The nazione ebrea and the Tuscan state : a fruitful symbiosis -- Balancing acts : the unlikely cultural mediations of Joseph Attias -- In praise of good taste : Galilean science, critical spirit, and Hebraic studies -- Entering the medical republic : Jewish physicians and the pursuit of the public good -- Pious care and devotional literature at the time of Enlightenment reform -- Coffee and gambling : Jewish recreation and 'national' separation -- Commerce and Jewish culture : the business of Hebrew publishing -- Economic utility and political reforms : the 'Jewish question' in Livorno -- Conclusion : enlightenment and emancipation : privilege and its discontents
Summary
This study offers a new take on the engagement of Jews with outside culture and the interplay of the Jewish community with the reforming state through a study of the Jews (nazione ebrea) of eighteenth-century Livorno, a bustling free port in Tuscany, an Italian state known for its far-reaching reforms inspired by Enlightenment principles