Many thanks to Lynn Lampert for her contributionit refers to the library
it's mayJewish American Heritage Month (JAHM), commemorating more than 350 years of Jewish contributions to American history and culture.
The following books are all collected in the library of Central South University. These titles enable readers to explore historical and current issues that have shaped the American Jewish experience and contributed to American history and multiculturalism.
Nonfiction and History
Jewish Radical Feminist Voices in the Women's Liberation Movementby Joyce Adler
New York, NY: New York University Press, 2018
Available in print form (University Library, 3rd floor). BM729.W6 A58 2018 andCSUN Login Online
2019 PROSE Biography Award Finalist, presented by the Association of American Publishers
Fifty years after the Women's Liberation movement began, a book is about to finally reveal how deeply Jewish and second-wave feminism have influenced each other. Jewish women undoubtedly contributed to the formation of the women's liberation movement of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, but their contributions as Jews have been overlooked by historians and the participants themselves. This has resulted in many important questions remaining unresolved and unanswered. Delving into archival material and conducting in-depth interviews with these passionate pioneers, Joyce Antler finally breaks the silence on conflating feminism with Jewish identity. Antler's riveting new book contains many riveting biographies that reveal the struggles and triumphs of Jewish radical feminists in Chicago, New York, and Boston, as well as those who participated and later confidently acknowledged their opposition to gender inequality in Jewish religious and secular life. Disproportionately represented in the movement, Jewish women liberators helped provide theories and models of radical action that were applied in the United States and abroad. Her articles and books became classics of the movement and sparked new initiatives in science, politics and grassroots organizing. Other Jewish-identified feminists brought the women's movement into the Jewish mainstream and Jewish feminism to the left. In fact, for many of these women, feminism was the "gateway" to Judaism. Jewish Radical Feminism reclaims this hidden history and places Jewish women's activism at the center of feminist and Jewish narratives. The Stories of Over Forty Women's Liberationists and Notable Jewish Feminists—From Shulamis Firestone and Susan Brownmiller to Rabbis Laura Geller and Rebecca Alpert—Illustrates how women's liberation and Jewish feminism unfolded in the lives of an extraordinary group of women and had a profound impact on the world. The social, political and religious revolutions of our time.
Ballots, Babies, and Peace Flags: Activism of American Jewish Women, 1890-1940Melissa R. Clapper
New York: New York University Press, 2012.
Printed version available from University Library (3rd Floor, HQ1426 .K57 2013)
2013 National Jewish Book Award Winner, Women's Studies
Ballots, babies and peace bannerExamines the social and political activism of Jewish women in America from 1890 to the start of World War II. Written in an engaging style, this book shows that no history of birth control, suffrage, or peace movements in the United States is complete without an analysis of the impact of Jewish women's presence. The volume is based on extensive primary source research conducted over the years with a dozen archives and hundreds of primary sources, many of which have never been seen before. Extensive personal documents and institutional archives paint a vivid picture of a world in which middle- and working-class Jewish women in the United States were steadily and publicly engaged with all the major issues of their time, working closely with their non-Jewish counterparts, actively Molecular cause.
This exceptionally well-researched volume makes a unique contribution to the study of modern women's history, modern Jewish history, and the history of American social movements.
Kugel and Frijoles: Latino Jews in Americaby Laura Limonique
Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2019.
Available online with CSUN login
Kugel and Frijoles: Latino Jews in the United States is an exploration of national identity and community building through the stories of contemporary Latino Jews, and analyzes the changing racial and ethnic structures in the United States from the perspective of contemporary Latino Jewish immigrants. Because Latino Jews do not fit easily into American racial and ethnic patterns, their national identity and group membership challenge existing paradigms. Author Laura Limonic provides a brief introduction to life under the term Jewish immigrant, highlighting the ways in which they adopt different identities (for example, race, religion, or pan-racial) in response to different factors and situations. Limonic begins by presenting the story of Jewish immigrants in Latin America and asking important questions about national identity: How are Latin American Jews identified? Can they choose their own identity or the one assigned to them? What about citizenship strategy or labor? These larger questions are raised in the existing scholarly literature on immigrant integration, religion, and ethnicity. Limonic explains how groups form when perfect host groups are lacking, detailing how various factors influence racial identity and shape racial group membership. The book concludes that group formation in the United States has never been static, and that race, religion, and class are increasingly important in defining racial and national identities. As the Latino population in the United States continues to grow, so does the influence of millions of Latinos on the cultural, political, economic, and social fabric of the United States. "Kugel and Frijoles provide new insights into Latino diversity, the integration of contemporary Jewish immigrants, and the impact of American racial structure on immigrant assimilation." - Courtesy of Publisher
Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century AmericaShari J Rabin
New York: New York University Press, 2017
Available at the University Library (3rd Floor,BM205.R315 2017)
(Summary:) The fascinating story of how Jews on the American frontier shaped their own religious culture. "Jews on the Frontier" offers a religious story that begins in an unexpected place: on the street. Shari Rabin recounts the journey of Jews who left the cities of the East in the 19th century and ventured into the West and South America. It brings to life the achievements and obstacles of these journeys, from unprecedented economic opportunity to the anonymity and loneliness that complicate many of the legal obligations of traditional Jewish life. Where can you get kosher meat without a government-backed community or trusted authority? How can you find nine fellow believers to open a minyan (school of prayer) just in the American desert? How can one actually know that someone is Jewish without an ID? Rabin argues that Jewish mobility during this period was crucial to the development of American Jewry. In the absence of major institutions such as synagogues or charitable organizations that played such a pivotal role in the assimilation of immigrants on the East Coast, ordinary Jews on the frontier created religious life from nothing, expanding and transforming Jewish thought and practice . Jew on the Frontier vividly tells the story of a neglected era in American Jewish history and offers a fresh take on American religion, rooted not in community or sect but in politics and travel experiences. This book shows that by focusing on ordinary people, we can gain a broader understanding of how American religion came to be.
When basketball was Jewish: Voices of those who playedby Douglas Stark
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2017
Print version available in University Library (3rd Floor, GV884.A1 S725 2017)
During the 2015-16 NBA season, Jewish presence in the league was largely limited to commissioner Adam Silver. Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt. And Sacramento Kings player Omri Casspi. However, basketball was once known as the Jewish game. The game spread across the country shortly after its invention in the late 1800s, and was especially popular with Jewish immigrant children in urban Northeastern cities because it was easy to play in an urban setting. Many early basketball stars were Jewish, including Shikey Gotthoffer, Sonny Hertzberg, Nat Holman, Red Klotz, Dolph Schayes, Moe Spahn, and Max Zaslofsky. In this oral history collection, Douglas Stark documents Jewish basketball in the 20th century, focusing on the period 1900-1960. Narrated by the outstanding voices of 20 players, coaches and referees, these conversations reveal what basketball is all about. Jewishness and how the sport grew from humble beginnings to the sport it is today enjoyed by billions of fans around the world. The evolution of basketball after World War II, the changing styles, rising popularity and rising nations are the stories of people recalling their youth when basketball was a game played for love. When Basketball Was Jewish sheds light like never before on the evolving role of Jews in basketball and illuminates their contributions to American Jewish and basketball history.
Pastrami [on] Rye: A Bustling History of the Jewish Deliby Ted Merwin
New York: New York University Press, 2015
Hard copies are available from the University Library (4th Floor, TX945.4 .M47 2015)
For much of the 20th century, New York's kosher delis were iconic institutions in Jewish and American life. As a social space, it rivals the synagogue—in some respects even surpasses it—as the primary meeting place for the Jewish community. In popular culture, it's the backdrop for classics such aswhen harry met sally.and today, after long years in the hopelessly old-fashioned fad, it's enjoying a nostalgic renaissance. Pastrami on Rye is New York's first comprehensive history of Jewish delis. Ted Merwin argues that delicatessens didn't fully blossom during the immigration era, as some imagine, but during the interwar period, when Jewish immigrant children enjoyed their meals in theaters. Sandwiches and cheesecakes came to celebrate their first bite in the U.S. District.. But it was the Jewish delis that followed Jewish settlement on the city's outskirts and became the most tangible symbol of their enduring desire to stay connected to tradition. Eventually, by mid-century, when rising American Jews moved from outsider to domestic identities, they abandoned the deli. Now, modern-day Jews are once again giving the delicatessen the status of a cult, reclaiming their cultural identity. "Pasami on Rye" tells us the startling story of a quintessential New York institution, researched and riveting. – Publisher website.
For much of the 20th century, New York’s Jewish delis rivaled — and in some ways surpassed — synagogues as the main meeting place for the Jewish community. According to Merwin, the deli reached its heyday not during the immigration era but during the interwar period, when children of Jewish immigrants celebrated their first taste of success in America by eating deli sandwiches and cheesecake in the theater district taste. But it was the kosher delis that followed the Jewish people to the city's suburbs and became the most tangible symbol of their enduring desire to stay connected to their traditions.
The Soul of Judaism: African-American Jews in AmericaBruce D. Haines
New York, NY: New York University Press, 2018
Available online with CSUN login
Gain insight into the diverse history of Black Jews in America. What makes a Jew? The book traces the history of African-American Jews and the counter-narratives they developed as they asserted their Jewishness. The Soul of Judaism explores for the first time the full diversity of Black Jews, including transnational Jews of both maternal and paternal ancestry. Adopted; Negroes converted to Judaism. And Black Jews and Israelis, who trace Jewish roots to Africa and challenge the prevailing Western paradigms of seeing Jews as white and of European descent. Incorporating historical analysis and oral tradition, Haynes sheds light on Black Jewish life within the Orthodox, conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform movements, as well as religious approaches that transcend the boundaries of mainstream forms of Judaism as we know it today. It highlights how American Jews of European descent aspired to be white and thereby gained the freedom to express their identities fluently, while African Americans continued to be seen as a fixed racial group. The book shows that racial attributions have shaped Jewish self-confidence for centuries. It prompts us to reassess the lines between race and ethnicity and gain insight into the ways in which Black Jews attempt to assert their dual identities and gain acceptance within their respective communities. The book refutes the simple notion that Jew, White Jew, and Black Jew are thus terminologically contradictory, and argues that we can no longer position Black Jew and Israelites as exotic, militant, and nationalist sect. The book encourages us to reflect on the growing importance of a self-identifying black Jewish population and its implications for the future of American Jewry.
Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Stories of Modern FoodRoger Horowitz
New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Available online with CSUN login
American KosherFollow a fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It tells the story of how iconic products like Coca-Cola and Jell-O strive to be kosher. Debate rages among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how did Manischewitz wine become the first kosher product to appeal to non-Jewish consumers (mostly African-American)? techniques used by Orthodox rabbinic organizations to incorporate kosher requirements into food production; and difficulties faced with kosher meats and other kosher foods that do not fall within the American culinary consensus.
Kosher USA is full of greats, rare archival finds and surprising influences: Atlanta Rabbi Tobias Geffen, who created Coca-Cola; amateur chemist and kosher certification pioneer Abraham Goldstein. Kosher meat tycoon Harry Kassel. and animal rights activist Temple Grandin, a staunch supporter of the Jewish practice of shechita. By exploring the complex encounter between ancient religious principles and modern industrial methods, Kosher USA adds an important chapter to the history of Judaism's interaction with non-Jewish cultures, and to the history of modern American Jewish living and eating habits. (Editor's Addendum)
Asian Jews: Race, Religion, and Identity of Young Jews in AmericaBy Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt
Lincoln, NE: UNP - Nebraska, 2016
Available online with CSUN login
In 2010, approximately 15 percent of new marriages in the United States were between spouses of a different race, ethnicity, or religion, raising increasingly important questions about the multicultural identities of new spouses and their offspring. But while new census categories and growing statistics provide data, they don't tell us much about the inner workings of these couples and their children. JewAsian is a qualitative study of the intersection of race, religion, and ethnicity among the growing population of Jewish and Asian American families in the United States. Helen Kiyong Kim and Noah Samuel Leavitt's book examines the larger social dimensions of intermarriage to explain how these special bonds reflect more than just the identities of married people , and also reflect the community they belong to. Through in-depth interviews with couples and children of Jewish-American and Asian marriages, Kim and Leavitt's research sheds light on the everyday life of these partnerships and how their children negotiate their own identities in the 21st century.
The Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Rocked New York CityVon Scott D. Seligman
Lincoln, Nebraska: Potomac Books, reprinted by University of Nebraska Press, 2020
Available online with CSUN login
(Critic's Summary: Gerald W. McFarland | August 2021) On May 14, 1902, a sudden increase in the price of kosher beef sparked an angry grassroots response from Jewish housewives on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Scott D. Seligman called this the "Great Kosher War" of 1902. At a rally on the night of May 14, the working-class immigrants agreed to boycott the county’s kosher butchers, and their pickets were at the store the next morning. Violence ensues. Customers who entered the store to buy meat were forcibly removed. Shop windows were broken and the interior of the shop was destroyed. The most common method is to soak the beef in kerosene. Hundreds of police officers called to the scene treated protesters harshly, beating them with batons and arresting dozens. The women who resisted did not back down. More mass meetings were held and pickets continued. The boycott ended in early June after it had a devastating impact on the livelihood of county butchers, causing retail beef prices to drop.
Seligman deftly outlines key facts about these events and their aftermath. The boycott was initially led and supported by Jewish immigrant women. Their efforts were quickly joined by male allies, many with experience in the labor movement. Butchers on the Lower East Side, who were as Jewish as their customers, found themselves torn between angry housewives and the enormous pricing power of local slaughterhouses and the monopolistic control of beef production by six well-known Midwestern conglomerates. Beef Trust. In the weeks since the kosher boycott was at its peak, the market supremacy of these companies — led by industrial giants such as Gustavus Swift and Philip Armor — was being challenged by Theodore Roosevelt’s administration’s legal assault on monopolistic practices. Seligman described it as the deep backdrop to events on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
American shtetl: Birth of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New YorkBy Nomi M. Stolzenberg and David N. Myers.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021
Hard copies are available in the University Library (3rd Floor, F129.K68 S76 2021)
Settled by a small group of Hasidic families in the mid-1970s, Kiryas Joel is an American town with few parallels in Jewish history, but many precedents in America's religious communities. This book tells the story of how this group of devout Yiddish-speaking Jews grew into a thriving isolated enclave and strong local government in upstate New York. While Kiryas Joel rejects the norms of mainstream American society, he surprisingly carves out a world for himself using the tools of secular political and legal authority he rejects. Nomi Stolzenberg and David Myers paint a richly textured portrait of Kiryas Joel's day-to-day life, exploring the community's guiding religious, social, and economic models. They delves into the roots of Satmar Hasidism and its charismatic founder, Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, and follows him on his journey from 19th-century Hungary to post-World War II Brooklyn, where he dreamed of building a shtetl-based Modeled on ideal Jewish cities in Eastern Europe. Stolzenberg and Myers track the rise of Kiryas Joel as an official parish with its own elected local government. They demonstrate how ongoing legal and political struggles can define and even strengthen community, the success of which coincides with the rise of political conservatism and multiculturalism in American society over the past forty years. (from the book cover)
The Jewish Union in America: A History and Memoirbernard weinstein
1st Edition Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2018
Available at the University Library (3rd Floor,HD6508.W3513 2018) andin connection
After escaping the pogroms of Tsarist Russia, a young Bernard Weinstein became drawn into the world of unionism, socialism, and anarchism on New York's Lower East Side. This first-person account, translated from Yiddish, examines their development from 1889 to the 1930s, making it a rich original document. While Weinstein's book is sometimes more of an encyclopedic rendering, it also brings to life important characters such as Abraham Cahan, Meyer London, Maurice Hillquet, Daniel de Leon and Sidney Hillman. Likewise, Weinstein discusses the Socialist Labor Party, various versions of the Socialist Party of America, Industrial Workers of the World, and various predominantly Jewish union federations such as the International Federation of Women's Wear Workers and the United Garment Workers of America. The authors show Photomicrograph of the early American labor movement, also depicting the influx of Jewish immigrants. Many had to deal with tough shops, hellish living and working conditions, exploitative bosses, prejudice, stereotypes and tragedies such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in 1911. Somehow, most people put up with it, with much higher expectations for the next generation.
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thisThe Rabbis' Atheist Daughter: Ernestine Rose, International Feminist PioneerBonnie S Anderson
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017
Hard copies are available from the University Library (3rd Floor, HQ1413.R6 A53 2017)
Ernestine Rose has been called the "Queen of the Platform," more famously than her fellow feminist activists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. In the 1850s, Ross was a prominent speaker on feminism, free thought, and antislavery. However, she was gradually erased from history because she was too extreme: immigrant, radical and atheist. In The Rabbis' Atheist Daughter, Bonnie S. Anderson shares the unique life and career of Ernestine Rose. Ernestine Rose, the only daughter of a Polish rabbi who rejected religion as a child, successfully sued for dowry return after refusing an arranged engagement, leaving her family, Judaism and Poland forever. In London, she became a supporter of the socialist Robert Owen and met her future husband, William Ross. In 1836, they immigrated to New York together. In the United States, Ernestine Ross quickly became a leader in the movement against slavery, religion, and the oppression of women, and became a regular speaker, speaking in 23 of 31 states. She challenged the radical Christianity that inspired many female reformers in the 19th century, yet, while rejecting Judaism, she was both a victim and a critic of anti-Semitism and nativism. In 1869, after the Civil War, she and her husband returned to England to continue her radical career. Her pioneering contribution to women's rights was forgotten when women won the right to vote (for which she fought tirelessly throughout her long career). Rabbi's Atheist Daughter Restores Ernestine Rose to Her Rightful Place in History and Provides Convincing Account of Her International Engagement
From Sarah to Sydney: The woman behind a unique familyJune Cummins and Alexandra Whelan Dunitz
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021.
Available in print form from the University Library (4th Floor, PS3539.A9673 F76 2021)
The untold story of his lifea unique familyWriter Sydney Taylor, highlights her enormous influence on American children's literature. This is the first and only biography of Sydney Taylor (1904-1978), author of the award-winning All-of-a-Kind series and the first Mainstream publisher of children's young adult fiction. Drawing from Taylor's own childhood, the family includes five sisters, two years apart, who are groomed by their demanding immigrant mother to look exactly alike: all the same. The names of the other four brothers are the same in the book and in reality. Only the real Sarah transformed her character into a boyish Sydney during her school days. Cummins describes the deep connection between Taylor's progressive books and the American Jewish experience, arguing that Taylor had a major impact on the development of Jewish national identity. This biography conveys the importance of children's books for spreading Jewish culture and preserving national heritage.
Birds of Prey Are Spies: The Mysterious Life of Moe BergVon Nicholas Davydov
1. Aufl. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994.
Available at the University Library (3rd Floor,D810.S8 B4693 1994)
The Catcher Was the Spy: The Mysterious Life of Mo Bergis a non-fiction book by author Nicholas Dydoff. In this book, Dawidoff examines the life story of Moe Berg, a highly educated attorney who was a professional baseball player for 16 years before joining the OIAA and the OSS after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. "Watchmen Are Spies" tells the true story of a man who is a mystery that many are still trying to solve.
Moe Berg is the third child of Ukrainian immigrants who have decided to join a new country. Moe's father owned a laundry business before training as a pharmacist and running his own pharmacy. Moe's father works hard and disapproves of what he considers a child's game: baseball. Nonetheless, Moe became a star baseball player while at Princeton and later a professional baseball player.
Moe Berg's family was Jewish, but his father, resentful of the stigma his religion brought him in his new country, chose to renounce his faith, though he never changed his name or made any secret efforts to Hide his primary rights. Bernard Berg refused to speak Yiddish or Hebrew at home, or let his sons celebrate their bar mitzvah. Because of this, Moe and his siblings grew up being teased by classmates for their religion, but they didn't celebrate or otherwise learn about their religion, which led to an ambiguity and disbelief about their origins. Often confusing feeling. (Bookrags.com summary)
Stan Lee: A Comic Book Lifeby Liel Leibovitz
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020
Available online with CSUN login
Meditations on the deeply Jewish and amazing spiritual roots of Stan Lee and Marvel Comics from the award-winning Jewish Life series
Few artists have had as profound an impact on American popular culture as Stan Lee. The characters he created—Spider-Man and Iron Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four—captured Hollywood's imagination and production schedules, grossed billions at the box office, and came close to a common American mythology.
This thought-provoking biography focuses on Lee's thinking and his unexpected rise to stardom. He examines his own cultural and religious upbringing and draws surprising connections between famous comic book heroes and ancient stories from the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. Is Spider-Man just the reincarnation of Cain? Is The Incredible Hulk just another name for Adam? From perusal readings of Lee's work to little-known anecdotes from Marvel history, this book paints a portrait of Lee that goes far deeper than any of his iconic on-screen personas.
Wild Visionary: Maurice Sendak στο Queer Jews contextby Golan Y Moskowitz
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2021
Available online with CSUN login
wilder visionaryReflect on Maurice Sendak's life and work as a Jewish gay man. Maurice (Moishe) Bernard Sendak (1928-2012) was a wild, romantic, and shockingly humorous truth-seeker who ventured into modern literature and culture. Sendak appreciates the use of children's books even more, and he portrays childhood with dark realism and the wild imagination of a sensitive "inner child," drawing on the queer and Yiddish sensibilities that shaped his unique voice. Blending literary biography and cultural history, Golan Y. Moskowitz follows Sendak from his parents' home in Brooklyn to places of creative growth and artistic vision—from nearby movie theaters to Hell's Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Fire Island, and The Connecticut cottage he shared with Eugene Greene, his partner of more than fifty years. Additionally, it analyzes Sendak's preoccupation with images of vulnerable children as symbolic of the collective trials that shaped the artist's views—the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the AIDS crisis. Through in-depth research of Sendak's illustrated books, interviews, and previously untapped personal correspondence,wilder visionaryoffers a sensitive portrait of the most beloved and fascinating picture book artist of our time.
Abraham Joshua Herschel: A Life of MiraclesJulian E. Zelizer
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021
Hard copies are available from the University Library (3rd Floor, BM755.H37 Z45 2021)
"When I walked through Selma, I felt like my feet were praying," Polish-born American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel (1907-1972) said of his 1965 relationship with Martin Luther Jr. De King said while participating in the civil rights march in Selma. The human condition through faith. In this new biography, author Julian Zelizer traces Herschel's early experiences and influences - his childhood in Warsaw and early training in Hasidism, his relationship with the Studies in Berlin in the early 1930's, and the opportunity that brought him to America to study at the Hebrew Union College, taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary. This poignant and complex portrait places Herschel at a pivotal moment between religion and progressive politics in mid-20th-century America. To this day, Herschel remains a symbol of the struggle to make progressive Jewish values work in the secular world. "
novel
how to find your way in the darkby Derek B Miller
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021.
Available in print from the University Library (4th Floor, PS3613.I5337 H69 2021)
How to Find Your Way in the Dark is a coming-of-age story set in the middle of World War II that follows Sheldon Horowitz from his humble beginnings in a cottage in rural Massachusetts to his father The trauma of being murdered and assimilated. From Hartford, Connecticut to the birth of the Catskills talk show—he and his friends were harassed by anti-Semitic neighbors, employers, and criminals”—1938. Sheldon Haw, age 12 Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from the tragedy of losing his mother a year ago, when a suspicious car accident claimed the life of his father near his rural Massachusetts home. Orphaned in the truck, Sheldon Horowitz Surviving the accident to take revenge. He starts a new life under the roof of his uncle Nate in Hartford. Sheldon, his teenage cousins Abe and Mirabell, and his best friend Lenny Tradition and orthodoxy, appeasement and patriotism, mob killers and angry accordion players must be confronted as World War II takes center stage next to New England hurricanes and comedians.... Cat Skills (adapted from Jacket)
The Amazing Adventures of the Knight and Clay: A Novelby Michael Chabon
first edition. New York: Random House, 2000
Hard copies are available from the University Library (4th Floor, PS3553.H15 A82 2000)
The Amazing Adventures of the Knight and Clayis the 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chambon about the golden age of comics. The focus is on two Jewish cousins, American author Sam Clay (née Kleiman) and Czech artist Josef Cavalier, who co-created a popular superhero comic called The Escapist. Also inspired by Harry Houdini and Superman.
I'm herevon Jonathan Safran Faure
First Edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016
Printed version available from University Library (Gohstand Reading Room, 2nd Floor, PS3606.O38 H47 2016)
"In Genesis, when God calls 'Abraham!' in order to order him to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham replies, 'Here I am. ’ Later, when Isaac cried, ‘My father! ’ When asked why he had no animals to kill, Abraham replied: ‘Here I am. How do we fulfill our conflicting responsibilities as fathers, husbands and sons? Wife and mother; children and adults? Jewish and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are so intertwined with the lives of others? ?These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartrending content.I'm here in contemporary Washington, D.C. Four tumultuous weeks. is the story of a family torn apart in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia and their three sons are forced to confront the disconnect between the lives they want and the lives they live, A devastating earthquake unleashes rapidly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake are the fundamental questions of what home really means—and how much life you can live with. As much as readers and critics have loved in his previous work, the Vibrant inventiveness, comic irreverence, and emotional weight, "Here I Am" is Foer's most profound, haunting, and entertaining novel to date. It not only confirms Foer's status as an outstanding literary genius, but also reveals him as a mature novelist who has fully established himself as one of the most important writers of his generation."
knife cardVon Cynthia Ozick
knife cardVon Cynthia Ozickfirst edition. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997
Printed version available from University Library (4th Floor, PS3565.Z5 P8 1997)
Puttermesser Papers, Cynthia Ozick's imaginative, poignant, and elegant new novel, is a Jewish brand of magical realism brought to the usually down-to-earth intellectual territory of the Bronx and Manhattan. Ms. Ozick tells the life story of Ruth Puttermesser - the name implies Buttermesser in German - from her brief career as a 34-year-old corporate lawyer to her rape and murder as a 90-year-old recluse. Against her is a symbol of the catastrophic decline of civilization.
The book is part scathing, satirical commentary on modern city life, and part reworking of an ancient, mystical, and redemptive Jewish legend. These two parts collide in a novel that at times seems unsure of what it is: a modern supernatural story or a modern naturalistic story. Golems feature prominently in Puttermesser's treatises, as do descriptions of Puttermesser's posthumous experience of heaven.
Vixen: A Novelby Francine Essays
first edition. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2021
Print version available from University Library (Gohstand Reading Room, 2nd Floor, PS3566.R68 V59 2021)
In 1953, Simon Putnam had just been hired by a respected publisher in New York and started his first job as an editorVices, Patriots and Fanatics, a rowdy buxom Ripper, may be based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. It's a boilerplate document designed to shore up a company's struggling financials. Simon's mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg's. His parents mourned Ethel's death. Simon meets the ruthless and seductive Anya Partridge, author of The Vixen, and settles in her opium-smelling boudoir in a luxury mental institution on the Hudson River. Simon realizes that not everyone is what they seem, everyone has secrets, and mundane events may hide evil plots. (- Adapted from Jacket.)
burning girl and other storiesVon Veronica Chanos
first edition. New York, NY: Tordotcom, a book by Tom Doherty Associates, 2021
Available in print from the University Library (4th Floor, PS3619.C3265 B87 2021)
existburning girl and other storiesVeronica Schanoes pushes boundaries and genres by bringing stories of fierce women from the fringes of society to the center. This debut novel introduces readers to the visionary Karen Russell and Kelly Link in her own voice. Emma Goldman - yes, that Emma Goldman - drank tea with Baba Yaga, and truth emerged from an elaborate lie. In "Among the Thorns," a young woman in 17th-century Germany avenges her father's brutal murder, only to discover that revenge can consume everything she touches. On the stunning and award-winning cover of Burning Girls, Schanoes brings an eerie, fairytale quality to the narrative of immigrants, telling a story about America we may not want to hear but need to hear. Dreamy, dangerous, and precise, with the weight of the older stories we tell, Burning Girl and Other Stories showcases a writer who pushes the boundaries of fantasy and contemporary fiction. " (from Jacket)
graphic novel
Golem's Powerful Swingby James Storm
first question. Montreal, Quebec: Sweepstakes and Quarterly, 2017
Available from the University Libraries (Secretariat, Ground Floor/Visitor Services,PN6727.S79 G65 2017)
Reuniting America's greatest pastime with its hidden history, this graphic novel tells the story of the Stars of David, a roaring Jewish baseball team during the Great Depression. Led by their manager and third captain, the nomadic team travels from city to city, experiencing the thrill of the sport while displaying its religious exoticism as a curiosity for people to stare at, laugh at and enjoy. laugh at. With the team's fortunes in tatters, players will receive a plan on how to bring people to the stands. But by handing over his fortune to sponsors, the Star of David stoked racial tensions. Sturm deftly juxtaposes the drama's climax with the audience's growing anti-Semitic fervor, and the clever composition stands alone. (provided by the publisher)
Series for Young Adults and Teens
The Folk Painter: How Ben Shahn Used Art to Fight for JusticeCynthia Levinson and Evan Turk
New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021
Available from the University Library (Second Floor, Course Centre,ND237.S465 L48 2021)
"The first thing I remember," Ben said, "was I drew."
Ben Shahn was a perceptive kid growing up in Lithuania who was eager to paint what he saw - and who also developed a strong sense of justice after seeing his father exiled by the Czar for demanding workers' rights.
When Ben and his family traveled to America, Ben brought with him a keen artistic eye and a desire to fight for justice. As he grows up, he advocates for justice through his art—disarming classmates who bully him because he's Jewish, defying teachers who ask him to paint beautiful landscapes instead of real stories, and using U.S. government pressure to get through Great Depression - Laws to help people find food and jobs.
In this moving and timely portrait, award-winning author Cynthia Levinson and illustrator Evan Turk pay homage to an artist, immigrant, and activist whose work lives on today: a true painter of the people.
the length of a stringvon Eliza Brent Weissmann
New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018.
Hard copies are available from the University Library (Faculty Course Centre, 2nd Floor, PZ7.W448182 Le 2018)
Imani, 12, the only black girl in a Jewish school, is preparing for her bar mitzvah and hopes to find her parents after learning about her family's adoption history through Ana's great-grandmother's Holocaust diary.
"Imani was adopted and set to search for her biological parents. But when she discovered a diary written by her Jewish great-grandmother about her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani began to see the family with new eyes. Imani knew it well What she wants for a great bar mitzvah: Find her parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but always wonders where she's from, especially since she's black and she knows Almost everyone was white. Then her maternal grandmother - Imani's great-grandmother Anna - died and Imani found an old diary in her book. It was Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was in At the age of 12, she fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone and was sent by her parents to take refuge in Brooklyn, New York. Ana's diary documents her journey to America and her new life with her adoptive family. When Imani reads the magazine, she began to see her family and her place in it in a whole new way." (Editor's description.)