Kraemer's book...reveals the forgotten realities not of a minority group for a brief moment in time, but of a huge empire-wide stakeholder group over multiple centuries. Just by its topic, then, it would likely prove important, but the rigour of its readings and its sensitivity to its subjects make it an instant classic.
Ross Shepard Kraemer is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies at Brown University, where she specialized in early Christianity and other religions of the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, including ancient Judaism. She holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Princeton University, and a B.A. from Smith College. Her many publications have focused particularly on gender and women's religions in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, and on aspects of Jews
and Judaism in the late antique Mediterranean diaspora.