This marvellous collection of Yiddish classics, some never before translated into English, offers a full and wonderfully vivid array of shtetl life from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Translated and edited by one of the foremost experts on Yiddish literature and 3-time winner of the PEN translation prize, this unique collection includes not only early religious writings and engaging Hassidic yarns but also colourful stories of latter-day realism, fantasy and satire. '...a lively - and sometimes tragic - history of a vanished civilisation' - Chicago Tribune