"From Sa'adia to Spinoza"--from the 10th to 17th century--is how Melamed (Jewish philosophy, U. of Haifa, Israel) terms thescope of this collection of edited versions of his papers publishedin English over the last 30 years on the history of medieval andRenaissance Jewish political thought. Arranged thematically, thepapers include a framework for "ideas" research which exploresthe evolution of issues, ideas, and terms, and case studies whichaddress these themes. Starting with the question of "is there aJewish political philosophy?," topics discussed include Jewishmedieval thought in relation to Aristotle, attitudes towarddemocracy, classification of the law among selected 15th and 16thcentury Italian Jewish thinkers, and Machiavellism. Thebibliography has been updated. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)