"Cooper tells us a lot about the history, religious characteristics, and folkways of these people.  Her primary intention in this book is not, however, to describe them so much as it is to utilize them to consider what her subtitle refers to as “the dynamics of global Judaism.”  The Bukharans, Cooper asserts, “illustrate just how variable Judaism can be, and how different Jews can be from one another.”  Their very existence lead one to ask: “Is there a single Judaism and Jewish People?  And if so, how might these entities be defined in the light of the great diversity of Jewish forms that developed across the far reaches of the diaspora?”--Allan Arkush, Binghamton University.  Read the full review HERE 

"With the eyes of an anthropologist attuned to history, Alanna Cooper provides a path into the past, culture, and evolving identities of Bukharan Jews as they became enmeshed in global forces from the 19th century onward. The book's journey of discovery leads to a grasp of Jewish social and religious life that is transnational in its scope.  Cooper's interweaving of anthropology and history contributes to a robust and expanding paradigm of Jewish Studies." --Harvey E. Goldberg, editor of Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries (1996)

"Innovative and thought provoking, this well researched and well constructed book . . . provides a valuable contribution to the understanding of the dynamics of Jewish identities. . . . The Bukharan Jewish community can be taken as a case study of Jewish diasporic dynamics and forces. The book demonstrates and analyzes—both historically and ethnographically—the mechanisms that underlie the sense of oneness between the Bukharan Jews and Jewish communities in other cultural contexts." --Hagar Salamon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"Alanna E. Cooper combines ethnographic research with an extensive historical review of information on a little-studied Jewish community .... Cooper has collected a rich data set ranging from classroom observations in a Queens school to numerous conversations in the longstanding Bukharan community in Jerusalem. The book offers interesting insights on the maintenance of tradition under adverse conditions and its continuation in a global context" --Susan M. Chambre, Baruch College