“[M]eticulously researched and lavishly illustrated. . . . Identity and memory are the central intertwined themes of the volume. They function as dual lenses through which the Jewishness of these houses comes into focus. . . . The instability of what these houses might say to us, and how this is in large measure a function of what we choose to hear and see, is most eloquently captured in the glorious shots by the acclaimed architectural photographer Hélène Binet that stud the volume. Is this a site of proud Jewish identity or mournful memory? It depends how you look. . . . [A] beautiful, informative, and enjoyable book.”

Times Literary Supplement

“These houses . . . symbolize ‘the dream of belonging’ held by European Jews, and that moment when it seems possible. But the houses also represent something that is irreparably gone, destroyed by the Holocaust.”

The Forward

"These images stand as a reproach to those who tidy away and smarten up – Binet’s pictures, and the project more widely, are all about letting the light in on the difficult and imperfect."

inews

“From outstanding art collections and extravagant entertaining to creating a home in the face of prejudice, Jewish Country Houses tells the stories behind Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, built as a neo-Rennaissance château for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, and Georgian Gothic Revival Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, owned by both the Countess Waldegrave and the 1st Baron Michelham after Horace Walpole, among other houses.”

Country Life

“This is a magnificent work of scholarship—it illuminates complex and ambiguous stories of assimilation and identity with verve and insight.”

Edmund de Waal, artist and author of The Hare with Amber Eyes

"Jewish elite transformed the traditional notion of the country house from a site of settled privilege into a dynamic microcosm of bold self-inscription—a catalyst for new forms of sociability, patronage, art collecting, and philanthropy. Interweaving a wide array of sources and perspectives from different cultures, these essays explore gripping tales of belonging and rejection, memory and erasure, dispossession and resilience.”

Esther da Costa Meyer, Princeton University

“I learned something new on every beautifully illustrated page. It sets the familiar country house story in a new, Europe-wide landscape, and tells a tale of often tragic splendor. The authors show that these are more than just houses—they are monuments to the long nineteenth-century battle between prejudice and assimilation, played out in magnificent buildings and princely collections.”

Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum and author of A History of the World in 100 Objects

“This lusciously illustrated book provides an essential tour of the Jewish country houses of Europe and the UK. Each of the thirteen essays furnishes an authoritative understanding of a specific house and uses a combination of new and historic images to showcase the lives of the inhabitants and the homes’ rich interiors. The final essay compares this tradition to Jewish American country houses. A must-have book for anyone interested in elegant houses or Jewish history.”

Laura Leibman, Princeton University