"In this book Paul Kriwaczek pieces together for the first time the story of a singular nation, conceived in the Roman Empire, gestated in its successor states, born in central Europe, raised to maturity among the Catholic Slavs, and finally destroyed by overwhelming historical forces." "Here is the life story of the prosperous and successful Yiddish civilisation that once supplied mint masters, diplomats and economic advisers, physicians and engineers, not to mention music teachers, poets and philosophers, to the royal courts and governments of Europe - and took part in the formative events of European history; the story of a civilisation which, in the words of a distinguished British historian, had 'such a memorable influence on the history of the Western world'."--Jacket.