ing: it is at once com­pul­sive­ly read­able and schol­ar­ly."---Judges' Remarks, National Jewish Book Award

"[Teller takes] an approach that one would hope will be a model for future refugee studies of the past and present. . . . The parallels that can be drawn to other forced ethnic refugee migrations, to trauma-coping practices within refugee communities, and to the need for philanthropic collaboration through transregional communal infrastructures could not be timelier for our understanding of the continuities of the seventeenth century as well as our own time."---Verena Kasper-Marienberg, Central European History

"Highly detailed and compelling."---Joshua Picard, Religious Studies Review

"Rescuing the Surviving Souls is a remarkable achievement, and should be read widely not only by scholars of early modern Jewry, but by all students of the early modern world as well as those interested in refugees regardless of time or place. The dynamism, interconnectedness, and rich emotional and spiritual depth of this historical account come to light at the hands of a master storyteller. . . . Teller's book exemplifies some of the best work being done by historians of refugees."---Jesse Spohnholz, Studia Rosenthaliana

"[A] richly detailed, fluent and innovative study."---Adam Sutcliffe, Times Literary Supplement

"Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in History"

"Honorable Mention for the Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies"

"Overall, Teller's sweeping and comprehensive treatment of the seventeenth century is an important and ground-breaking contribution to the field of Jewish history."---Rebecca Wartell, Mediterranean Historical Review

"Teller's valuable work moves us towards histories that foreground relations across and between early modern communities and enables us to contemplate broader narratives."---Nicholas Terpstra, Jewish History

"Winner of the Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award, The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America"

About the Author

Adam Teller is professor of history and Judaic studies at Brown University. He is the author of Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania: The Jews on the Radziwill Estates.