Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship

Ever since Plato’s Republic, the study of statecraft has been a staple of Western discourse, and so has the study of particular leaders. Although Jewish scholars, thinkers, and popularizers have contributed notably to this genre, strikingly few have turned their attention to the history of Jewish leaders—that is, leaders specifically of the Jewish people—in particular.

And yet there has been no lack of such outstanding figures, from the biblical period of Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land...