Until World War II, eastern Europe was the Jewish population and cultural core. In this first of a three-volume set, Polonsky (Holocaust studies, Brandeis U., United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) begins this major survey with an overview of Jewish religious, socio-political, and economic life and their autonomous institutions and relations with Christians in Poland and Lithuania from the mid-14th to the 18th century. The second part focuses on attempts to "reform"/assimilate the Jews in pre- and post-Kingdom of Poland and Tsarist Russia, and opposing Jewish responses: e.g., followers of the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment, vs. the Hasidim. The volume includes period maps, demographic tables, a glossary of multilingual terms, and extensive bibliography. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)