I came to this wonderful book as someone who could be called a graveyard addict. From boyhood on I have wandered around country churchyards, city cemeteries and cathedral precincts philosophically absorbing everything from their monuments to their botany. But never did I walk where the Jews lay buried nor did it occur to me that in London and all over Europe they would do so in the same way as their patriarchs and ‘my’ Christ. Joachim Jacobs sets them out before us, these ‘houses of life’, which Christianity never succeeded in darkening, so that in his beautifully restrained account of them they will in future add to our vision of human existence. Marvellous photographs and paintings create their own illumination. Here an almost entirely neglected subject is brilliantly added to the traveller's tale, plus a scholarly footnote to European history. While everyone will learn something from this remarkable book, I felt that in some ways I had learned everything. Not the least of the Nazis' enormities was to deny six million men, women, boys and girls their houses of life. Their ashes were left to blow across the cold fields. There is a huge poetry in all this.
A beautifully-illustrated saga of resilient culture and human survival. - Eastern Daily Press
His book is clear, accessible and follows a largely chronological pattern, superbly illustrated with maps, engravings and photographs by Hans Dietrich Beyer. Houses of Life is full of insights into Jewish history and follows the crucial changes in Jewish history and follows the crucial changes in Jewish life of over 2,000 years... Jacobs has written an interesting and accessible introduction to a rich and important subject. The photographs are superb and the endnotes and bibliography are a helpful guide to a growing literature. - Jewish Renaissance
As an addict of Christian churchyards this noble volume astonished me. Why had I never given a moment's thought to what, as it were, preceded them? And which for 2000 years existed alongside them? Beautifully explored, well-written, wonderfully illustrated, here is their spiritual and aesthetic history. - Oldie
This is not a depressing book. On the contrary, attractively produced, it celebrates the richness and diversity of Jewish art and culture across Europe. - Victorian
Jacobs' book, which is illustrated by evocative photographs by Hans Deitrich Beyer, provides a welome introduction to a broad overview of the subject...There is much of interest here. - Architectural Review
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