The Jews of Khazaria

The Khazars were a Turkic people who established a large empire in southern Russia during the early Middle Ages, which formed a barrier between the Islamic Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. They would be of little interest outside of specialist history circles except that they--or at least their leaders--adopted Judaism, which has led some to speculate that Ashkenazi Jews descended from them, rather than from Jews of the Middle East, thus undermining Jewish historical claims to territory there. American historian Brook, a specialist in Khazars, explores their entire history rather than just the Judaic aspect of it. The second edition incorporates new findings since 1999, when the first was published. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kevin Alan Brook is an historian who has researched the Khazars since 1993. He has contributed articles about the Khazars to The Encyclopaedia of Judaism Second Edition (Brill, 2005) and The Turks Vol. 1 (Yeni Turkiye, 2002). Since 1995, Brook has maintained the website of the American Center of Khazar Studies (Khazaria.com).