The study of the Hebrew language has been a major preoccupation of many Jews and non-Jews since ancient times. This book fully illuminates this fascinating history. Substantial sections of the book deal with the Second Temple period, when Hebrew was cultivated alongside the Aramaic and Greek vernaculars; the Roman empire; the medieval period, with special attention to the Karaite Jews and their characteristic Hebrew, the Renaissance and early modern period, including the efflorescence of Christian Hebrew study in Italy and northern Europe; and the revival of Hebrew in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Europe, in Palestine under the British mandate, and in modern Israel. Experts in various periods collaborate to make this book a valuable introduction to an area lacking a comprehensive survey. --Wido Van Peursen, Bibliotheca Orientalis LVII No.5/6 (September-December 2000) "To find in one volume such a large sample of distinguished British scholars writing on a rather forgotten topic is doubtless a brilliant display of the state of scholarship on Jewish Studies in the United Kingdom at the end of the century, and it creates in the reader a sense of optimism." --Angel Saenz Badillos, Journal of Jewish Studies 52.1 (Spring 2001)>