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Oliver Polla[/caption]
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:
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*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
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By Oliver B. Pollak LOS ANGELES — Amazon Prime has started running a Canadian comedy drama series set in Toronto. Erica Strange, a thirty-two-year-old single, plucky and career frustrated, is played by Erin Karpluk and her middle age time traveling therapist, Dr. Tom, by Michael Riley. It is a bewitching and beguiling mix up. At […]
Amazon Prime series has Tikkun Olam theme Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — A conversation over the breakfast table with friends started with the question, “What book do you wish you had not read so you could read it for the first time?” We pushed the concept to include, what do you wish you had read that you have not read?,
Rereading Leon Uris’s ‘Exodus’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak
By Oliver B. Pollak BURBANK, California — We have a spate of 75th birthday parties this year. We went to a surprise party for Judy Crassweller, Karen’s cousin on her father’s side. It was a Goldstein reunion. Judy emigrated with their parents in 1955 from Winnipeg to Southern California. She now lives in a “mother
At 75, Judy is our birthday card queen Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California. — The New York Times Book Review section used to carry “Author Queries” where working researchers and authors would reach out to readers for information. This use of the press has served well. I am now working on a project that will be based on evidence standing on reader’s
Is your Settlement House Cook Book inscribed? Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and FoodThe Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated by Lilit Thwaites,Godwin Books, Henry Holt and Co., New York, $19.99, 424 pages. By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — This story, set in Prague, Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Hamburg, and Tel Aviv, is creative non-fiction. It appeared in Spanish in 2012 and was translated into English in 2017.
Pondering in ‘Librarian’ where truth ends, fiction begins Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak
By Oliver B. Pollak ENCINITAS, California — Jerry Joe Seller was born in St. Louis in 1928. Life expectancy in 1930 was 58 for men and 62 for women. We celebrated his 90th birthday on August 19 at Vigilucci’s Trattoria Italiana on Pacific Coast Highway in Encinitas. Birthdays come and go. They last a
30 gathered to salute Jerry Joe Seller on his 90th Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, San Diego County
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — In July we vacationed in Oceanside and visited relatives and friends living near the coast. We sat with my cousin Rob and his wife Ande in their Carlsbad living room on chairs and couches within arms-reach of a stunning coffee table acquired over 50 years ago by his
California Jews and their coffee tables Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak OXNARD, California–Take note dear readers. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the liveliest day of our Jewish lives. No day is to be ignored but on this day the concatenation of 8 and double chai will not come again until 2118. The last time it showed up was 8/18/1918. The Great War, soon to
It’s 8 Chai Chai on Saturday. L’Chaim! Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California. –Some sixty or more years ago my parents facilitated my sex education by leaving Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, illustrated in 1949 by Rockwell Kent, on the coffee table. Adolescent curiosity took care of the rest. Kent introduced me to pornography or erotica before Playboy. From the late 1950s the Book
Baudy ‘Decameron’ told a story of a Jew’s conversion Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and FoodBy Oliver B. Pollak Third in a series RICHMOND, California. You and your spouse are invited to dinner. It could be significant other, partner, friend. What can I bring. First time at the house – house warming gift, cut flowers, a plant, potluck food contribution, a seed packet, do they drink, do they both drink,
Just bring yourself and a bottle of wine Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
The Library Book, A coffee table book that stirs the reader’s soul Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — The Library Book, a 14½x11 3/8 coffee table book, weighs 6 lbs. I saw it in the new books section of the Richmond Public Library and “checked it out.” Then I checked it out at the circulation
‘The Library Book’: Cleverly titled tome about libraries Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
-Second in a series- By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — A drink helps to unwind, relieve stress, chill. Social drinking with friends, in moderation, is ok. My companions are happy, not morose or angry drinkers. We share tastes and mutually expand our knowledge of spirits. I learned about scotch from my Glasgow born mentor,
His spirits of adventure Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — We learn to drink from and with family, friends, and colleagues starting at the family table, temptations of fake I.D.s, followed by college, Navy, coworkers, restaurant wine tasting, and other influences. Turning 21 is a rite of passage. Alcohol socializes, but can also foster dependency and addiction. I’ve
A story of a spirited lifetime Read More »
Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food
Braided, A Journey of a Thousand Challahs by Beth Ricanati, MD; She Writes Press, 2018; ISBN 9787-1-63152-441-7; $16.95, 169 pages. By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — A physician who specializes in women’s health believes that the preparation of challah for a Shabbat meal, besides having obvious culinary benefits, can be a form of prayer
Challah: good to eat, good to meditate Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food