By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM—Among the glories of a professor emeritus is a capacity to wander the stacks of a good library in search of something that looks interesting, without worrying how it will fit into this semester’s courses. I found by chance FDR, the Vatican, and the Roman Catholic Church in America, 1933-1945, Edited by [...]
SAN DIEGO (Press Release) – As part of the 2012 One Book, One San Diego reading campaign the San Diego Public Library is pleased to present Cara Wilson-Granat, the author of Dear Cara – Letters from Otto Frank on Monday, May 7 at 6:30 pm in the Wangenheim Room of the Central Library located at [...]
A Lasting Reward: Memoirs of an Israeli Diplomat by Yissakhar Ben-Yaacov, Gefen Publishing House, ISBN 978-965-229-539-2, 309 pages, price unlisted. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– Author Yissakhar Ben-Yaacov, who left Germany as a child and thereby was saved from the Holocaust, returned to Germany and Austria as an Israeli diplomat, and additionally served his [...]
By Carrie Kreutz-Landry SAN DIEGO –An enthusiastic group gathered on Friday, March 23, in the North University Community Branch Library’s Community Room, anxious to meet Laura Simon, author of the memoir I Am Still Here. She was equally as eager to meet her admirers. Smiling, posing for photos, and chatting with people, it was hard [...]
By Danny Bloom CHIAYI CITY, TAIWAN — When the witty and always insightful Jewish-American writer Jonathan Rauch — who writes for the National Journal and the Atlantic, in addition to a host of books about his travels in Japan and life as a gay man — wrote in a 2003 Atlantic article about introverts and [...]
Distant Dreams and Hard Truths: Zionist and Other Writings of Zelman Kagarlitsky by Daniel Harbour, editor, The Lansing Press; ISBN 978-0-9567661-0-6 ©2010, p. 218, including notes and index, cover price unlisted By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Who is Zalman Kagarlitsky? Thanks to Daniel Harbour, the great-grandson of Kagarlitsky, the work of an articulate and [...]
Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary’s Life by Joseph Rubenstein. Yale University Press, 2011, 225pp. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — In his book, A Revolutionary’s Life, Joseph Rubenstein wrote a well-researched biography of Leon Trotsky that is neither a fawning nor a completely derogatory view of this twentieth century revolutionary. His book is rich in detail [...]
By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan – I do not accept Jeffrey Zaslow’s death. But before I explain why, or rather, as I am explaining why, let’s review how the tragic incident unraveled, how those several days happened, that is to say, the days leading up to that tragic, ill-fated day, the outcome of [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –I could not help but read the Chabad reaction to Shmuley Boteach’s new book, Kosher Jesus. Most of us, who have no inner access to the Chabad inner circle, might be surprised by the ferocity of the Lubavitchers’ reactions. Rabbi Yitzchok Wolf, Dean of SJ Abrams Cheder [...]
Jews and Booze: Becoming American In the Age of Prohibition , by Marni Davis. New York University Press, 248pp. By David Strom SAN DIEGO — At the next family simcha (joyous occasion) as I raise my kiddish cup, I might think about the Jewish connection to alcoholic beverages, realizing that wealthy Jews, prior to the [...]
