Book excerpt: The Jewish community played a pivotal role in the history and economic development of Zambia - and Central Africa more broadly - in the course of the twentieth century. This book tells the story of the coming of the first Jews to the area in the late nineteenth century, the heyday of the Jewish community in the mid-twentieth century, and its decline since Zambian independence. Dealing primarily with the Jewish traders in Zambia who flourished in the face of both anti-Semitism and their own acute social dislocation, Hugh Macmillan and Frank Shapiro explore a number of interrelated topics: the colonial office discussions about Jewish immigration in the 1930s, the arrival and settlement of refugees who escaped the Holocaust, Jewish religious life in the region, and the remarkable cultural, professional and political role played by members of the Jewish community. Setting these issues in the context of a general history of southern and central Africa, this book constitutes a major contribution to our understanding of the economic history of the entire region. This new edition includes an epilogue which brings the story up to the present day.