This is the fourth and final volume of a huge project begun more than twenty years ago. 1 Lester L. Grabbe's project was an ambitious one: to write a handbook covering the entire history of Second Temple Judaism. Others have confined themselves to one-volume surveys; Lester L. Grabbe has written four. In over 2,200 pages, he has covered every possible area of political, cultural, religious, economic, and social history, with a level of detail and nuance that is difficult to match. I did not find the slightest theme lacking, and each subject is treated with erudition and clarity. Can we say that this work replaces the now-classic but outdated work of Emil Schürer, 2 which remains one of the cornerstones of any investigation into the Jewish people at the turn of our era? Perhaps not, but it will certainly occupy a comparable place in future researches.

Obviously, detailed reading could lead to some discussions. A non-English-speaking scholar would no doubt regret the relatively small amount of space given over to historiographies in foreign languages.