In this new book, the author of Rituals of Childhood: Jewish Acculturation in Medieval Europe broadens the scope of his earlier acclaimed work. Moving beyond early childhood and schooling, Marcus devotes chapters to the other major stages of the Jewish life cycle (bar mitzvah, marriage, and death). While seeking to present “a comprehensive guide to Jewish rites of passage,” the book also aims to sustain a general thesis: that ritual inventiveness is a persistent pattern of traditional Jewish culture.