Max Dimont - Biography

Max I. Dimont (born Max Isaac Dimont) (August 12, 1912–March 1992) was a Finnish American historian and author.

Biography

Born to a Jewish family in Helsinki, Finland, Dimont came to the United States in August 1929 with his mother and siblings - on the steerage passenger list of their ship, SS Berengaria, his place of birth is listed as Kovno, Lithuania; on arrival, he was sent to the Ellis Island hospital after being certified as suffering from "simple goiter;" he was discharged on August 10 and the family set out for Cleveland. He taught himself the English language by reading Shakespeare, the Bible, and American plays. After serving with U.S. Army intelligence in World War II, he worked in public relations and human resources for Edison Brothers Stores in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1962, he published Jews, God and History, which received critical acclaim and has sold over a million and a half copies and which the Los Angeles Times praised as "unquestionably the best popular history of the Jews written in the English language." After its publication, he traveled and lectured extensively on Jewish history throughout the United States, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, and Finland. Other works include The Indestructible Jews, The Jews in America, and Appointment in Jerusalem. He died in 1992.

Works

• Jews, God and History
• The indestructible Jews; is there a manifest destiny in Jewish history?
• The Jews in America : the roots, history, and destiny of American Jews
• Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People
• Appointment in Jerusalem: A Search for the Historical Jesus