hasidism Book coverHasidism: A New History (Princeton University Press, December 2017), by David Biale, the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor of Jewish History, with David Assaf, Benjamin Brown, Uriel Gellman, Samuel Heilman, Moshe Rosman, Gadi Sagiv and Marcin Wodziński. The first comprehensive history of Hasidism, this book demonstrates that, far from being a throwback to the Middle Ages, the pietistic movement is a product of modernity that forged its identity as a radical alternative to the secular world.