The Exile in the Maghreb entails the first attempt at describing the historical reality of the legal and social condition of the Jews in the Muslim countries of North Africa (principally Algeria and Morocco) over a thousand year period from the Middle Ages (997 C.E.) to the French colonization (1830 Algeria/1912 Morocco.). The Exile is not a formal history but a chronological anthology of documents drawn from literary (section A) and archival sources (section B), many of which are published for the first time. In section A, Arabic and Hebrew chronicles, Muslim legal, and theological texts are followed by the accounts culled from European travelers—captives, diplomats, doctors, clerics, and adventurers. Each document is introduced and annotated in such a way as to bring out its importance. The second section (B) reflects the diplomatic activity deployed by humanitarian organizations in favour of North African Jewry. Spanning the 19th and early 20th centuries, these are mainly drawn from the archives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (Paris) and the Anglo-Jewish Association (London). The documents are richly elucidated with illustrations taken from the international press. The book presents a new and illuminating insight into the status of Jews under the Crescent. The Jews of North Africa were the only minority under Islam, in this region and their history reflects Judaism's exclusive encounter with Islam.

"This translation of L'Exil au Maghreb: la condition juive sous l'Islam, 1148-1912 (2010) is an anthology of 'documents specifically portraying various aspects of the Jewish experience in the North African lands of the Islamic West.' Its broader aim, however, is to demonstrate that 'anti-Jewish persecution has been endemic to Muslim North Africa' and to refute the claim that Islam provided a more open and tolerant home for Jews than Christian Europe. To this end, the compilers present illustrations, maps, and a wide range of documents describing persecution and harassment of Jews, primarily in Morocco and Algeria over the period from 997 to 1912 until the end of Muslim sovereignty in Morocco. The first section consists of 146 enumerated selections from sources (as the preface states), including chronicles in Arabic or Hebrew and Muslim legal texts, diaries kept by travelers, newspaper accounts, and reports by physicians, adventurers, those in captivity, and diplomatic or consular authorities. The second section presents 188 sources from the Alliance Israélite Universelle archives in Paris, and the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Public Records Office in London. Document annotations are provided in chapter endnotes. While the compilers only allude to academic controversy regarding their thesis and sources, students would have benefited from a fuller discussion of the debate. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty." - CHOICE

"[This book] is a compilation of documents shedding light on the conditions in which Jews lived in the Maghreb over 10 centuries. . . .'Exile in the Maghreb' consists of a wealth of original documents amassed by David Littman." - gem