Books

For hundreds of years, books played a powerful role in the lives of Vilna’s Jews. The city was home to the two most influential publishing houses of religious and secular books, Romm and B. Kletskin,...

According to conventional non-wisdom, American Jewish literature started in a Lower East Side sweatshop and then migrated to New Jersey, where it has remained until Philip Roth’s retirement. Of course, reading this way necessitates...

In the lineup of 2 0th-century "bad guys," Adolf Hitler usually comes out on top, with Joseph Stalin running a close second. Behind them, Francisco Franco often appears and, farther down, Benito Mussolini. Now, with the publication...

Thanks to the hard work of his literary admirers, an English translation of Grigory Kanovich’s autobiographical novel “Shtetl Love Song” has finally appeared. The novel was released by a boutique British publishing house, Noir Press,...

Part of the way through the holiday-season classic Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, I pause and ask myself, What do goblins have to do with anything in the first place? And while we’re at it, what do...

I was pleased to recently receive a review copy of a wonderful memoir by Dr. Eugene J. Fisher, entitled A Life in Dialogue: Building Bridges between Catholics and Jews (MR, MEDIA BOOKS, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA...

This study of Jews in Wales, by Cai Parry-Jones and published by University of Wales Press, is the first nationwide historical survey of Judaism in Wales since the first Jewish community was established in 1768. Minority...

There have been so many books and articles written on the Holocaust and from so many different angles, that it is hard to find something written anymore from a truly unique perspective.  However, such...

As recorded testimony and documentation reminds society of human rights violations committed throughout history, Herb Rothman authored a work of historical fiction that depicts what it was like for Jewish families to live under Nazi...

Judy Gruen, an individualistic, “child of the 70s” career woman, slowly embraced a life of Orthodox Judaism while in her mid-20′s. To the outsider, Orthodox Jews practice inconvenient rules and dress codes that include,...