Lawrence Baron

Laurie Baron

Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.

He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.

Books to his credit, available on Amazon, include:

Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema

The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema

The eclectic anarchism of Erich Muhsam (Men & movements in the history & philosophy of anarchism)

His most recent articles are:

“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.  

The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.

“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.

“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.

Satire: Infusing Trump’s Christmas Message With Holiday Spirit

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — While most Christians were wishing everyone goodwill and peace, Donald Trump posted the following message on Truth Social (which really should be renamed Truth Antisocial): “Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith, the out-of-control Lunatic who just hired outside attorneys, fresh from the

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Satire: Potpourri

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — A Brooklyn man was convicted of robbing a matzah factory.  He was sentenced to eight years in Unleavenworth. Donald Trump denied charges that he had read Mein Kampf or plagiarized from Hitler when he declared that migrants were poisoning the blood of the United States.  He reminded his MAGA

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Satire: Avoiding Arguments about the Israel-Hamas War at Thanksgiving Dinners

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Thanksgiving brings families together, but arguments about current events break them up.  This year Jewish families will face this combustible situation as relatives sympathetic with the plight of Gazan civilians come face to face with their Stand With Us kin.  Here are some suggestions to avoid the meal from

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Satire: The Bad and Good News for George Santos

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — The House Ethics Committee has determined that there is “overwhelming evidence” that George Santos is guilty of lawbreaking and “cannot be trusted.”  His offenses include improper use of campaign donations for personal luxury purchases and reporting fictitious loans to attract more donations.  It did not help his case that

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire