Oliver B. Pollak, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska Omaha, and a lawyer, is a correspondent now based in Richmond, California.
His books, available on Amazon, include:
*A State of Readers: Nebraska’s Carnegie Libraries
* A Year at the Sorbonne: A Proustian Life
*Conflict in Vietnam: An Historical Perspective
*Empires in Collision
*Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln: A Photographic History
*Nebraska Courthouses: Contention, Compromise and Community
*Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe
*Theses and Dissertations on Southern Africa
*To Educate and Serve: The Centennial History of Creighton University School of Law, 1904-2004
*University of Nebraska at Omaha (With Les Valentine)
*Welcome to Omaha
He also contributed to
*Journal of Burma Studies Vol 3: Rise of a Mainland Trading State
*Western States Jewish History, Vol XXXIII, Number 2
The golden age of the American Yiddish language newspaper is from the mid-1880s to the mid-1920’s. Its popularity and profitably was driven by massive immigration of Jewish Yiddish speakers from Eastern Europe to New York. [Oliver Pollak]
The Evolution of the American Yiddish Press Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, Staff and Bylined Contributors, USA
“Homelands: A Personal History of Europe” by Timothy Garton Ash; Yale University Press, 2023. By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Academic Zoom presentations have created a common market for sharing scholarship and continuing education. The Woodrow Wilson Center and the American Historical Society present scholars and discussants with cutting edge ideas, interpretations, and revelations.
Historian’s Memoir May Resound With Readers’ Memories Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Oliver Pollak
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Memorial Day weekend is a long weekend, and for some, four days long. Parks, buildings, auditoriums, stadiums are named for heroes. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and commemorative postage stamps remind us of sacrifice. If you went to a cemetery this weekend its likely you will see
Three Memorial Day Weekend Episodes Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Opinion, USA
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California – I like porridge, cream of wheat, and semolina. It’s a nice starter for cold weather. I remember the advertising ditty, “Its cream of wheat weather, we repeat, so guard your family with hot cream of wheat.” In 2005 we were in San Francisco for a wedding. We breakfasted
‘Breakfast Cereal: A Global History’ — The Book I Did Not Write Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA –This was written on April 11, 2023, at 6,000 feet in the Jackson Hole Airport, 35,000 feet in flight, and 5000 feet in Denver’s new United “wing,” enroute from Jackson Hole to Richmond, California. We spend the beginning of Passover in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and return to Richmond for
Passover and the Jackson Hole Book Nook Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA — San Miguel sits at 6200 feet in Mexico’s high central altiplano 146 air miles northwest of Mexico City. Passenger train service ceased many years ago. Volaris Airlines very efficiently flies 240 passengers the 1,735 miles non-stop from Oakland to Leon near Guanajuato. Everything costs extra, except a styrofoam
Jewish Life in San Miguel de Allende Read More »
International, Lifestyles, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
Daniel Kohanski, A God of Our Invention, How Religion Shaped the Western World (Hannacroix, NY: Apocryphile Press, 2023) 285 pages, $26.00 By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Daniel Kohanski graduated from Colgate with a degree in philosophy and received an MS in computer science from Rutgers. He spent many years as a computer programmer
‘A God of Our Invention’ Shines Light on Contemporary Political-Religious Agendas Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish Religion, Oliver Pollak, USA
“Turn Every Page, The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb,” Released December 2022, Sony Pictures By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — The film title, “Turn Every Page,” is the vital maxim of the investigative journalist and historian. At the beginning of COVID-19, in early 2020, I took the opportunity for some self-directed continuing
‘Turn Every Page’ Film a Stunning, Intimate Learning Experience Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Oliver B. Pollak TETON VILLAGE, Wyoming — I watched The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film on Amazon Prime. There were four of us in the living room, that cut it down to $5 each. I had no intention of writing about it. I got a birthday gift in November, Paul Newman, The Extraordinary Life
Books and Films – Paul Newman, Steven Spielberg, and the Second World War Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Celebrities, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA
By Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D. RICHMOND, California — Hanukkah is virtually here. You have no cards. Oy vey. Think creatively. Repurpose and recycle those New Year and Passover greeting cards you got as donation inducements from the myriad of worthy Jewish charities. Hanukkah is after all a holiday when you make do with what you
Making Cards for Jewish Holidays — Hanukkah Cards a la Carte Read More »
Jewish Religion, Oliver PollakBy Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D. RICHMOND, California — COVID has changed how we mourn. Attending funerals in temples, synagogues, and decamping to the cemetery were often followed by a meal of consolation and sitting shiva. Out of town family labored to attend. Minyan and yahrzeit mark the calendar. COVID made zooming and streaming funerals commonplace
Daily Life, Obituaries and Last Rites in the Age of COVID Read More »
Lifestyles, Oliver Pollak
Joshua Lambert, The Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature (Yale University Press, 2022) By Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D. RICHMOND, California — On Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 2 p.m. about 40 people zoomed into Josh Lambert’s presentation on his new book The Literary Mafia: Jews, Publishing, and Postwar American Literature (Yale Univ Press,
The Virtual New Book Tour—Zoom, Stream, YouTube, Audio, Print, and Film Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
Yalom’s goal was “to understand the effects of…wartime experience on children living in Europe and the United States.” Her six friends provided intimate vignettes of terror, trauma, aerial bombing, bomb shelters, and hunger. They endured and became accomplished, but not unscarred, They are likely “the last individuals who can remember World War II” and they will soon “vanish.” She explored the concept of witnesses in her 2015 work, Compelled to Witness, Women Memoirs of the French Revolution. [Oliver Pollak
After-Effects of Children Witnessing War Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
The Paris Library, A Novel, by Janet Skeslien Charles; Atria Books 2020; 9781982-134198; 355 pages; $28.00. By Oliver B. Pollak LAGUNA HILLS, California – World War II is a magnet for fiction and non-fiction books about books, bookstores and libraries. The current zoom book talk circuit includes The Paris Library, A Novel by Janet Skeslien
WWII and Libraries: Fiction and Fact Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak