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The life and thought of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, one of the most influential—and controversial—rabbis in modern Judaism “Accessible, informed, and balanced. . . . The author manages to tread on fragile ground with aplomb. . . . An exceptional tool for understanding.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world’s best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement’s success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. While hope of redemption has sustained the Jew...
"A sweeping yet personal overview of Latino America that explores the diversity of our largest and fastest-growing minority. Census reports project that by 2050, as much as 30 percent of the US population will claim Latino heritage. But Latinos are not a single group of people. They are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Cubans, and many others. They are racially diverse, a random fusion of White, Black, Indigenous, and Asian. Some have ancestors who were here long before the continent's earliest immigrants; others came later, from many parts of the world. Their history and contributions are bound to surprise you. Marie Arana draws both on extensive research and on her own experience as the daughter of a Peruvian father and American mother, straddling two worlds as many Latinos do. LatinoLand unabashedly celebrates Latino resilience and character and shows us why it is essential that we understand this booming segment of America."--
A rich, provocative, and lyrical study of one of Germany's most important, world-famous, and imaginative writers "A concise, fast-paced biography of the German poet, critic, and essayist. . . . A discerning portrait of the writer and his times."--Kirkus Reviews "Prochnik provides a jaunty narrative of Heine's schooldays in Bonn and Göttingen, journalistic career in Berlin, and twenty-five-year exile in Paris, detailing his literary feuds, scraps with censors, and unwavering belief in political liberty."--New Yorker Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) was a virtuoso German poet, satirist, and visionary humanist whose dynamic life story and strikingly original writing are ripe for rediscovery. In this...
A wide-ranging exploration of the story of Ruth, a foreigner who became the founding mother of the Davidic dynasty “A virtuoso exploration of the Book of Ruth as an admirable touchstone in the realms of literature, art, and human values. Ilana Pardes foregrounds the timeless emergency of migrants and refugees with compassion and depth.”—Galit Hasan-Rokem, author of Web of Life The biblical Ruth has inspired numerous readers from diverse cultural backgrounds across many centuries. In this insightful volume, Ilana Pardes invites us to marvel at the ever-changing perspectives on Ruth’s foreignness. She explores the rabbis’ lauding of Ruth as an exemplary convert, and the Zohar’s ins...
In these sixteen stories, available in English for the first time, prize-winning author Yenta Mash traces an arc across continents, across upheavals and regime changes, and across the phases of a woman's life. Mash's protagonists are often in transit, poised "on the landing" on their way to or from somewhere else. In imaginative, poignant, and relentlessly honest prose, translated from the Yiddish by Ellen Cassedy, Mash documents the lost world of Jewish Bessarabia, the texture of daily life behind the Iron Curtain in Soviet Moldova, and the challenges of assimilation in Israel. On the Landing opens by inviting us to join a woman making her way through her ruined hometown, recalling the colo...
A spirited dive into the life and career of a performer, writer, and director who dominated twentieth-century American comedy Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream. Jeremy Dauber argues that throughout Brooks’s extensive body of work—from Your Show of Shows to Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs—the comedian has seen the most success when he found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores. Dauber also explores how Brooks’s American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.
Movie-Made Jews focuses on American Jewish cinematic tradition. This tradition includes fiction and documentary films that make Jews through antisemitism, Holocaust indirection, and discontent with assimilation, and through unapologetic assertion of Jewishness, queerness, and alliances across race and religion. While it's a truism that Jews make movies, this book demonstrates how movies make Jews.
The story of the prophet Elijah’s transformation from fierce zealot to compassionate hero and cherished figure in Jewish tradition “In a series on Jewish Lives, this volume is about the Jewish life—the one that goes on forever. Becoming Elijah blends meticulous scholarship with bold literary and poetic imagination. Don’t miss it!”—Arthur Green, author of Judaism for the World “The author’s erudite prose and masterful command of history and faith traditions bring his subject to vibrant life. This is an edifying and accessible chronicle of a towering religious figure.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) In the Bible Elijah is a zealous prophet, attacking idolatry and injust...
A landmark biography of one of our most prominent chroniclers of American life In this groundbreaking literary biography, Steven J. Zipperstein captures the complex life and astonishing work of Philip Roth (1933–2018), one of America’s most celebrated writers. Born in Newark, New Jersey—where his short stories and books were often set—Roth wrote with ambition and awareness of what was required to produce great literature. No writer was more dedicated to his craft, even as he was rubbing shoulders with the Kennedys and engaging in a spate of famous and infamous romances. And yet, as much as Roth wrote about sex and self, he viewed himself as socially withdrawn, living much like an “...
In 'The Ultimate Woody Allen Film Companion', film writer Jason Bailey profiles every one of Allen's films through essays, behind-the-scenes interviews, full cast lists, production details, and full-color images and artwork