Jewish History (2008) 22: 245-253 ©Springer 2007 DOI: 10.1007/s 10835-007-9053-4 Review of Elka Klein, Jews, Christian Society, and Royal Power in Medieval Barcelona. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), 311 pp. DAVID NIRENBERG Committee on Social Thought and Department of History, University of Chicag Chicago, IL, USA E-mail: Nirenberg@uchicago.edu A life's work: the well-worn phrase applies to this book as to no ot have read. It is not simply that Elka Klein's work on this spanned her entire scholarly career, beginning with her graduate s at Harvard. It is also that we know the author's life ended with book. That knowledge marks the volume throughout, from the for by Thomas Bisson to the past tense of the brief biography on t flap. Even readers who did not know Elka will be moved by th acknowledgement to those who took up the task of copyediting af death. And all will pause at each promise of forthcoming studi p. 271 n. 108; p. 277 n. 54), heavy with the awareness that Elka's was too abbreviated to fulfill them. In short, this book, more than most, bears the burden of standin life. It is a monument, as well as a monograph, and, therefore, sense beyond review. Yet it is also a monumental monograph, and a demands engagement unconstrained by piety. It would seem impos honor both responsibilities, except for the encouragement given u wisdom of the Fathers, who suggested that book reviews too can be of piety: "whoever reports a thing in the name of the person who brings deliverance into the world (Pirkei Avot 6.6)." May my readi Elka's work be true to her memory, and may that memory be a bl * * * Jews, Christian Society, and Royal Power in Medie rare justice to the resolutely plural title of the series i ("History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanis Worlds").1 Jewish and Christian communities and li