'Brisk, easy to read and never dull'; 'with a certain freshness and freedom about it, lacking in more rigid presentations'; 'no serious student will want to be without it'; 'there is always room for a good new study, and this is one of the best'. Alberto Soggin's Introduction to the Histoy of Israel and Judah has always been regarded as one of the vey best works on a subject which abounds with probkems, and this third edition, completely reset, and updated, including bibliographies, to the end of the 1990s, keeps it a leader in its field. Sterring a middle course between those who argue that a history of Israel can no longer be written because the sources that we have prove inadequate, and what now seems to be the exteme conservativism of the old classic, John Bright's History of Israel, this book presents all the problems and where they cannot be resolved, provides the evidence and leaves the reader with the current situation. Professor Soggin sums up his basic presuppositions in his new Preface. 'It is recognized that the texts of the Bible are not historical texts in the moderrn sense of the word, but testimonies of faith. Their interest for history consists solely in the fact that the authors see the hand of God in this history. That such a criterion cannot be used today for writing a history of Israel and Judah (or of any other people) should be obvios.' J. Albetro Soggin is Emeritus Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature in the University of Rome and honorary Professor at the Waldension Theological Seminary.