We Agree on Herzl
You know a review has turned mean-spirited when you’re indicted for crimes you quite carefully didn’t commit.
Of Were-Owls and Wandering Jews
There were two Jewish shape-shifters in my Faerie and Zion reading this month.
Return to Me
Chaim Potok was a talented polymath. But plays, too—who knew?
“The Cruiser” and the Jews
O’Brien himself didn’t consider his history of Zionism to be anything more than a bit of haute vulgarization, but it is much more than that. It is one of those uncommon works of political history in which a man who knows how the world works tells a great story with dazzling literary skill.
Bellow, His Biographers, and the “Quivering Schmucks”
Many authors have passionate readers, but few have drawn as many self-consciously nutty fans as Saul Bellow.
Jewish Pittsburgh in Pictures
There is more to discuss in the coming weeks and months, but today instead of words we offer images.
The Jewish Preview of Books—November 2018
Dozens of books on Jewish history, culture, and literature are published each month. Here are some debuting this November.
Unspun
I reserve the right to chat with you about all of my reading, whether there be dragons or not.
Hollywood and Jerusalem
It would be marvelous to tell you that right after the meeting I strode indignantly to my forest-green Porsche, wheeled onto the Santa Monica Freeway, sped eastward on I-10 past Palm Springs, and didn’t stop till I got to Jerusalem. But that would be untrue.
My Father, Milton Himmelfarb
Personal reflections on the legacy of a sui generis Jewish American sociographer and essayist.