Note 83 — MEMOIR OF HEINRICH GRAETZ. (continued 2)

As late as 1888 he published a Volksthümliche Geschichte der Juden (“Popular History of the Jews”) in three volumes, in response to numerous and frequently repeated requests for a short and popular history. He put all his historical matter into a concise form, constantly bearing in mind the needs of the intelligent laity. At the same time he did not fail to make use of newly determined data. The shorter work has peculiar value, inasmuch as Graetz lays down in it his opinion of men of his own generation whom he had passed over in silence in his eleventh volume published in 1870. He had adopted the rule of not considering living persons in his historical presentation. But from 1870 to 1888 many prominent figures had been removed from the arena by death, and he was left free in the later work to express his judgment upon their character and achievements.