http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2012/2/2/main-feature/1/hear-o-friends-of-israel/e
PAUL JOHNSON’S HISTORY OF THE JEWS IS A MEMORABLE BOOK AND HIS LAST LINES MOVED ME TO TEARS AS I READ THEM THEN AND NOW……
“That Jews over the millennia should attract such unparalleled, indeed, inexplicable hatred, would be regrettable, but only to be expected. Above all, that the Jews should still survive, when all those other ancient people were transmuted or vanished into the oubliettes of history, was wholly predictable. How could it be otherwise? Providence decreed it and the Jews obeyed. The historian may say: there is no such thing as providence. Possibly not. But human confidence in such an historical dynamic, if it is strong and tenacious enough, is a force in itself which pushes on the hinges of events and moves them. The Jews believed they were a special people with such unanimity and passion, and over so long a span that they became one. They did indeed have a role because they wrote it for themselves. Therein, perhaps lies the key to their story”
HERE IS HIS SON’S WONDERFUL TRIBUTE:
In 1987, exactly a quarter-century ago, the appearance of a work of Jewish history caused a stir. For one thing, the author was not Jewish; for another, the book was unashamedly supportive of the State of Israel, which even then was enough to provoke hostility, especially on the Left. I refer to A History of the Jews, not merely out of filial pride (the author was my father, Paul Johnson) but because my work on the manuscript earned me a mention in the acknowledgements. To this day A History of the Jews has never been out of print, and it occupies a unique place in the historiography of the subject. Friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers, Jews and Gentiles alike, often come up to me to pay tribute to my father. This is less surprising if one has read the book, which concludes with a rousing affirmation of a story that has often been treated as an endless catalogue of persecution and suffering: