The Story of Hebrew

“In this incandescent narrative of an ever-renewing tongue, masterful linguist Lewis Glinert traces how Hebrew, however severely displaced from its native ground, has continued through centuries of tribulation to nurture its heritage. Elegantly luring us from one intellectual movement to the next, he arrives at history’s most moving culmination: the language of the Book returning at last to the everyday voices of little children.”—Cynthia Ozick, author of Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays

“To read [this book] is to appreciate Hebrew as the grammar of a dynamic dialogue between the claims of the ever-changing present and the imperatives of the past.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal

“[A] fascinating study that reads easily and wears its scholarship lightly.”—Sylvia Rothschild, The Jewish Chronicle

“I cannot recall reading any book about Jewish history that contains as much suspense and as many surprises, [or] that supplies so many ‘Aha!’ moments.”—Susan Miron, ArtsFuse