Social groups: religious groups and communities Books

Book SynopsisA new world of religious satire illuminated through the layers of religion and humor that make up the The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy. Drawing on the worldviews put forth by three wildly popular animated shows The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy David Feltmate demonstrates how ideas about religion's proper place in American society are communicated through comedy. The book includes discussion of a wide range of American religions, including Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Native American Religions, New Religious Movements, Spirituality, Hinduism, and Atheism. Along the way, readers are shown that jokes about religion are influential tools for teaching viewers how to interpret and judge religious people and institutions. Feltmate, develops a picture of how each show understands and communicates what constitutes good religious practice as well as which traditions they seek to exclude on the basis of race and ethnicity, stupidity, or danger.Trade ReviewDrawn to the Gods is a thorough and comprehensive study that is grounded in solid research methodologies and linked to relevant theories and secondary literature. Feltmates arguments are compelling and insightful, and even quite lively--I love moving from Durkheim on the sacred to sacredness in Family Guy. Feltmate is quite adept at unpacking dense ideas about the sociology of religion and applying them to cultural studies in a rich, illuminating way. -- Gary Laderman,Goodrich C. White Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory UniversityDavid Feltmates book on religion, satire, and popular culture must be regarded a significant, fascinating, and also thought-provoking scholarly introduction into the world of contemporary religious popular culture and its study[It] is a must read for all researchers of contemporary religious communication and popular culture. -- Johan Bastubacka,Associate Professor of Theology, University of HelsinkiWithout a doubt, I will use this delightful, well-researched, well-crafted monograph in my media, religion, and popular culture courses. David Feltmates book is fun, but it is serious fun. He maps out how humor and satire, as delivered through media platforms, teach audiences how to think about religion in an American cultural context. In so doing, he makes a compelling case for why we need to take humor seriously, and why the vital realm of popular culture is not simply important but indeed central to our research in the study of religion. -- Sarah McFarland Taylor,Professor of Religion, Media and Culture, Northwestern UniversityFeltmate wisely focuses on three popular television programs that not only overflow with religious references but also often humorously subvert accepted ideas about religious beliefs and practices. Engaging in close readings of over 200 episodes of these shows, Feltmate explores the ways that they satirically question sacred texts, cults, Jesus, sacred sites, and various world religions. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisExamines classic and contemporary Jewish and African American children's literatureThrough close readings of selected titles published since 1945, Jodi Eichler-Levine analyzes what is at stake in portraying religious history for young people, particularly when the histories in question are traumatic ones. In the wake of the Holocaust and lynchings, of the Middle Passage and flight from Eastern Europe''s pogroms, children's literature provides diverse and complicated responses to the challenge of representing difficultcollective pasts.In reading the work of various prominent authors, including Maurice Sendak, Julius Lester, Jane Yolen, Sydney Taylor, and Virginia Hamilton, Eichler-Levine changes our understanding of North American religions. She illuminates how narratives of both suffering and nostalgia graft future citizens into ideals of American liberal democracy, and into religious communities that can be understood according to recognizable notions of reTrade ReviewExhibits an impressive command of multiple disciplines to offer a compelling of reading of Jewish and African American childrens literatures. . . . Eichler-Levine's close readings of youth literatures and reader responses are always clear and often delightful as she deftly works at the crossroads, providing new signposts for navigating vexing questions at the intersections of religion, citizenship, trauma, and redemption. -- Liora Gubkin,author of You Shall Tell Your Children: Holocaust Memory in American Passover RitualJodi Eichler-Levines insightful book illuminates the importance of fear and suffering in shaping African American and Jewish childrens literature. Her book gives a cogent understanding of how each community's difficult historical narratives coupled with their religious and social lives have helped to prepare children to engage an American civic life that has been hostile at times to their ethnic groups. -- Anthea Butler,University of PennsylvaniaThis rich and rewarding study invites fresh thought about the political religiosity of stories for children and the potential of contemporary children's literature to help forge a new politics of American childhood. -- Amy Fish * Children's Literature *Whats so exciting about Suffer the Little Children is that it brings a deeply grounded religious studies perspective to bear on contemporary American childrens literature in ways that enrich both the study of literature and our understanding of childhoods role in U.S. Judeo-Christian cultures. By focusing on American childrens books by and about Jews and African Americans and the core tropes that interweave through these textsfrom the idea of 'chosenness' to the haunting spectre of genocideEichler-Levine gives new meaning to the idea of the `sacralized child. Suffer the Little Children sheds new light on the relationships between race, religion, citizenship, and childhood. It also reminds us once more of why childrens literature provides such a revealing lens for analyzing American culture. -- Julia Mickenberg * Learning from the Left: Children’s Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the U.S. *In this startling analysis of children's literature written by African Americans, Jews, and African American Jews, Eichler-Levine (religion/Jewish studies, Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh) claims that 'redemptive' stories about victimization are a necessary part of these works in order to gain acceptance. * Choice *Eichler-Levine exhibits mastery of this genre in a scholarly, comprehensive book that brings a literate, impassioned, interrogative analytical lens to familiar and lesser known children's books. * Catholic Library World *Jodi Eichler-Levine sets out to make the connections between African American and Jewish childrens literature, a potentially fruitful area of study because of the two groups shared inheritance of similar Biblical stories. * Children's Literature Association Quarterly *Eichler-Levine's appreciation for the art and transcendent possibility of children's books will inspire other scholars of religion, American history, and literature to pick up childhood favorites. In so doing,Suffer the Little Childrenpromises to spark a broader investigation of the wide-ranging contributions Jewish writers have made to this understudied literary tradition. * American Jewish History *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgments Introduction: Wild Things and Chosen Children A Word about Language 1 Remembering the Way into Membership Part I: Crossing and Dwelling:After lives of Moses and Miriam 2 The Unbearable Lightness of Exodus 3 Dwelling in Chosen Nostalgia Part II: Binding and Unbinding:Hauntings of Isaac and Jephthah's Daughter4 Bound to Violence: Lynching, the Holocaust, and the Limits of Representation 5 Unbound in Fantasy: Reading Monstrosity and the Supernatural Conclusion: The Abrahamic Bargain Appendix: Children's Books Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book Synopsis2018 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice MagazineAn exploration of twentieth and twenty-first century U.S. Muslim womanhood that centers the lived experience of women of color For Sylvia Chan-Malik, Muslim womanhood is constructed through everyday and embodied acts of resistance, what she calls affective insurgency. In negotiating the histories of anti-Blackness, U.S. imperialism, and women's rights of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Being Muslim explores how U.S. Muslim women's identities are expressions of Islam as both Black protest religion and universal faith tradition. Through archival images, cultural texts, popular media, and interviews, the author maps how communities of American Islam became sites of safety, support, spirituality, and social activism, and how women of color were central to their formation. By accounting for American Islam's rich histories of mobilization and community, Being Muslim brings insight to the resistance that all Muslim women must Trade Review"This is a compelling, comprehensive, well-researched yet intimate exploration of intersectionality in the lives of African American Muslim women. Readers make an excursion through lives and contexts, from the beginning of the 20th century into the 21st. Chan-Malik demonstrates skills beyond the ordinary as she leaves little to the imagination regarding women's reasons for choosing Islam as a faith center and its relationship to homemaking, careers, and husbands … It is clear that Chan-Malik consulted every form of literature available on women engaging Islam … Chan-Malik has interrupted the stream of community biographies told through a male lens. An important book." -- CHOICE"This fascinating cultural history of Islam in the United States will surprise readers with its insights and subtleties of argument. By centering the lives, labor, and perspectives of US American Muslim women, and black Muslim women in particular, Chan-Malik makes a powerful case for conceptualizing Islam in the USin terms of its foundational blackness and the religious opposition to racism and sexism." -- Zareena Grewal,author of Islam is a Foreign Country"Rarely does a work of scholarship so seamless and skillfully interweave methods of theory, history, ethnography, and cultural interpretation to elucidate a topic of overarching importance. With rich insight and pristine originality, Sylvia Chan-Malik establishes a new, lasting standard that will redirect future scholarship on race, gender, and transnational Islam. Readers will learn immensely from the rich fruits of such careful and judicious intellectual labor." -- Sylvester Johnson,Virginia Tech"Being Muslim is a masterpiece that provides insightful analysis of the intersections among gender, race, and politics in the lives of American Muslim women." * Journal of Asian America Studies *

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Book SynopsisHow Judaism and food are intertwined Judaism is a religion that is enthusiastic about food. Jewish holidays are inevitably celebrated through eating particular foods, or around fasting and then eating particular foods. Through fasting, feasting, dining, and noshing, food infuses the rich traditions of Judaism into daily life. What do the complicated laws of kosher food mean to Jews? How does food in Jewish bellies shape the hearts and minds of Jews? What does the Jewish relationship with food teach us about Christianity, Islam, and religion itself? Can food shape the future of Judaism? Feasting and Fasting explores questions like these to offer an expansive look at how Judaism and food have been intertwined, both historically and today. It also grapples with the charged ethical debates about how food choices reflect competing Jewish values about community, animals, the natural world and the very meaning of being human. Encompassing historical, ethnographic, and theoretical viewpoints, Trade Review"An accessible, detailed look at all aspects of Jewish food ... This rich, revealing collection will appeal to scholars and foodies alike." * Publishers Weekly *"A fascinating look at food from a variety of different angles … the essays were all well written and absorbing. Anyone interested in food studies or Jewish history will want to read this book." * Jewish World *"Anyone interested in Jewish food who reads these seven essays will emerge with plenty of points for further discussion [...] As a broad-based collection touching on many of the subspecialties, it should provide genuine 'food for thought' leading to further readings on specific topics." * Tradition *"Feasting and Fasting is a fascinating look at food from a variety of different angles… Anyone interested in food studies or Jewish history will want to read this book." * The Reporter *"This wide-ranging discussion of the history, philosophy, religion, and origins of Jewish culinary traditions should be in any serious culinary and Jewish history collection." * Midwest Review of Books *"Runs the gamut from biblical to contemporary Jewish food ways and includes both historical and ethical aspects of what, how, and why Jews eat." * Leah Hochman, University of Southern California *"Gathers a dream team of Jewish studies scholars whothank you!raise their heads from texts to focus on the meanings, rituals, conflicts, power dynamics, and pleasures of the material of food in the Jewish diaspora. . . . The book that follows considers the diversity of complex and often fraught relationships among food, Jews, and Others, across time and place, from biblical to supermarket aisle. It serves to initiate scholars of Judaism in the world of food studies and, for food scholars, richly informs studies of Jewish foodways." * Jonathan Deutsch, Co-author of Jewish American Food Culture *"Drawing on a stellar cast of contributors, Feasting and Fasting combines an unparalleled overview of Jewish food practices from Antiquity to Agriprocessors with boundary-breaking essays on Jewish foods and foodways. This remarkable volume will excite scholars and be invaluable for adoption in Jewish history and food studies courses.”" * Roger Horowitz, author of Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food *"A fascinating account of the history of Jewish food, within and outside of dietary laws. . . . Crisco is for Jews? Peanut oil caused such debates? Who knew. This book is a great read." * Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor and Professor Emerita, New York University *"This is a spectacular set of essays on a wide and eclectic range of topics. They're accessible to a wide audience and further strengthen the evolving conversation about the nature of the interaction between Jewish life, food, and the wider world we live in." * Nigel Savage, CEO, Hazon: The Jewish Lab for Sustainability *"The three courses of this book — history, culture, and ethics — are a tremendous feast, to be savored for a long time to come!" * Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, American Jewish University *

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Book SynopsisFinalist, 2018 National Jewish Book Award for Modern Jewish Thought and Experience, presented by the Jewish Book CouncilWinner, 2019 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award, in the Jewish Literature and Linguistics Category, given by the Association for Jewish StudiesA fascinating glimpse into the world of the coffeehouse and its role in shaping modern Jewish cultureUnlike the synagogue, the house of study, the community center, or the Jewish deli, the café is rarely considered a Jewish space. Yet, coffeehouses profoundly influenced the creation of modern Jewish culture from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. With roots stemming from the Ottoman Empire, the coffeehouse and its drinks gained increasing popularity in Europe. The otherness, and the mix of the national and transnational characteristics of the coffeehouse perhaps explains why many of these cafés were owned by Jews, why Jews became their most devoted habitués, and how cafés acquired associations with Jewishness. Examining thTrade Review"[H]ugely entertaining and intimidatingly well researched, with scarcely a café in which a Jewish writer raised a cup of coffee from Warsaw to New York left undocumented." -- Adam Gopnik * The New Yorker *"Shachar Pinsker masterfully documents the impact of café life on Jewish culture throughout the civilized world. . . . A Rich Brew is aptly named. Engagingly illustrated with many contemporary photos and cartoons, it offers a deep dive into the café world of six cities that gave birth to modern Jewish thought and culture." * Moment Magazine *"A Rich Brew evokes the sense of lingering in a timeless café, savoring the flavor and scent of good coffee and the conversation that goes along with it." * The Jewish Week *"Pinsker . . . believes that cafés in six cities created modern Jewish culture. Its the kind of claim that sounds as if it might be a game-changer, and there are enough grounds and gossip in A Rich Brew to keep this customer engrossed from cup to cup." * The Wall Street Journal *"Pinsker makes clear the vital role literary cafes played in 19th- and 20th-century Western Jewish culture in this smart volume." * Publishers Weekly *"Pinsker takes the reader on a journey across the important centers of modern Jewish culture: Odessa, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, New York and Tel Aviv, using a host of different sources and making for a captivating read." * The Forward *"This meticulously researched book pays tribute to an electrifying network of cafes that once incubated modern Jewish culture." -- Hadassah"Weaving stories of writers, artists, activists, and revolutionaries in the cafes of Odessa, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, New York City, and Tel Aviv, Pinsker takes us on a journey from Moses Mendelssohn’s philosophical writings in Berlin’s Gelehrtes Kaffehause in 1755 to the funeral of the last Yiddish-speaking café owner in 1979 Tel Aviv, 'attended by a crowd of thousands.'" -- Marginalia Review of Books"A captivating tale of Jewish intellectual life, fueled by caffeine and good company in cities across the world." -- Metropole"Shachar Pinskers absorbing new work of nonfiction, A Rich Brew, uses the café as a vehicle both to describe the development of modern Jewish culture and to delve into the topics that drove its progression." * Jewish Book Council *"Pinsker packs his history with titillating behind-the-scenes snapshots of a cast of fascinating and enigmatic Jewish figures in cafés throughout history . . . makes for engaging, as well as nostalgic, reading, and begs the question: what has replaced the café in contemporary Jewish life?" * In geveb *"Pinsker’s greatest strength is in assembling evocative descriptions, both of individual cafés, and of cafés as a species of urban space. He expertly weaves together real-life accounts of cafés, including many in the journalistic-literary genre of the feuilleton, and their fictional depiction in the work of some of the most important Jewish writers of the 19th and 20th centuries." -- Reading Religion"Shachar Pinsker concocts a rich and pleasing brew of material culture, history, sociology, and text analysis to explore the roots of modern Jewish culture as we know it today. Describing the café as a 'thirdspace,' a liminal zone between the intimate and the public spheres, Pinsker follows the emergence of Jewish culture from the synagogue and the traditional house-of-study and its recreation as a modern, urban, secular intellectual heritage. Masterfully constructed and beautifully written, A Rich Brew is an illuminating and pleasurable read." -- Ruby Namdar,author of The Ruined House"A Rich Brew is an innovative work of Jewish cultural and literary history that illuminates how the café served as a laboratory that nourished Jewish writers, artists, and intellectuals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the European cafes of Odessa, Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin, to New York and Tel Aviv Jaffa, Pinsker charts a new account of the public spaces of Jewish culture and the new literary and cultural forms that where imagined there." -- Allison Schachter, author of Diasporic Modernisms: Hebrew and Yiddish Literature in the Twentieth Century"Shachar Pinsker, in part building on research he did for his admirable first book, Literary Passports, has produced a scrupulously documented and finely instructive account of the role of cafes in modern Jewish culture. A Rich Brew, providing apt discussions of many long-forgotten or unknown texts and a generous sampling of photographs of the sundry cafes, should be of considerable interest both for historians and students of modern Jewish literature." -- Robert Alter, Emeritus Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley"The best part of this book is that it offers a new cultural history of Jewish modernity by utilizing literary studiesusing examples of poetry and prose written in and about cafés, it gives voice to artists who populated these cafés." -- Anna Shternshis, University of Toronto"A Rich Brew is an enjoyable, well-written book, accessible to a wide audience. Pinsker does a fine job introducing the reader to the larger historical contexts, especially of each individual city under examination; offers clear overviews of representative Jewish literary and artistic personalities; and, most importantly, brings to life the many (but now defunct) cafés that stand at the heart of his narrative." * AJS Review *"A great strength of A Rich Brew is the attention given to precisely what is absent from [Jürgen] Habermas’s text: the physical spaces of cafés and their relationship to the bourgeois public sphere. It is marvelous to see how much a literary historian learned about places (and people) from his close scrutiny of literature and art." * Sociological Forum *"The focus on examining individual cities is one of the book’s strongest points, as each chapter is a mini-historiography of class, religion, ethnicity, and gender. More than anything, however, A Rich Brew is an examination of the role of nostalgia for home in shaping everything from café discussions to creative output to historical reflection." * Digest: A Journal of Foodways & Culture *"[Pinsker] has uncovered a vibrant, far-flung network of neighborhood cafes that were patronized by Jewish writers with a taste for coffee, conversation, and difference." * Sociological Forum *"A Rich Brew takes us on a spectacular tour of urban Jewish cafés across several continents, invigorating our sense of Jewish modernity in the making." * The American Historical Review *"The power of this book is not merely in reminding the reader of the lost world of Jewish cafés but in showing how comparative analysis illuminates what is common and what is unique about Jews as a social group and the institutions they create." * American Jewish History *

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Book SynopsisHow the Wise Men Got to Chelm is the first in-depth study of Chelm literature and its relationship to its literary precursors. When God created the world, so it is said, he sent out an angel with a bag of foolish souls with instructions to distribute them equally all over the worldone fool per town. But the angel's bag broke and all the souls spilled out onto the same spot. They built a settlement where they landed: the town is known as Chelm. The collected tales of these fools, or wise men, of Chelm constitute the best-known folktale tradition of the Jews of eastern Europe. This tradition includes a sprawling repertoire of stories about the alleged intellectual limitations of the members of this old and important Jewish community. Chelm did not make its debut in the role of the foolish shtetl par excellence until late in the nineteenth century. Since then, however, the town has led a double lifeas a real city in eastern Poland and as an imaginary place onto which questions of Jewish iTrade Review"Bernuth...provides a detailed and comprehensive examination of the evolution of some of the best-known Yiddish folk stories--those revolving around the comically foolish men of the town of Chelm--that places those tales in historical and cultural context." * Publishers Weekly *"[Von Bernuth] provides a comprehensive survey of all the collections of Chelm stories and their predecessors published since 1700, shows how the tales explored Jewish identity, community and history, and delivers a few punch lines." * The Jerusalem Post *"von Bernuth succeeds admirably in showing how the mythic locale allowed for the expression of various Jewish fantasies and anxieties over the past century and a half, and indeed continues to do so today." * Times Higher Education *"A beautifully-written work of meticulous scholarship. How the Wise Men Got to Chelm is the first book in any language to fully explore the humor and the seriousness in one of the most enduring and beloved legends of popular Jewish culture. Von Bernuth not only traces the origins of the fools of Chelm, but goes further to illuminate what these stories reveal about the intersections of European and Jewish cultures and the shifts in Jewish cultural development over a three hundred year period." -- Anita Norich,Tikva Frymer-Kensky Collegiate Professor, University of Michigan"This book is deeply learned, immensely sympathetic, and refreshingly free of cultural anxiety or chauvinism, Ruth von Bernuth squarely sets this famous genre within a milieu that is at once thoroughly Germanic and distinctively Jewish, and she carefully traces the continuities and transitions from early modern to twentieth-century expressions. Very wise indeed, this is a model analysis of the creative workings of not only Jewish but other diasporas as well." -- Jonathan Boyarin,Diann G. and Thomas Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, Cornell University"Using the example of 'foolish' culture, von Bernuth shows that Jews shared the assumptions, themes and expressions of the general German culture, while lending that culture a Jewish inflection. Yet, social barriers persisted. Von Bernuth illuminates this paradoxical combination of cultural partnership and social alienation, showcasing the relationship between minority and majority groups. Her book is a milestone in both literary history and cultural studies." -- Moshe Rosman,author of How Jewish Is Jewish History?"One can only wonder what the Wise Men of Chelm would have said about a book like this. It has all the scholarship one could ask for but also an ability to home in on basic questions. It offers a sense of perspectiveand a sense of humor. It breaks the canonsit is fun to read and is a mine of information. It transforms a collection of stories that are usually dismissed as light reading for children into a powerful tool for understanding how different cultures learn from each otherand also maintain their identities. The author shares her knowledge generouslybut never forgets the basic humanity of the figures about whom she writes. The Men of Chelm would probably say: Start reading and see if you can stop!" -- Shaul Stampfer,Sandrow Professor of Soviet and East European Jewish History, Hebrew University"How the Wise Men Got to Chelmshows how these stories have changed over time to include debates about the efficacy of Zionism or communism, or to discuss the apparent silliness of Hasidic traditions." * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisFor a country smaller than Vermont, with roughly the same population as Honduras, modern Israel receives a remarkable amount of attention. For supporters, it is a unique bastion of democracy in the Middle East, while detractors view it as a racist outpost of Western colonialism. The romanticization of Israel became particularly prominent in 1967, when its military prowess shocked a Jewish world still reeling from the sense of powerlessness dramatized by the Holocaust. That imagery has grown ever more visible, with Israel's supporters idealizing its technological achievements and its opponents attributing almost every problem in the region, if not beyond, to its imperialistic aspirations.The contradictions and competing views of modern Israel are the subject of this book. There is much to consider about modern Israel besides the Middle East conflict. Over the past generation, a substantial body of scholarship has explored numerous aspects of the country, including its approacheTrade ReviewLike any complicated country, Israel is a land of myths and realities. In this volume, Frederick Greenspahn has assembled an outstanding collection of essays that will help readers to distinguish between the two. Israel has changed enormously over its sixty-some years of statehood. As the chapters demonstrate, many images inherited from the past, frozen into the memories of people who pay attention to the country, no longer conform to everyday reality. This volume is a good place to start in making sense of Israel as it is, not as an idealized or mythical entity but as a country coping with an astonishing array of social challenges. -- Kenneth D. Wald,Samuel R. "Bud" Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture & Society, University of FloridaOne of the best new anthologies in the burgeoning field of Israel Studies. For both those unfamiliar with the interdisciplinary study of modern Israel, and those more versed in this scholarship, the books authorsall leading researchers in the fieldoffer a wealth of information and insight on Israels diverse population, its contested national and sub-national identities, and its transforming public and private spaces. . . . A refreshing volume that steers clear of the stale partisan polemics that characterizes much of the current discourse on Israel, this work offers a rich, complex, and deep grasp of Israels multifaceted society and its relationship with both state institutions and the Jewish diaspora. -- Miriam Elman,Syracuse University

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Book SynopsisThe ninth and tenth centuries witnessed the establishment of a substantial network of maritime trade across the Indian Ocean, providing the real-life background to the Sinbad tales. An exceptional exemplar of Arabic travel writing, Accounts of China and India is a compilation of reports and anecdotes about the lands and peoples of this diverse territory, from the Somali headlands of Africa to the far eastern shores of China and Korea. Traveling eastward, we discover a vivid human landscapefrom Chinese society to Hindu religious practicesas well as a colorful range of natural wildernessfrom flying fish to Tibetan musk-deer and Sri Lankan gems. The juxtaposed accounts create a kaleidoscope of a world not unlike our own, a world on the road to globalization. In its ports, we find a priceless cargo of information. Here are the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, a panorama of unusual social practices, cannibal islands, and Indian holy mena marvelouTrade ReviewThese accounts are full of fascination and wonder [and] continue the contribution this excellent series is making towards integrating classics of Arabic into the global canon. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisAn updated edition showcasing the social health of the least religious nations in the worldReligious conservatives around the world often claim that a society without a strong foundation of faith would necessarily be an immoral one, bereft of ethics, values, and meaning. Indeed, the Christian Right in the United States has argued that a society without God would be hell on earth. In Society without God, Second Edition sociologist Phil Zuckerman challenges these claims. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with more than 150 citizens of Denmark and Sweden, among the least religious countries in the world, he shows that, far from being inhumane, crime-infested, and dysfunctional, highly secular societies are healthier, safer, greener, less violent, and more democratic and egalitarian than highly religious ones. Society without God provides a rich portrait of life in a secular society, exploring how a culture without faith copes with death, grapples with the meaning of life, and remainTrade ReviewZuckerman has been at the forefront of the growing field of Secular Studies for the best part of two decades. From Society Without God, it's easy to see why: beautifully written and engaging, drawing on both deep scholarship and an insightful mind. This is classic Zuckerman. -- Stephen Bullivant, Professor of Theology and the Sociology of Religion, St Mary's University, UK

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Book SynopsisOffers a look at contemporary Muslim American life in Texas. This book illuminates the dynamics of the Pakistani Muslim community in Houston, a city with one of the largest Muslim populations in the south and southwestern United States.Trade Review"Afzal deftly puts ethnography to work in describing the complexities facing Pakistanis in the Lone Star State. This significant book demonstrates how Muslims confront a wide range of issues such as racism, sexuality, and class and gender roles, while offering nuanced lessons from everyday life." -- Junaid Rana,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"Ahmed Afzals Lone Star Muslims is an ambitious project that reaches across Asian American, Muslim American and South Asian American studies to question how Islam and diasporic South Asian histories are connected to everyday negotiations of transnational Pakistani Muslim identity and practice in Houston, Texas.As a project that details the diversity of a transnational community, Afzals book is a significant contribution to critical literature on South Asian Muslim identity in post 9/11 America." * Social Anthropology *"Lone Star Muslims is an important addition to the literature on Asian and Muslim Americans, the contemporary metropolitan South, and the South Asian diaspora. Among the many strengths of the book are poignant, perceptive glimpses into the lives of individuals who, all too often, remain invisible and voiceless to all but the most observant." * Journal of Asian American Studies *"This engaging work on Pakistani American and Pakistani immigrant experiences in Texas offers both in-depth ethnography and insightful theoretical discussions. Afzal makes major contributions to the wide array of interdisciplinary issues he covers: the case studies are innovative, the research sensitively conducted, and the conclusions compellinglypresented." -- Karen Leonard,University of California, Irvine"Through chapters on Houstons ethno-racial history, model-minority Ismaili Muslims in corporate America, Pakistani American small businesses and the underclass that sustains them, gay men of Pakistani descent, and the strategic importance of local cultural festivals and radio respectively, Afzals monograph intersects with such different academic fields as ethnic studies, Asian American studies, southern studies, and queer studies Lone Star Muslims is a valuable contribution to scholarship, breaking new ground across several academic disciplines." * Journal of American Studies *"Throughout this book, Afzal demonstrates the limits of homogenized images of & Muslims, powerfully capturing the pleasures and hopes, but also the suffering and uncertainties shaping a South Asian experience in the United States today This is an important study, not simply of Pakistani Muslims or immigration, but of religion, sexuality and place making the United States It is an exemplary ethnography, one that makes an important contribution well beyond the disciplinary boundaries of cultural anthropology. It is accessible to the general reader and deserves to figure in academic programs spanning urban studies, religious studies, as well as studies of contemporary sexuality." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"An important addition to the ethnographic study of Muslim and Pakistani Americans aswell as the broader anthropological study of immigrant lives and transnational identities,Lone Star Muslimstrains a remarkably wide lens on Pakistanis and PakistaniAmericans in Houston.To his considerable credit and using multisited methods, AhmedAfzal ensures diverse coverage of various sectors of Houston Pakistani communities." * American Anthropologist *"Lone Star Muslimsportrays the 'heterogeneity of the Muslim American experience in the early twenty-first century,' which is sorely needed when Muslims are easily stereotyped and vilified; it also teaches us that there are 'space for building alliances and solidarity' within ethnic Muslim communities and between them and the wider society. Thebook is a valuable contribution to the anthropology of American Islam." * Anthropology Review Database *"Methodologically and theoretically,Lone Star Muslimsopens up new possibilities for research of transnational communities in the U.S. Afzals decision to conduct his fieldwork in Houston addresses the long ignored reality that the American South has become an increasingly popular destination for South Asian and Muslim immigrants. Afzals multi-sited approach recognizes the heterogeneity of the Pakistani American experience along lines of race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality." * Anthropological Quarterly *"In this thought-provoking dual treatment of the historical legacy of Texas and the diasporic experience of Ismaili Shia and homosexual Muslims living in Houston and its suburbs, Afzal argues against the works of scholars presenting the various facets of the South Asian community as a monolith of Islamic practices and heterosexuality This is new at the forefront of religion." * Choice *"Lone Star Muslimcontributes in significant ways to the study of Muslim communities there is much to recommend Afzals work." * Reading Religion *"The ethnography crosses important and revealing sectarian and class lines and also challenges the heteronormative bias of the subfield... Afzal juxtaposes the narratives of unemployed and underemployed Pakistani-Americans in revealing ways, from upwardly-mobile Ismaili Pakistani Americans whose “model minority” ambitions are dashed to working class Pakistani migrants on the edges of the neoliberal economy, his account upends the false problem of “Americanization” that preoccupied an earlier generation of scholars." -- Zareena Grewal, Essential Readings on Islam in the United States, Jadaliyya.comTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Houston: Race, Class, Oil, and the Making of "America's Most Diverse City" 30 2 "A Dream Come True": Shia Ismaili Experiences in Corporate America 64 3 "It's Allah's Will": The Transnational Muslim Heritage Economy 95 4 "I Have a Very Good Relationship with Allah": Pakistani Gay Men and Transnational Belonging 124 5 The Pakistan Independence Day Festival: The Making of a "Houston Tradition" 152 6 "Pakistanis Have Always Been Radio People": Transnational Media, Business Imperatives, and Homeland Politics 178 Conclusion 205 Notes 215 Bibliography 233 Index 257 About the Author 263

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Book SynopsisExamines trends and patterns relating to religion in the lives of immigrants. This book moves beyond specific studies of particular faiths in particular immigrant destinations to present the religious lives of immigrants in the United States, Canada, and Europe on a broad scale.Trade Review"With Immigrant Faith, Phillip Connor establishes himself as a leading scholar of immigrant religion, bringing together a vast amount of data, expertly analyzing it, and providing a succinct summary of the important patterns. I am especially impressed with the book's scope and clarity." -- Robert Wuthnow,Princeton University"Presents a unique portrait of the connections between religion and immigration in the Western world. Immigrant Faith is the first study of immigrant religion based on quantitative analyses, and it is also the first to examine religion and immigration across varied national contexts and diverse religious traditions. Connor examine how religion influences the transition to the destination country, and how migration affects religiosity. This is a must-read book for anyone trying to understand the importance of religion for immigrants in the U.S., Canada, and Europe." -- Darren Sherkat,Southern Illinois University"The book is an illuminating contribution to scholars embarking on studies of immigrant integration because it makes a strong case for why we should consider the role of religion when studying migration." * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *"Synthesizing the scholarship on migrant studies, Philip Connors timely and accessible book enables a deeper understanding of the intersections among religion, immigration, and the environment." * Catholic Library World *"A convincing attempt to identify general trends in the ways in which migration and religion influence each other." * Religion and Society *"The book gives students and scholars of religion and immigration an excellent bird's-eye view of the ways that the religions of immigrants have influenced their lives and communities in North America and Europe." * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Introducing Immigrant Faith 1 1 Moving Faith 15 2 Changing Faith 43 3 Integrating Faith 68 4 Transferring Faith 93 Conclusion: Weaving Immigrant Faith Together 115 Methodological Appendix 129 Notes 145 Bibliography 155 Index 163 About the Author 165

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Book SynopsisOffers a look at contemporary Muslim American life in Texas. This volume explores everyday Muslim lives at the intersection of race, class, profession, gender, sexuality, and religious sectarian affiliation to demonstrate the complexity of the South Asian experience. It also incorporates narratives of gay Muslim American men of Pakistani descent.Trade Review"Afzal deftly puts ethnography to work in describing the complexities facing Pakistanis in the Lone Star State. This significant book demonstrates how Muslims confront a wide range of issues such as racism, sexuality, and class and gender roles, while offering nuanced lessons from everyday life." -- Junaid Rana,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"Ahmed Afzals Lone Star Muslims is an ambitious project that reaches across Asian American, Muslim American and South Asian American studies to question how Islam and diasporic South Asian histories are connected to everyday negotiations of transnational Pakistani Muslim identity and practice in Houston, Texas.As a project that details the diversity of a transnational community, Afzals book is a significant contribution to critical literature on South Asian Muslim identity in post 9/11 America." * Social Anthropology *"Lone Star Muslims is an important addition to the literature on Asian and Muslim Americans, the contemporary metropolitan South, and the South Asian diaspora. Among the many strengths of the book are poignant, perceptive glimpses into the lives of individuals who, all too often, remain invisible and voiceless to all but the most observant." * Journal of Asian American Studies *"This engaging work on Pakistani American and Pakistani immigrant experiences in Texas offers both in-depth ethnography and insightful theoretical discussions. Afzal makes major contributions to the wide array of interdisciplinary issues he covers: the case studies are innovative, the research sensitively conducted, and the conclusions compellinglypresented." -- Karen Leonard,University of California, Irvine"Through chapters on Houstons ethno-racial history, model-minority Ismaili Muslims in corporate America, Pakistani American small businesses and the underclass that sustains them, gay men of Pakistani descent, and the strategic importance of local cultural festivals and radio respectively, Afzals monograph intersects with such different academic fields as ethnic studies, Asian American studies, southern studies, and queer studies Lone Star Muslims is a valuable contribution to scholarship, breaking new ground across several academic disciplines." * Journal of American Studies *"Throughout this book, Afzal demonstrates the limits of homogenized images of & Muslims, powerfully capturing the pleasures and hopes, but also the suffering and uncertainties shaping a South Asian experience in the United States today This is an important study, not simply of Pakistani Muslims or immigration, but of religion, sexuality and place making the United States It is an exemplary ethnography, one that makes an important contribution well beyond the disciplinary boundaries of cultural anthropology. It is accessible to the general reader and deserves to figure in academic programs spanning urban studies, religious studies, as well as studies of contemporary sexuality." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"An important addition to the ethnographic study of Muslim and Pakistani Americans aswell as the broader anthropological study of immigrant lives and transnational identities,Lone Star Muslimstrains a remarkably wide lens on Pakistanis and PakistaniAmericans in Houston.To his considerable credit and using multisited methods, AhmedAfzal ensures diverse coverage of various sectors of Houston Pakistani communities." * American Anthropologist *"Lone Star Muslimsportrays the 'heterogeneity of the Muslim American experience in the early twenty-first century,' which is sorely needed when Muslims are easily stereotyped and vilified; it also teaches us that there are 'space for building alliances and solidarity' within ethnic Muslim communities and between them and the wider society. Thebook is a valuable contribution to the anthropology of American Islam." * Anthropology Review Database *"Methodologically and theoretically,Lone Star Muslimsopens up new possibilities for research of transnational communities in the U.S. Afzals decision to conduct his fieldwork in Houston addresses the long ignored reality that the American South has become an increasingly popular destination for South Asian and Muslim immigrants. Afzals multi-sited approach recognizes the heterogeneity of the Pakistani American experience along lines of race, class, gender, religion, and sexuality." * Anthropological Quarterly *"In this thought-provoking dual treatment of the historical legacy of Texas and the diasporic experience of Ismaili Shia and homosexual Muslims living in Houston and its suburbs, Afzal argues against the works of scholars presenting the various facets of the South Asian community as a monolith of Islamic practices and heterosexuality This is new at the forefront of religion." * Choice *"Lone Star Muslimcontributes in significant ways to the study of Muslim communities there is much to recommend Afzals work." * Reading Religion *"The ethnography crosses important and revealing sectarian and class lines and also challenges the heteronormative bias of the subfield... Afzal juxtaposes the narratives of unemployed and underemployed Pakistani-Americans in revealing ways, from upwardly-mobile Ismaili Pakistani Americans whose “model minority” ambitions are dashed to working class Pakistani migrants on the edges of the neoliberal economy, his account upends the false problem of “Americanization” that preoccupied an earlier generation of scholars." -- Zareena Grewal, Essential Readings on Islam in the United States, Jadaliyya.comTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Houston: Race, Class, Oil, and the Making of "America's Most Diverse City" 30 2 "A Dream Come True": Shia Ismaili Experiences in Corporate America 64 3 "It's Allah's Will": The Transnational Muslim Heritage Economy 95 4 "I Have a Very Good Relationship with Allah": Pakistani Gay Men and Transnational Belonging 124 5 The Pakistan Independence Day Festival: The Making of a "Houston Tradition" 152 6 "Pakistanis Have Always Been Radio People": Transnational Media, Business Imperatives, and Homeland Politics 178 Conclusion 205 Notes 215 Bibliography 233 Index 257 About the Author 263

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Book SynopsisAmericans love religious freedom. Few agree, however, about what they mean by either religion or freedom. Rather than resolve these debates, Finbarr Curtis argues that there is no such thing as religious freedom. Lacking any consistent content, religious freedom is a shifting and malleable rhetoric employed for a variety of purposes. While Americans often think of freedom as the right to be left alone, the free exercise of religion works to produce, challenge, distribute, and regulate different forms of social power.The book traces shifts in the notion of religious freedom in America from The Second Great Awakening, to the fiction of Louisa May Alcott and the films of D.W. Griffith, through William Jennings Bryan and the Scopes Trial, and up to debates over the Tea Party to illuminate how Protestants have imagined individual and national forms of identity. A chapter on Al Smith considers how the first Catholic presidential nominee of a major party challenged Protestant views aTrade ReviewA bold, surprising, and timely intervention into ongoing debates about the political and ethical dimensions of secularism. . . . Curtis offers a revisionist history that challenges easy readings of American identity and progress and those scholarly paradigms that have made such readings so convenient. Through a series of case studies that span the last two centuries of American life, Curtis demonstrates that religious freedom is a messy business, a tangled skein of sweat and blood as well as malleable concept with viral propensities. In his deft and richly told tale, religious freedom is both the hinge of affective discipline of the nation-state and the grounds for ethnic, racial, and gendered forms of collective identity within; religious freedom is both the modus operandi of whiteness as well as the source of its potential undoing. The Production of American Religious Freedom is an exceptional and elegantly conceived project. It will change the way in which scholars of American religion and politics approach the concept of religion, in general, and where and how they locate it within history. -- John Modern,Franklin & Marshall CollegeAt a moment when scholars of religion are rethinking their contribution to public debate, Finbarr CurtissThe Production of American Religious Freedom exemplifies the power of sustained academic engagement with the assumptions and histories that shape our fractious condition and toxic discourse...Learned, provocative, and interdisciplinary in the best sense, this book is an archaeology of conceptual confusion and a model for new conversations that might deepen our understandings of American religion and public life, historically and at present. -- Jason C. Bivins,North Carolina State UniversityOffers a nuanced understanding of religious freedom. * Choice *Ambitious, and laudably so. In fact, I found myself wondering if the book ought to have been titled The Religious Production of American Freedominstead ofThe Production of American Religious Freedom, since it seems that Curtis wants ultimately to make broader and farther-reaching claims about the views Americans have historically held about their own choices in the political, social, economic, and religious realms. * Politics and Religion *Each chapter, without exception, presents intriguing and provocative insights, raising questions of race (Griffith, Malcolm X), gender (Alcott,Hobby Lobby), science (Bryan, Intelligent Design), and religion more narrowly and institutionally understood (Finney, Smith). Scholars interested in the broad interconnections between the religious and the political particularly scholars with capacious definitions of those two terms will find food for thought throughout. * Politics and Religion *The Production of American Religious Freedomreadslike a collection of meditations on important themes in American religious history that serve as case studies for conceptual problems in the study of religion. * Reading Religion *Curtis work is valuable, spurring readers to interrogate the meaning and application of freedom and its relation to justice. It is also timely, helpfully framing many of the issues pertinent to our times regarding how Americans understand the tradition of religious freedom in daily life. This book benefits historians and laypersons alike as we grapple with what we mean when we claim we are religiously free. * The Journal of Church and State *For all its historical breadth, the book feels extraordinarily timely for our current political moment. The case studies are ripe for use in the undergraduate classroom individually and graduate students would be well served to engage Curtis’s sweeping genealogy of “religious freedom.” Specialists in American religion, religion and politics, or secular studies will find the book well worth their time. -- Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisUncovers what the sociology of religion would look like had it emerged in a Confucian, Muslim, or Native American culture rather than in a Christian oneSociology has long used Western Christianity as a model for all religious life. As a result, the field has tended to highlight aspects of religion that Christians find important, such as religious beliefs and formal organizations, while paying less attention to other elements. Rather than simply criticizing such limitations, James V. Spickard imagines what the sociology of religion would look like had it arisen in three non-Western societies. What aspects of religion would scholars see more clearly if they had been raised in Confucian China? What could they learn about religion from Ibn Khaldun, the famed 14th century Arab scholar? What would they better understand, had they been born Navajo, whose traditional religion certainly does not revolve around beliefs and organizations? Through these thought experiments, Spickard shows how non-Trade ReviewSpickards endeavor is a worthy one and his execution of it is well done. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *This book demonstrates how sociological thinking can be colored by global contexts and helps to render the broad, global sociological realities visible. Such a revitalized sociological tool kit enables sociologists on both sides of the Atlantic to engage in intellectual engineering and build upon critical sociological theory relevant in their respective contexts and milieus. -- Afe Adogame,Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Christianity and Society, Princeton Theological Seminary"In the last decade there have been a number of highly visible critiques of the Christian and Protestant base of US sociology of religion. James V. Spickard, with his many ties to European sociology of religion, breaks out of the insularity of US research. His deep immersion in nonwestern thought also bears fruit in this text. It is a significant contribution to an ongoing conversation about how research on religion needs to change. -- Mary Jo Neitz,Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, University of MissouriAlternative Sociologies of Religion is beautifully writtenclear, articulate, and frequently passionate and engaging. Spickards arguments all command considerable merit and attention. His alternative program for teaching and research will help to refashion more conventional sociologies of religion. * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Alternative Sociologiesis a refreshing contribution from one of the fields respected scholars. James Spickards long career and varied experiences as a field researcher and consummate teacher shine through on every page. His dissatisfaction with and hope for the future of sociology of religion energizes his quest to find concepts to move the discipline forward. * Nova Religio *James Spickard’s new book is a contribution to the round of reflection that has been happening in the sociology of religion over the past decade … His push to look at what intellectuals in other contexts have said about religion is a useful addition to our emphasis on expansion of the scope of empirical study. * Choice *Spickards carefully written, groundbreaking text effectively engages the reader in many thoughtful experiments that offer an intriguing alternative to the state of the discipline as we know it. This book is appropriate for large general collections serving undergraduates, graduates, and faculty. It is also appropriate for collections focusing on sociology, anthropology, and comparative religion. * Catholic Library World *In praise of this analysis, Spickard does a good job of demonstrating how thinking can be stretched so that religion can be examined in those dimensions that past habitual frameworks have undervalued, missed, ignored, or not been able to see. * American Journal of Sociology *Spickards book offers a challenge to traditional sociological epistemology. It will be of interest to anyone interested in contemporary sociological theory of the study of religion. * Reading Religion *I [University of Georgia Religion Professor David Smilde] strongly sympathize with [Spickards] efforts to use comparative research to enrich the sociology of religion. * Sociology of Religion *

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Book SynopsisInterviews with young Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hopThis groundbreaking study of race, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, Muslim Cool. Muslim Cool is a way of being an American Muslimdisplayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the 'hood, and in complex relationships to state power. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.S. as well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic US Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. This is a form of critical Muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersectionTrade ReviewMuslim Coolcelebrates the spiritual grounding of hip hop and tries to tease apart its complex relationships with race and religion. * The Atlantic *A skilled ethnographer, [Su'ad Abdul Khabeer] combines her poet's ear and thorough research in prose that flips the script on the anti-Black, anti-Muslim sentiment. * Ebony *AbdulKhabeer explores the rich relationship of hip-hop to Islam in her fascinating new work,Muslim Cool. * Foreword Reviews *Where Chance injects spirituality into hip-hop, Muslim Cool injects hip-hop into spirituality. And in doing so, as Abdul-Khabeers Muslim Cool-hunting presents, its expanding the ways in which black history, culture, and politics get expressed, re-defined, and redeployed into new contexts. * Popmatters *A must read for any student of anthropology, religion, migration, or urban studies. * Choice *Khabeers study explores how young African American Muslim women and men who embrace Muslim cool use hip-hop styles of dress, music, dance, and spoken-word performance to assert their Muslim bona fides. In so doing, they are arguing against the anti-black biases of the dominant Middle Eastern and South Asian immigrant Muslim community in the United States. But theyre also arguing for their sense of belonging in the American national community that is normed as white even as it claims to be post-racial and multicultural. * Christian Century Review *Because the text stays so close to her teachers words and theorizations while working through complex questions regarding power and religious and racial identity, it is accessible to both everyday readers and scholarly circles alike. * Religious Studies Review *The book in sum is an admirable approach to the circulation of Blackness, which few have taken up in the context of Muslims in the United States. * Sociology of Religion *Muslim Cool discusses much-neglected topics in the field of Islam in America; Khabeer's discussion of Muslim masculinity in the United States, for instance, is a contribution to a shockingly small bibliography on the topic. * Mashriq Mahjar Journal *An intense and novel anthropological approach to the development of the relationship between African American Muslimsthe original American face of Islamand immigrant Muslims and their children. An absolute must-read. -- Aminah Beverly McCloud,DePaul UniversityMuslim Coolbrilliantly spotlights how Black Muslim youth construct and perform identities that embody indigenous forms of Black cultural production. Equally important, the text shows how these constructions are used to reimagine, reshape, and resist hegemonic and often anti-Black conceptions of Muslim identity. With masterful ethnographic detail, Abdul Khabeer offers a subtle and rich analysis of the complex relationships between race, religion, and state power. This book is a desperately needed intervention within Anthropology, Africana Studies, and Islamic Studies. -- Marc Lamont Hill,author of Beats, Rhymes, and Classroom Life: Hip-Hop Pedagogy and the Politics of IdentityIn times when both Islam and Hip Hop have been constructed as threats to American civilization by some, Muslim Cool presents a much-needed, rigorous analysis backed by rich, ethnographic detail to present a far more nuanced and intriguing storya story that is central to understanding current U.S. racial, religious, and political landscapes. Through Khabeers groundbreaking research and carefully crafted narrative and argumentation, we discover the journeys of young Muslims who find, through Hip Hop, a way of being Muslim that helps them challenge anti-Black racism in their everyday lives and interactions with systemic inequalities. Muslim Cool is, as dead prez once rapped, bigger than Hip Hopit is a must-read for anyone interested in race, religion and culture in contemporary America. -- H. Samy Alim,author of Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture

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Book SynopsisA fascinating exploration of the breadth of social, emotional, and spiritual experiences of atheists in America Self-identified atheists make up roughly 5 percent of the American religious landscape, comprising a larger population than Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus combined. In spite of their relatively significant presence in society, atheists are one of the most stigmatized groups in the United States, frequently portrayed as immoral, unhappy, or even outright angry. Yet we know very little about what their lives are actually like as they live among their largely religious, and sometimes hostile, fellow citizens. In this book, Jerome P. Baggett listens to what atheists have to say about their own lives and viewpoints. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews with more than five hundred American atheists scattered across the country, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience uncovers what they think about morality,Trade ReviewRarely has this reviewer read a scholarly book as humane, moving, delightful, and respectfully written as Baggett’s thoughtful survey of contemporary atheism in the US… this masterful blend of qualitative sociological study and theologically informed thinking provides a valuable portrait of real-world atheism in the US. * Choice *A superb book. As noted, the number of interviews, the careful analysis, and the sincere effort to reflect the worldview of atheists result in this being perhaps the best scholarly work on atheists in the United States to date. ... Baggett’s incisive synthesis of the four roots that lie at the heart of the atheist worldview is particularly important and will be the standard citation on these ideas for years to come. This is an excellent volume on atheists in the United States that I highly recommend * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Baggett presents an impressive and timely study of American atheists. With its strong foundation of extensive qualitative data that are systematically interpreted through a theoretical and historical lens, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience should be of interest to an audience from multiple disciplines. I believe that it is a must-read for scholars interested in the study of secularity and nonreligion and of religion in the contemporary United States. Indeed, this book makes important and thought-provoking contributions to the scholarly conversation about what it means to be an atheist in a society that is normatively religious. * Sociology of Religion *Baggett strikes a balanced tone through the book. He strives for understanding, lets his research subjects speak for themselves, and directly dispels common stereotypes about American atheists. At the same time, he is critical of the foundational myths he detects in atheist self-understanding, including primarily the conflict between science and religion and the understanding of religious believers as irrational. The portrait that emerges is, I think, true to life in its ambivalence." * Theological Studies *The strengths of the book are the rich narratives it includes from the interviews. It becomes possible through the narratives to put faces and personalities and contexts and experiences together and in so doing to gain an understanding of atheists as individuals. The book’s strength also lies in the depth of its familiarity with the literature in religious studies and the sociology of religion. For anyone interested in the practices through which identities are constructed, this is a valuable contribution. * Contemporary Sociology *This book should find a wide audience among sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and religious studies scholars, among others. The organization and tone of the book are commendably clear, and the manner in which Baggett relays both ideas and evidence is quite engaging. The narrative of the book is particular rich and layered in two respects. One is the depth and persuasiveness of the historical context within which core arguments are located. Another is the sheer volume and quality of evidence out of which the arguments are constructed. This book will be useful both as a text in undergraduate seminars and in thematic graduate courses. Broadly, it adds intriguing insight into how we think about identity, identity change, and identity maintenance. More narrowly, the arguments presented provide a new and deeper understanding of what it means to become and to be atheist, and how this identity is understood and relayed to others. Methodologically, the book reminds us of the risks of overgeneralizing or underscrutinizing core concepts, like 'atheist' or 'religious None,' and underscores the importance of rethinking and revisiting questions that seem as if they are already relatively well understood. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *This book should expand the study of American atheism beyond token outliers — the New Atheists and secular churches. It will also offer a point of contrast for more specific studies of non-white, less overtly masculine, and non-heteronormative atheist communities, allowing scholars to better grasp the secular landscape. * Numen *Baggett offers a rich and fascinating account of how these [contemporary American atheists] live and understand their lives. * Church History *Baggett’s expertise as a thinker and writer are on full display ... A compelling and complex portrait of rank-and-file nonbelievers living meaningful lives. * Nova Religio *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2014 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award presented by the Association for Jewish StudiesJews have played an integral role in the history of obscenity in America. For most of the 20th century, Jewish entrepreneurs and editors led the charge against obscenity laws. Jewish lawyers battled literary censorship even when their non-Jewish counterparts refused to do so, and they won court decisions in favor of texts including Ulysses, A Howl, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and Tropic of Cancer. Jewish literary critics have provided some of the most influential courtroom testimony on behalf of freedom of expression.The anti-Semitic stereotype of the lascivious Jew has made many historians hesitant to draw a direct link between Jewishness and obscenity. In Unclean Lips, Josh Lambert addresses the Jewishness of participants in obscenity controversies in the U.S. directly, exploring the transformative roles played by a host of neglecteTrade ReviewJosh Lambert'sUnclean Lipsis brilliant not only for its erudition and wit but also for the freshness and originality of its insights into the critical role that Jews have played in the history of American obscenity. Lambert takes the anti-Semitic canard that Jews are a people of unclean lips with a perverse obsession with obscenity and explores both the harm done to Jews charged with obscenity and the ways Jews in different eras have exploited their relationship with obscenity to gain cultural capital and to advance themselves individually and as a marginalized group. * The Journal of American History *[] Lambert has written a lively account of a little-known history that deserves a wide audience. * The Historian *This is a well-written, at times playful, book and is accessible for readers who are familiar with some but not all of the discussed texts. Lambert evidently enjoyed reading, thinking, and writing about his source materials...Thoroughly researched and thoughtful volume. * The American Jewish Archives Journal *[H]e presents what is engaging material, demonstrating how 'taboo words and explicit representations of sex were meaningful to American Jews during the 20th-century . . . in contingent and historically specific ways.' * Publishers Weekly *Lambert is to be congratulated on skillfully steering between the two rocks and producing a detailed and balanced picture that considers both legal and literary questions . . . . This book is an interesting and well-informed study of a fascinating subject. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *In his study, Lambert, a professor of English, provides new angles on the connection of Jews and obscenity, as well as that connection's surprising relationships to eternal questions about Jewish difference: does it exist? what is it? and wherefore? -- Rachel Gordan * Religion Dispatches *Josh Lambert breaks new ground in his complex, original, and important work on Jews and obscenity. His story weaves together Jewish publishers, writers, birth control crusaders, Orthodox advocates for modesty, and comedians as well as non Jews writing about Jews. He recenters debates about obscenity on Jewishness, as well as centering them within American Jewish culture. Unclean Lips is a timely and fascinating study of American culture itself. -- Riv-Ellen Prell,author of Fighting to Become Americans: Jews Gender and the Anxiety of AssimilationJosh Lambert undermines many cliches about Jews, obscenity, and even 'sexual anti-Semitism' in this engrossing book. He brilliantly navigates us through many episodes of sexual representation, some familiar, some quite unexpected, along with the social and legal conflicts that surrounded them. Lucidly written and arduously researched, this is an exceptional work of cultural history. -- Morris Dickstein,author of Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great DepressionThe strength in his argument is not only in finding social meaning in smut but also in moving beyond the ready cliches of Jewish marginalization to an astute recognition of Jewish power. Lambert discovers in obscene speech, beyond its associations with subversion and marginality, the ability to arouse attention, confer status, and create capital. -- Naomi Seidman * The Chronicle of Higher Education *Who would have thought that some American Jews at the dawn of this century supported 'smutty' literature as a way of entering exclusive cultural circles, rather than getting thrown out? This is just one of the many surprising, strange and fascinating pieces of literary history found in Josh Lambert's detailed chronicle of Jews and obscenity in America, Unclean Lips. -- Sarah Seltzer * Lilith *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Sexual Anti-Semitism and Pornotopia: Theodore Dreiser, Ludwig Lewisohn, and The Harrad Experiment 2 The Prestige of Dirty Words and Pictures: Horace Liveright, Henry Roth, and the Graphic Novel 3 Otherfuckers and Motherfuckers: Reproduction and Allegory in Philip Roth and Adele Wiseman 4 Seductive Modesty: Censorship versus Yiddish and Orthodox Tsnies Conclusion: Dirty Jews and the Christian Right: Larry David and FCC v. FoxNotes Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisA history of Catholic social thought Many Americans assume that the Catholic Church is inherently conservative, based on its stances on abortion, contraception, and divorce. Yet there is a longstanding tradition of progressive Catholic movements in the United States that have addressed a variety of issues from labor, war, immigration, and environmental protection, to human rights, women's rights, exploitive development practices, and bellicose foreign policies. These Catholic social movements have helped to shift the Church from an institution that had historically supported incumbent governments and political elites to a Church that has increasingly sided with the vulnerable and oppressed. This book provides a concise history of progressively oriented Catholic Social Thought, which conveys the Catholic Church's position on a variety of social justice concerns. Sharon Erickson Nepstad introduces key papal encyclicals and other church documents, showing how lay Catholics in the United Trade Review"A thorough and complex history of recent Catholic activism in the United States . … The rigor and breadth of Nepstad’s research and analysis makes this an excellent book for academic courses. Yet the page-turning readability also makes it valuable for everyday Catholics who look to deepen their understanding of Catholic social teaching and how our church has enacted it." * America Magazine *"Nepstad provides an excellent introduction to influential people and movements of Catholic social action in the US." * Choice *"Catholic Social Activism is a great resource for teaching (both undergraduate and graduate) students broadly about CST since the book highlights the social conditions and people (at various levels) influencing it across different causes and historical periods ... [Nepstad's] book nonetheless raises interesting questions that are likely to spur future research in different social science fields." * Sociology of Religion *

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Book SynopsisInvestigates how the Christian fundamentalist movement brings Creationism into the mainstream through a Kentucky museum In Creating the Creation Museum, Kathleen C. Oberlin shows us how the largest Creationist organization, Answers in Genesis (AiG), built a museumwhich has had over three million visitorsto make its movement mainstream. She takes us behind the scenes, vividly bringing the museum to life by detailing its infamous exhibits on human fossils, dinosaur remains, and more. Drawing on over three years of research at the Creation Museum, where she was granted rare access to AiG's leadership, Oberlin examines how the museum convincingly reframes scientific facts, such as modeling itself on traditional natural history museums. Through a unique historical dataset of over 1,000 internal documents from creationist organizations and an analysis of media coverage, Creating the Creation Museum shows how the museum works as a site of social movement activity and a place to contest theTrade Review"Most studies of American creationism focus upon words – the words in legal cases and the writings of advocates and opponents. Oberlin takes a fresh new look at creationism by focusing on the built environment of a creationist museum. She argues that creationism is made plausible through emulating the authority of the museum form and the sensory experience in general. This book is an important addition to studies of museums as an argumentative form, and particularly to studies of American creationism." -- John Evans, author of What is Human? What the Answers Mean for Human Rights"Oberlin shows through cutting-edge, in-depth ethnography that the creation museum is part of a deliberate social movement to support creationist ideas. In looking at this unique case, she provides new insights for those of us who want to understand how counter movements influence science acceptance, how alternative political movements flourish, and for those who want to bring sociology to bear on the study of religion and science. Creating the Creation Museum is an incredibly important and deeply readable work." -- Elaine Howard Ecklund, co-author of Secularity and Science: What Scientists Around the World Really Think About Religion"Oberlin examines the creationist group Answers in Genesis (AiG) and its Creation Museum in light of plausibility politics ... The book is enhanced with numerous pictures of the museum, its exhibits, and its office/research area." * Choice *"Through its mix of history, ethnography, and social scientific theory, Creating the Creation Museum is an excellent introduction to an important site on the American religious landscape." * Nova Religio *"Kathleen C. Oberlin presents an innovative exploration of the sociopolitical underpinnings for modern interpretations of creationism…In considering the widening gap between religious and secular life in the United States, this work also highlights that for some communities, like the biblical literalists who founded the museum, the sacred remains pervasive, blurring the lines of science and history." -- Emily J. Bailey * Reading Religion *"Oberlin organizes her book to guide readers through her research and the museum. Throughout the book, she mixes ethnographic fieldwork, museum-site comparisons, and external media analysis. Her descriptive chapters expertly take readers through the museum, ‘prepar[ing] them to believe.' " * Religion *

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Book SynopsisThe Kurdish Movement in Turkey's growing alliance with Islam One of the fault lines of Turkish politics traditionally has been the divide between religious and secular movements. However, as Zeki Sarigil argues, the secular Kurdish movement in Turkey has increasingly become aligned with Islam. As a result, Islam has become part of the movement's political discourse, strategies and actions. Ethnic Boundaries in Turkish Politics traces the evolving relations between the leftist, secular Kurdish movement and Islam, from an apathetic and/or antagonistic attitude in the 1970s and 1980s to an increasingly Islam-friendly approach in the 1990s to an attitude of accommodation and the rise of Kurdish-Islamic synthesis in the early 2000s. Based on 104 interviews in several provinces in Turkey (primarily Ankara, Diyarbakir, Istanbul, and Tunceli) between 2011 and 2015 as well as ethnographic data, public opinion surveys and statements from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Kurdish leaders, SaTrade ReviewThe Kurdish armed insurgency in Turkey is one of the longest and most complicated conflicts in the post-World War II era. The PKK-led insurgency, which was initiated by a small group of college students in the 1970s, has not only survived the harsh conditions of the Middle East but also thrived in the past 40 years, becoming a key non-state actor in the region. This book is about this strong secular insurgency and the groups it has inspired, addressing the question of religion. Zeki Sarigil very effectively frames the Kurdish ethno-nationalist movement in Turkey into the wider context of ethnic armed conflict, nationalism, and religion. It stands out from most of the existing studies that primarily utilize a historical approach to the Kurdish conflict by its multi-method approach to examine an important aspect of the Kurdish movement that has not yet been systematically studied. -- Mehmet Gürses,Associate Professor of Political Science, Florida Atlantic UniversityThis ambitious book poses a set of original and essential questions for students of Kurdish politics: Why, how, and with what consequences has the secularist Kurdish movement given up its anti-religious stance and policies? How has religion, once considered reactionary by the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement, become a boundary contested area for these two actors? How have the elite members of these groups utilized Islamic teachings to capture the support of ordinary Kurds? Sarigil deftly crafts an indispensable ethnic boundary-making analysis with extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted over five years . . . definitely a must-read for followers of Kurdish politics. -- Ekrem Karakoç,Associate Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University

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Book SynopsisExamines trends and patterns relating to religion in the lives of immigrants. This book moves beyond specific studies of particular faiths in particular immigrant destinations to present the religious lives of immigrants in the United States, Canada, and Europe on a broad scale.Trade Review"With Immigrant Faith, Phillip Connor establishes himself as a leading scholar of immigrant religion, bringing together a vast amount of data, expertly analyzing it, and providing a succinct summary of the important patterns. I am especially impressed with the book's scope and clarity." -- Robert Wuthnow,Princeton University"Presents a unique portrait of the connections between religion and immigration in the Western world. Immigrant Faith is the first study of immigrant religion based on quantitative analyses, and it is also the first to examine religion and immigration across varied national contexts and diverse religious traditions. Connor examine how religion influences the transition to the destination country, and how migration affects religiosity. This is a must-read book for anyone trying to understand the importance of religion for immigrants in the U.S., Canada, and Europe." -- Darren Sherkat,Southern Illinois University"The book is an illuminating contribution to scholars embarking on studies of immigrant integration because it makes a strong case for why we should consider the role of religion when studying migration." * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *"Synthesizing the scholarship on migrant studies, Philip Connors timely and accessible book enables a deeper understanding of the intersections among religion, immigration, and the environment." * Catholic Library World *"A convincing attempt to identify general trends in the ways in which migration and religion influence each other." * Religion and Society *"The book gives students and scholars of religion and immigration an excellent bird's-eye view of the ways that the religions of immigrants have influenced their lives and communities in North America and Europe." * Religious Studies Review *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Introducing Immigrant Faith 1 1 Moving Faith 15 2 Changing Faith 43 3 Integrating Faith 68 4 Transferring Faith 93 Conclusion: Weaving Immigrant Faith Together 115 Methodological Appendix 129 Notes 145 Bibliography 155 Index 163 About the Author 165

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Book SynopsisA fascinating exploration of the breadth of social, emotional, and spiritual experiences of atheists in America Self-identified atheists make up roughly 5 percent of the American religious landscape, comprising a larger population than Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus combined. In spite of their relatively significant presence in society, atheists are one of the most stigmatized groups in the United States, frequently portrayed as immoral, unhappy, or even outright angry. Yet we know very little about what their lives are actually like as they live among their largely religious, and sometimes hostile, fellow citizens. In this book, Jerome P. Baggett listens to what atheists have to say about their own lives and viewpoints. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews with more than five hundred American atheists scattered across the country, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience uncovers what they think about morality,Trade ReviewRarely has this reviewer read a scholarly book as humane, moving, delightful, and respectfully written as Baggett’s thoughtful survey of contemporary atheism in the US… this masterful blend of qualitative sociological study and theologically informed thinking provides a valuable portrait of real-world atheism in the US. * Choice *A superb book. As noted, the number of interviews, the careful analysis, and the sincere effort to reflect the worldview of atheists result in this being perhaps the best scholarly work on atheists in the United States to date. ... Baggett’s incisive synthesis of the four roots that lie at the heart of the atheist worldview is particularly important and will be the standard citation on these ideas for years to come. This is an excellent volume on atheists in the United States that I highly recommend * Journal of the American Academy of Religion *Baggett presents an impressive and timely study of American atheists. With its strong foundation of extensive qualitative data that are systematically interpreted through a theoretical and historical lens, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience should be of interest to an audience from multiple disciplines. I believe that it is a must-read for scholars interested in the study of secularity and nonreligion and of religion in the contemporary United States. Indeed, this book makes important and thought-provoking contributions to the scholarly conversation about what it means to be an atheist in a society that is normatively religious. * Sociology of Religion *Baggett strikes a balanced tone through the book. He strives for understanding, lets his research subjects speak for themselves, and directly dispels common stereotypes about American atheists. At the same time, he is critical of the foundational myths he detects in atheist self-understanding, including primarily the conflict between science and religion and the understanding of religious believers as irrational. The portrait that emerges is, I think, true to life in its ambivalence." * Theological Studies *The strengths of the book are the rich narratives it includes from the interviews. It becomes possible through the narratives to put faces and personalities and contexts and experiences together and in so doing to gain an understanding of atheists as individuals. The book’s strength also lies in the depth of its familiarity with the literature in religious studies and the sociology of religion. For anyone interested in the practices through which identities are constructed, this is a valuable contribution. * Contemporary Sociology *This book should find a wide audience among sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and religious studies scholars, among others. The organization and tone of the book are commendably clear, and the manner in which Baggett relays both ideas and evidence is quite engaging. The narrative of the book is particular rich and layered in two respects. One is the depth and persuasiveness of the historical context within which core arguments are located. Another is the sheer volume and quality of evidence out of which the arguments are constructed. This book will be useful both as a text in undergraduate seminars and in thematic graduate courses. Broadly, it adds intriguing insight into how we think about identity, identity change, and identity maintenance. More narrowly, the arguments presented provide a new and deeper understanding of what it means to become and to be atheist, and how this identity is understood and relayed to others. Methodologically, the book reminds us of the risks of overgeneralizing or underscrutinizing core concepts, like 'atheist' or 'religious None,' and underscores the importance of rethinking and revisiting questions that seem as if they are already relatively well understood. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion *This book should expand the study of American atheism beyond token outliers — the New Atheists and secular churches. It will also offer a point of contrast for more specific studies of non-white, less overtly masculine, and non-heteronormative atheist communities, allowing scholars to better grasp the secular landscape. * Numen *Baggett offers a rich and fascinating account of how these [contemporary American atheists] live and understand their lives. * Church History *Baggett’s expertise as a thinker and writer are on full display ... A compelling and complex portrait of rank-and-file nonbelievers living meaningful lives. * Nova Religio *

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Book SynopsisExplores the role of race and consumer culture in attracting urban congregants to an evangelical church The Urban Church Imagined illuminates the dynamics surrounding white urban evangelical congregations' approaches to organizational vitality and diversifying membership. Many evangelical churches are moving to urban, downtown areas to build their congregations and attract younger, millennial members. The urban environment fosters two expectations. First, a deep familiarity and reverence for popular consumer culture, and second, the presence of racial diversity. Church leaders use these ideas when they imagine what a city church should look like, but they must balance that with what it actually takes to make this happen. In part, racial diversity is seen as key to urban churches presenting themselves as in touch and authentic. Yet, in an effort to seduce religious consumers, church leaders often and inadvertently end up reproducing racial and economic inequality, an unexpected contradiTrade Review"The authors demonstrate how the racialized urban imaginary affects the religious practices, organizations, and identity of this recently formed congregation, and the complex interactions among race, religion, class, gender, cultural consumption, and the city. The discussion revolves around the key concepts of racialized urban imaginary, managed diversity, and racial utility. A significant contribution to religion, race, and urban studies." * Choice *"In The Urban Church Imagined, Jessica M. Barron and Rhys H. Williams examine the 'dueling imaginations' posited by Downtown Churchs [DC] suburban-based leaders and city-based congregants as their new congregation negotiates racial, class, and gender boundaries. The depth and accessibility of this book make it an excellent read for scholars, students, and religious leaders interested in the sociology of religion, race theory, and/or the urban landscape." * Reading Religion *"The Urban Church Imagined offers a compelling insight on the organizational practices of white-led religious institutions as they attempt to interact with diversity … they offer a provocative salvo in furthering our understanding of the shallow adaptations of diversity and inclusion occurring in white evangelical organizations throughout the United States. In an era where racial coding and antagonism continue to resonate throughout social and political discourse, Barron and Williams have given good cause for further examination of the intersection of race, religion, and the city." -- American Journal of Sociology"This book serves as a useful guide for how churches may approach attracting new members in a period of increasing racial diversity and declining worship attendance." -- Review of Religious Research"The Urban Church Imagined sheds light on this problematic dichotomy of the desire to reach the urban population and to be relevant in the racially diverse context of urban areas on the one hand, and the implicit racism, sexism, and classism undergirding their history on the other hand … The critical perspective offered in the book has a massive potential as a working tool for professionals involved in urban ministry, both lay and ordained … Overall, The Urban Church Imagined is a practical, insightful, and well written exploration of the challenges of social aspects in urban ministry that carries massive potential for the modern church as a whole, both the urban and the rural, both the diverse and the homogeneous." -- Anglican Theological Review"The City Imagined expertly takes us into the heart of 'new urban' Christianity, a Christianity reflecting a renewed interest in the city, but a city highly constructed to serve idealized purposes. With richness of analysis and deep insight, we learn about the very heart of new America--thegood, the bad, and the ugly. A fascinating read." -- Michael O. Emerson,Provost and Professor, North Park University and author of Blacks and Whites in Christian America"Ambitious evangelicals want to reach the citya dynamic place filled with connotations of fashion, power, and cosmopolitanism. But the desire of evangelical churches to be relevant and racially diverse is colliding with the implicit racism still underlying their history. Drawing from observations in a multiracial evangelical church in downtown Chicago, The Urban Church Imagined reveals how modern evangelicalism is deeply entangled in the desire for contemporary relevance while persisting in racial prejudices and outright discrimination." -- Gerardo Marti,author of A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Church"Barron and her coauthor, Rhys H. Williams, closely observe church members and leaders through interviews and ethnographic work. In doing so, they establish a better understanding of the links between city culture and modern evangelicalism that make Downtown Church appealing to its young members who desire an interracial and hip churchgoing experience." * Religious Studies Review *

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Book SynopsisA new world of religious satire illuminated through the layers of religion and humor that make up the The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy. Drawing on the worldviews put forth by three wildly popular animated shows The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy David Feltmate demonstrates how ideas about religion's proper place in American society are communicated through comedy. The book includes discussion of a wide range of American religions, including Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Native American Religions, New Religious Movements, Spirituality, Hinduism, and Atheism. Along the way, readers are shown that jokes about religion are influential tools for teaching viewers how to interpret and judge religious people and institutions. Feltmate, develops a picture of how each show understands and communicates what constitutes good religious practice as well as which traditions they seek to exclude on the basis of race and ethnicity, stupidity, or danger.Trade ReviewDrawn to the Gods is a thorough and comprehensive study that is grounded in solid research methodologies and linked to relevant theories and secondary literature. Feltmates arguments are compelling and insightful, and even quite lively--I love moving from Durkheim on the sacred to sacredness in Family Guy. Feltmate is quite adept at unpacking dense ideas about the sociology of religion and applying them to cultural studies in a rich, illuminating way. -- Gary Laderman,Goodrich C. White Professor of American Religious History and Cultures, Emory UniversityDavid Feltmates book on religion, satire, and popular culture must be regarded a significant, fascinating, and also thought-provoking scholarly introduction into the world of contemporary religious popular culture and its study[It] is a must read for all researchers of contemporary religious communication and popular culture. -- Johan Bastubacka,Associate Professor of Theology, University of HelsinkiWithout a doubt, I will use this delightful, well-researched, well-crafted monograph in my media, religion, and popular culture courses. David Feltmates book is fun, but it is serious fun. He maps out how humor and satire, as delivered through media platforms, teach audiences how to think about religion in an American cultural context. In so doing, he makes a compelling case for why we need to take humor seriously, and why the vital realm of popular culture is not simply important but indeed central to our research in the study of religion. -- Sarah McFarland Taylor,Professor of Religion, Media and Culture, Northwestern UniversityFeltmate wisely focuses on three popular television programs that not only overflow with religious references but also often humorously subvert accepted ideas about religious beliefs and practices. Engaging in close readings of over 200 episodes of these shows, Feltmate explores the ways that they satirically question sacred texts, cults, Jesus, sacred sites, and various world religions. * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisHe destroys in order to create. In a sweeping critique of the field, Benjamin Schreier resituates Jewish Studies in order to make room for a critical study of identity and identification. Displacing the assumption that Jewish Studies is necessarily the study of Jews, this book aims to break down the walls of the academic ghetto in which the study of Jewish American literature often seems to be contained: alienated from fields like comparative ethnicity studies, American studies, and multicultural studies; suffering from the unwillingness of Jewish Studies to accept critical literary studies as a legitimate part of its project; and so often refusing itself to engage in self-critique. The Impossible Jew interrogates how the concept of identity is critically put to work by identity-based literary study. Through readings of key authors from across the canon of Jewish American literature and cultureincluding Abraham Cahan, the New York Intellectuals, Philip Roth, and Jonathan Safran FoerBenTrade Review"Brilliant, original, and funny, this is the book many of us in Jewish and literary studies have been waiting for all these years: an absolutely convincing Jewish-literary-historical account of the impossibility of Jewish literary history and a stirring diagnosis of identity studies more broadly.The Impossible Jewwill be a paradigm-shifting book." -- Daniel Itzkovitz,co-editor of Queer Theory and the Jewish Question"This is a profound and articulate work of high theory. Summing Up: Highly recommended." * Choice *"The Impossible Jewis a brilliant and valuable contribution to the same field of research Schreier wishes to dismantle, or at least disrupt. It foregrounds a broader, unceasing preoccupation with Jewish identity as an undetermined element scholars will never put to rest." * Studies in Contemporary Jewry *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The School of Criticism I Wouldn't Be Caught Dead In: A Polemic on Theorizing the Field 1 1. Toward a Critical Semitism: On Not Answering the Jewish Question in Literary Studies 22 2. Against the Dialectic of Nation: Abraham Cahan and Desire's Spectral Jew 69 3. The Negative Desire of Jewish Representation; or, Why Were the New York Intellectuals Jewish? 95 4. Why Jews Aren't Normal: The Unrepresentable Future of Philip Roth's The Counterlife 149 5. 9/11's Stealthy Jews: Jonathan Safran Foer and the Irrepresentation of Identity 185 Conclusion: Minority Report 214 Notes 221 Bibliography 249 Index 259 About the Author 270

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Book SynopsisFor a country smaller than Vermont, with roughly the same population as Honduras, modern Israel receives a remarkable amount of attention. For supporters, it is a unique bastion of democracy in the Middle East, while detractors view it as a racist outpost of Western colonialism. The romanticization of Israel became particularly prominent in 1967, when its military prowess shocked a Jewish world still reeling from the sense of powerlessness dramatized by the Holocaust. That imagery has grown ever more visible, with Israel's supporters idealizing its technological achievements and its opponents attributing almost every problem in the region, if not beyond, to its imperialistic aspirations.The contradictions and competing views of modern Israel are the subject of this book. There is much to consider about modern Israel besides the Middle East conflict. Over the past generation, a substantial body of scholarship has explored numerous aspects of the country, including its approacheTrade ReviewLike any complicated country, Israel is a land of myths and realities. In this volume, Frederick Greenspahn has assembled an outstanding collection of essays that will help readers to distinguish between the two. Israel has changed enormously over its sixty-some years of statehood. As the chapters demonstrate, many images inherited from the past, frozen into the memories of people who pay attention to the country, no longer conform to everyday reality. This volume is a good place to start in making sense of Israel as it is, not as an idealized or mythical entity but as a country coping with an astonishing array of social challenges. -- Kenneth D. Wald,Samuel R. "Bud" Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture & Society, University of FloridaOne of the best new anthologies in the burgeoning field of Israel Studies. For both those unfamiliar with the interdisciplinary study of modern Israel, and those more versed in this scholarship, the books authorsall leading researchers in the fieldoffer a wealth of information and insight on Israels diverse population, its contested national and sub-national identities, and its transforming public and private spaces. . . . A refreshing volume that steers clear of the stale partisan polemics that characterizes much of the current discourse on Israel, this work offers a rich, complex, and deep grasp of Israels multifaceted society and its relationship with both state institutions and the Jewish diaspora. -- Miriam Elman,Syracuse University

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism drawing on primary sources and new methodsOver the past generation, several major findings and methodological innovations have led scholars to reevaluate the foundation of Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls were the most famous, but other materials have further altered our understanding of Judaism's development after the Biblical era.This volume explores some of the latest clues into how early Judaism took shape, from the invention of rabbis to the parting of Judaism and Christianity, to whether ancient Jews considered themselves a nation. Rather than having simply evolved, normative Judaism is now understood to be the result of one approach having achieved prominence over many others, competing for acceptance in the wake of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the year 70 CE. This new understanding has implications for how we think about Judaism today, as the collapse of rabbinic authority is leading to tTrade ReviewA spectacular round-up of superb authors, all of them expert in fields relating to the transition centuries between the Hebrew Bible and the emergence of Judaism -- and Christianity too. One after another, the essays provide the state of the question: what scholars are saying now, and why. If there is such a thing as a scholarly page-turner, this is it, a rewarding synopsis of scholarship on pretty much every page -- Dr. Lawrence A. Hoffman,Barbara and Stephen Friedman Professor of Liturgy, Worship and Ritual, Hebrew Union CollegeOutstanding scholars of early Judaism share cutting edge research and new insights in this highly readable anthology. The succinct and accessible essays foreground the varieties of Judaisms and Jewish writings in late ancient times, the separation of Christianity from its Jewish origins, evolving constructions of gender, the development of the synagogue and its liturgy, and the consolidation of rabbinic Judaism in clear and compelling ways. This volume is sure to be welcomed by teachers of formative Judaism and Christianity, their students, and interested general readers. -- Judith R. Baskin,Philip H. Knight Professor of Humanities, University of Oregon

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Book SynopsisHow Judaism and food are intertwined Judaism is a religion that is enthusiastic about food. Jewish holidays are inevitably celebrated through eating particular foods, or around fasting and then eating particular foods. Through fasting, feasting, dining, and noshing, food infuses the rich traditions of Judaism into daily life. What do the complicated laws of kosher food mean to Jews? How does food in Jewish bellies shape the hearts and minds of Jews? What does the Jewish relationship with food teach us about Christianity, Islam, and religion itself? Can food shape the future of Judaism? Feasting and Fasting explores questions like these to offer an expansive look at how Judaism and food have been intertwined, both historically and today. It also grapples with the charged ethical debates about how food choices reflect competing Jewish values about community, animals, the natural world and the very meaning of being human. Encompassing historical, ethnographic, and theoretical viewpoints, Trade Review"An accessible, detailed look at all aspects of Jewish food ... This rich, revealing collection will appeal to scholars and foodies alike." * Publishers Weekly *"A fascinating look at food from a variety of different angles … the essays were all well written and absorbing. Anyone interested in food studies or Jewish history will want to read this book." * Jewish World *"Anyone interested in Jewish food who reads these seven essays will emerge with plenty of points for further discussion [...] As a broad-based collection touching on many of the subspecialties, it should provide genuine 'food for thought' leading to further readings on specific topics." * Tradition *"Feasting and Fasting is a fascinating look at food from a variety of different angles… Anyone interested in food studies or Jewish history will want to read this book." * The Reporter *"This wide-ranging discussion of the history, philosophy, religion, and origins of Jewish culinary traditions should be in any serious culinary and Jewish history collection." * Midwest Review of Books *"Runs the gamut from biblical to contemporary Jewish food ways and includes both historical and ethical aspects of what, how, and why Jews eat." * Leah Hochman, University of Southern California *"Gathers a dream team of Jewish studies scholars whothank you!raise their heads from texts to focus on the meanings, rituals, conflicts, power dynamics, and pleasures of the material of food in the Jewish diaspora. . . . The book that follows considers the diversity of complex and often fraught relationships among food, Jews, and Others, across time and place, from biblical to supermarket aisle. It serves to initiate scholars of Judaism in the world of food studies and, for food scholars, richly informs studies of Jewish foodways." * Jonathan Deutsch, Co-author of Jewish American Food Culture *"Drawing on a stellar cast of contributors, Feasting and Fasting combines an unparalleled overview of Jewish food practices from Antiquity to Agriprocessors with boundary-breaking essays on Jewish foods and foodways. This remarkable volume will excite scholars and be invaluable for adoption in Jewish history and food studies courses.”" * Roger Horowitz, author of Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food *"A fascinating account of the history of Jewish food, within and outside of dietary laws. . . . Crisco is for Jews? Peanut oil caused such debates? Who knew. This book is a great read." * Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor and Professor Emerita, New York University *"This is a spectacular set of essays on a wide and eclectic range of topics. They're accessible to a wide audience and further strengthen the evolving conversation about the nature of the interaction between Jewish life, food, and the wider world we live in." * Nigel Savage, CEO, Hazon: The Jewish Lab for Sustainability *"The three courses of this book — history, culture, and ethics — are a tremendous feast, to be savored for a long time to come!" * Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, American Jewish University *

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Book SynopsisAmong the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in Germany at the end of World War II, approximately 40,000 were unaccompanied children. These children, of every age and nationality, were without parents or legal guardians and many were without clear identities.  This situation posed serious practical, legal, ethical, and political problems for the agencies responsible for their care.In the Children’s Best Interests, by Lynne Taylor, is the first work to delve deeply into the records of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and reveal the heated battles that erupted amongst the various entities (military, governments, and NGOs) responsible for their care and disposition. The bitter debates focused on such issues as whether a child could be adopted, what to do with illegitimate and abandoned children, and who could assume the role of guardian. The inconclusive nationality of theTrade Review"Taylor is able to build upon the considerable existing literature on refugees and the American Occupation of Germany. However, her study is most welcome since child refugees are understudied in both…Taylor also breaks important new ground by describing the child search activities in Germany of UNRAA and the IRO, and her well chosen case studies are among the most interesting and gripping parts of her book." -- Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr., American International College * European History Quarterly, Vol. 48 no 4, 2018 *"This is less a history of unaccompanied children and more so an investigation of the shifting ground of child welfare policies. In ten fine-grained chapters, readers follow the relief efforts of the United Nation Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and International Refugee Organization in the immediate postwar period, when various national governments laid claim to displaced children and youth." -- Barbara Lorenzkowski, Concordia University * The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, vol 12 no 2, Spring 2019 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Glossary Introduction 1. UNRRA Gets Started a/ Initial Planning b/ UNRRA's Marginalization c/ UNRRA's Mobilization 2. Unaccompanied Children a/ Temporary Care Programs b/ Child Search - Trial 3. Child Search Launched a/ Child Search - Germanization discovered b/ Child Search - Commitment 4. Legal Complications a/ Mascots b/ Illegitimacy and abandonment c/ Age of majority d/ Adoption e/ Guardianship 5. The Infiltrees a/ The Context b/ Infiltree Children 6. Obstacle: Jugendamt a/The Landesjugendamt and the vexacious matter of 'removal' 7. Obstacle: The ACA Directive 8. Child Search under the IRO a/ Child Search Reprieved b/ Limited Registration Plan c/ The Evolving Debate: Legal Security 9. The Residual a/ Resettlement b/ Children's Courts c/ Transfer into the German economy d/ Closure of the IRO 10. Nationality a/ The Jewish Displaced Persons b/ The Baltic Displaced Persons c/ The Yugoslavian Displaced Persons d/ The Polish Displaced Persons e/ The Ukrainian Displaced Persons f/ The Stateless and the Doubtful or Undetermined g/ Observations 11. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBy focusing on the humane aspects of social palliation, this book foregrounds sacred traditions to illustrate their potential to evoke conversations across socio-political boundaries on what it is like to live and die in the contemporary world.Table of ContentsAcknowledgement Introduction 1. Research Context 2. Storied Lives 3. Precarity as a Resource for Life and Death 4. Re-Making a Home in the Diaspora 5. Negotiating Deep Divides: Foregrounding Social Palliation Conclusion: Deep-level Conversations Notes References Appendix

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that tensions between Jewish and Christian doctrine may be lessened if texts are regarded as philosophical frameworks of exploration as opposed to ethical commitments.Table of ContentsPreface 1. Philosophy and Theology 2. God, Humans, and Nature 3. Humans and Nature 4. Philo and Plato 5. Maimonides and Aristotle 6. Kant’s Challenge to Theology Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIf your relationship needs less oy and more joy, this is the book for you!Trade Review"If you are intermarried, have a family member or friend who is, or are interested in how intermarriage affects Jewish communities, this book has something to offer to you. The author’s optimism, good humour, and belief in each person’s capacity to find fulfillment will charm any reader willing to approach its important subject with an open mind." -- David Roytenberg * Canadian Jewish Record *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments  Introduction  A Acceptance  Action  Adam and Eve  Aggravation  Antisemitism  Assertiveness  A$$holes  Assimilation  Attentiveness  Attitude  B  B’shert  Backgrounds  Beauty  Belief, Behavior, Belonging (bonus: B. Mitzvah)   Bible  Blending  Borrowing  Bridges  C  Calm  Camp  Children (and bonus “C”—circumcision)   Communication/Chrismukkah Community  Compromise  Conversion  Cost  Creativity  Culture  D  Daily Life (tasks, what you want daily life to look like)  Dancing  Daring  Death  Definition  Destiny  Divorce  DIY  Dogma  Dreams  E  Eagerness  Eats  Education  Elation  Elevation  Emotion  Emotional Load  Energy/Excitement  Equality/Equity  The Everyday  F  Feelings/Fear  Fellowship  Festive Season  Fidelity  Forgiveness  Frankness  Freedom  Friendship  Fun  Future Planning  G  Garbage  Gefilte Fish  Giving  God  Goodness  Google  Grandchildren  Grief  Grudges/Grievances  Guilt  H  Happiness  Healing  Hearing  Helping  Holidays  Honoring  Hope  Hostility  Hosting  Hurting  I Ignorant  Important  Inclusivity/Inclusion (featuring InterfaithFamily.com)   Indivisibility  Industriousness  Insistence  Intensity  Invitations  Irritation  Isolation  J  Jazz  Jealousy  Jerks  Jesus  Jokes  Journey  Joy  Judaism/Jewishness  Juggling  Justice  K  Kaleidoscope  Kaput  Karma  Keva/kavannah  Kids  Kindness  Kings  Klunkiness  Knowledge  Kosher  L  Lean In  Learning  Legalities  Listening  Literature  Losing It  Loss and Letting Go  Love  Luggage  M  Marriage  Meaning  Mentsch  Mindfulness  Mistakes/Messes  Mixed  Moments  Money  Moses  Mystery  N  Nag  Nationhood  Needs versus Wants  Negativity/Naysaying  Negotiation  Never Say Never  No Nos  Nope   “Normal” Nuptials  O  Officiating  Ok  Openness  Opportunity  Oppression  Optimism  Ordained  Originality  Oscillation  Oxygen  P  Pandering  Parenting  Parents  Partnership  Passion  Paternalism  Patrilineal Descent  Poetry  Possibility  Principles  Q  Quagmires and Quandaries  Quality  Quantity  Quarrelling  Queer  Questioning  Quicksand  Quid Pro Quo  Quirks  Quotable  R  Reaching Out  Realism  Reason(ableness)  Reconnection  Relatives  Relativity  Renewal  Resilience  Respect  Rules  S  Sensitivity  Serendipity/Syncronicity  Sex/Sweetness/Softness  Sharing  Shavuot  Shopping - Stuff  Shopping - Synagogues  Silliness  Stifled  Struggling  T  Talk Therapy  Talmud  Teaching  Terminology  The Attic  Tikkun Olam  Tradition  Truth  Turtle Island  Tzedakah  U  Ugliness  Undercutting  Understanding  Unity  Universality  Unlearning  Unorthodox  Unpopular  Urgency  Utopia  V  Vacations  Values  Vantage Point/Viewpoint  Variability  Veils  Venting/Ventilation  Vicious Circles  Victories  Visibility  Vision  W  Wake up Calls  Wandering  Weddings  White Dresses  Whiteness  Wisdom  Wishlists  Wokeness  Wondering  Worldliness  X/Y  X Marks the Spot  Xenophobia  X-factor  Xmas  X-rays  Yearning  Yelling  Yiddish  Yom Kippur  You  Z  Zamboni  Zany  Zealous  Zero Tolerance  Zigzag (rhizome)  Zipper (seam)  Zodiac  Zone  Zoom  Zygote  Appendix: December Delights: Creating and Crushing Chrismukkah Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn 2007, Little Mosque on the Prairie premiered on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation network. It told the story of a mosque community that worshiped in the basement of an Anglican church. It was a bona fide hit, running for six seasons and playing on networks all over the world.             Kyle Conway’s textual analysis and in-depth research, including interviews from the show’s creator, executive producers, writers,  and CBC executives, reveals the many ways Muslims have and have not been integrated into North American television. Despite a desire to showcase the diversity of Muslims in Canada, the makers of Little Mosque had to erase visible signs of difference in order to reach a broad audience. This paradox of ‘saleable diversity’ challenges conventional ideas about the ways in which sitcoms integrate minorities into the mainstream. Trade Review‘A valuable study of media and multiculturalism. Highly recommended.’ -- C.L. Clements * Choice Magazine vol 55:01:2017 *‘Conway provides a great deal for the scholar of religion….For those who want to understand the diversity of Muslims in North America; this offers a Canadian perspective that is often left out of the equation. We should certainly add Little Mosque on the Prairie to the list of key works on Muslims in media, television, and cinema.’ -- Kristen Petersen * Reading Religion – December 2017 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction. Muslims and Sitcoms in Post-9/11 North America 1. Sitcoms, Cultural Translation, and the Paradox of Saleable Diversity 2. Representation Between the Particular and the Universal 3. The Paradoxes of "Humanizing Muslims" 4. Saleable Diversity and International Audiences 5. Religion as Culture Versus Religion as Belief Conclusion. Identity and Difference in North American Sitcoms Notes References

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Book SynopsisAmong the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in Germany at the end of World War II, approximately 40,000 were unaccompanied children. These children, of every age and nationality, were without parents or legal guardians and many were without clear identities.  This situation posed serious practical, legal, ethical, and political problems for the agencies responsible for their care.In the Children’s Best Interests, by Lynne Taylor, is the first work to delve deeply into the records of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and reveal the heated battles that erupted amongst the various entities (military, governments, and NGOs) responsible for their care and disposition. The bitter debates focused on such issues as whether a child could be adopted, what to do with illegitimate and abandoned children, and who could assume the role of guardian. The inconclusive nationality of theTrade Review"Taylor is able to build upon the considerable existing literature on refugees and the American Occupation of Germany. However, her study is most welcome since child refugees are understudied in both…Taylor also breaks important new ground by describing the child search activities in Germany of UNRAA and the IRO, and her well chosen case studies are among the most interesting and gripping parts of her book." -- Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr., American International College * European History Quarterly, Vol. 48 no 4, 2018 *"This is less a history of unaccompanied children and more so an investigation of the shifting ground of child welfare policies. In ten fine-grained chapters, readers follow the relief efforts of the United Nation Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and International Refugee Organization in the immediate postwar period, when various national governments laid claim to displaced children and youth." -- Barbara Lorenzkowski, Concordia University * The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, vol 12 no 2, Spring 2019 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Glossary Introduction 1. UNRRA Gets Started a/ Initial Planning b/ UNRRA's Marginalization c/ UNRRA's Mobilization 2. Unaccompanied Children a/ Temporary Care Programs b/ Child Search - Trial 3. Child Search Launched a/ Child Search - Germanization discovered b/ Child Search - Commitment 4. Legal Complications a/ Mascots b/ Illegitimacy and abandonment c/ Age of majority d/ Adoption e/ Guardianship 5. The Infiltrees a/ The Context b/ Infiltree Children 6. Obstacle: Jugendamt a/The Landesjugendamt and the vexacious matter of 'removal' 7. Obstacle: The ACA Directive 8. Child Search under the IRO a/ Child Search Reprieved b/ Limited Registration Plan c/ The Evolving Debate: Legal Security 9. The Residual a/ Resettlement b/ Children's Courts c/ Transfer into the German economy d/ Closure of the IRO 10. Nationality a/ The Jewish Displaced Persons b/ The Baltic Displaced Persons c/ The Yugoslavian Displaced Persons d/ The Polish Displaced Persons e/ The Ukrainian Displaced Persons f/ The Stateless and the Doubtful or Undetermined g/ Observations 11. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book begins with an audacious question: Has there ever been a better home for Jews than Canada? By certain measures, Canada might be the most socially welcoming, economically secure, and religiously tolerant country for Jews in the diaspora, past or present. No Better Home? takes this question seriously, while also exploring the many contested meanings of the idea of home. Contributors to the volume include leading scholars of Canadian Jewish life as well as eminent Jewish scholars writing about Canada for the first time. The essays compare Canadian Jewish life with the quality of life experienced by Jews in other countries, examine Jewish and non-Jewish interactions in Canada, analyse specific historical moments and literary texts, reflect deeply personal histories, and widen the conversation about the quality and timbre of the Canadian Jewish experience. No Better Home? foregrounds Canadian Jewish life and ponders all that the Canadian experience has to tTable of ContentsIntroduction. What Does It Mean to Ask the Question, “Has There Ever Been a Better Home for the Jews Than Canada?” David S. Koffman Section One. Comparisons: Canadian Jewries and Other Jewries, Canadian Jews and Other Canadians 1. A Privileged Diaspora: Canadian Jewry in Comparative Perspective Morton Weinfeld 2. Destination World Jewry: The United States versus the World Hasia R. Diner 3. “To Guarantee Their Own Self-Government in All Matters of Their National Life”: Ukrainians, Jews, and the Origins of Canadian Multiculturalism Jeffrey Veidlinger 4. Vilna on the St Lawrence: Montreal as the Would-Be Haven for Yiddish Culture Kalman Weiser 5. Jewish Education in Canada and the United Kingdom: A Comparative Perspective Randal F. Schnoor 6. The Unsettling of Canadian Jewish History: Towards a Tangled History of Jewish–Indigenous Encounters David S. Koffman Section Two. Case Studies: Historical Episodes, Literary Creations 7. Crossing in/to Canada: Canada as Point of Arrival in Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Mia Spiro 8. The “Nu World” of Toronto in Bernice Eisenstein’s I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors Ruth Panofsky 9. Nathan Phillips: The Election of Toronto’s First Jewish Mayor 147 Harold Troper 10. By the Rivers of the St Lawrence: The Montreal Jewish Community and Its Postmemory Ira Robinson 11. In from the Margins: Museums and Narratives of the Canadian Jewish Experience Richard Menkis Section Three. Reflections: Personal Stories, Language 12. Pictures of New Canadians: An Immigration Story for Our Time Norman Ravvin 13. Under Gentile Eyes: My Jewish Childhood in Hamilton, 1950–1967 Judith R. Baskin 14. Montreal and Canada through a Wider Lens: Confessions of a Canadian-American European Jewish Historian Lois C. Dubin 15. Forgetting and Forging: My Canadian Experience as a Moroccan Jew Yolande Cohen 16. Nothing Is Forever: Remembering the Centennial Jack Kugelmass 17. In der heym in kanade: A Survey on Yiddish Today Rebecca Margolis 18. Which Canada Are We Talking About? An English-Language Polemic about French in Canadian Jewish History Pierre Anctil Postscript. Thin Canadian Culture, Thick Jewish Life David Weinfeld Contributors

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Book SynopsisWhat is the relation of philosophy and theology? This question has been a matter of perennial concern in the history of Western thought. Written by one of the premier philosophers in the areas of Jewish ethics and interfaith issues between Judaism and Christianity, Athens and Jerusalem contends that philosophy and theology are not mutually exclusive. Based on the Gifford Lectures David Novak delivered at the University of Aberdeen in 2017, this book explores the commonalities and common concerns that exist between philosophy and theology on metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions. Where are they different and where are they the same? And, how can they speak to one another?Table of ContentsPreface 1. Philosophy and Theology 2. God, Humans, and Nature 3. Humans and Nature 4. Philo and Plato 5. Maimonides and Aristotle 6. Kant’s Challenge to Theology Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSocial Palliation is a pioneering study on living and dying as articulated by first-generation Iranian and Ismaili Muslim communities in Canada. Using ethnographic narratives, Parin Dossa makes a case for a paradigm shift from palliative care to social palliation. Experiences of displacement and resettlement reveal that life and death must be understood as an integrated unit if we are to appreciate what it is like to be awakened to our human existence. In the wake of structural exclusion and systemic suffering, social palliation brings to light displaced persons’ endeavours to restore the integrity of life and death. Dossa highlights the point that death conjoined with life is embedded within the socio-cultural and spiritual experience. Here, a caring society is not perceived in fragments, as is the case with traditional institutional care or care offered during end-of-life. Rather, Dossa draws attention to an organic form of caring, illustrated through the trTable of ContentsAcknowledgement Introduction 1. Research Context 2. Storied Lives 3. Precarity as a Resource for Life and Death 4. Re-Making a Home in the Diaspora 5. Negotiating Deep Divides: Foregrounding Social Palliation Conclusion: Deep-level Conversations Notes References Appendix

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Book SynopsisAfter the death of her mother when she turned ten, Judith Friedland learned to be resilient. She met the expectations for upper-middle-class women in Toronto in the 1940s and 1950s, which included post-secondary education, marriage, and motherhood. While raising a family and supporting her husband’s academic career, she continued her formal education through part-time study and gradually began a journey tailored to herself as an individual. In her forties, she embarked on her own academic career, rising through the ranks to become a tenured full professor and chair of the department of occupational therapy in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. In There Was a Time for Everything, Friedland reflects on her life and the fact that over time she managed to have it all just not all at once. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Prelude Growing Up 1. Tillie: A Mother’s Life and Early Death 2. Mike: A Father’s Enduring Presence 3. The Jolofsky Family: Keeping the Sabbath and More 4. Childhood and Adolescence: My Mid-Century Toronto 5. Daughter, Step-Daughter, Sister: Relationships Reconfigured Growing Together 6. Student/Wife/Worker: My Roles Begin to Multiply 7. Motherhood: While Living My Husband’s Life 8. Dean’s Wife: Plus Part-Time Work and Grad School 9. Variations on a Theme: Different Environments, Same Situations Still Growing 10. Academia: Tiptoeing into a New Life 11. Difficult Times: Family Trouble and Work Trouble 12. Big Fish, Little Pond: Director, Division of Occupational Therapy 13. Little Fish, Big Pond: Chair, Department of Occupational Therapy 14. Post Chair and Retirement: But Not Ready to Stop 15. From Some Darkness into Light 16. Last Chapter Notes Index

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Book SynopsisOn Stony Ground traces a generation of Mennonite immigrants from the Soviet Union to Manitoba, detailing their adaptation to a new land.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. Russia and Canada: The Consequences of the First World War 2. Russländer Mennonites Find Homes 3. The Bases of Community 4. Re-establishing Institutions 5. Schools and Education 6. Debts, Depression, and a New Grunthal 7. Old and New World Politics 8. Conflicted Identities 9. The War Years 10. Post-War Prosperity 11. A United and Divided Community 12. Generational Succession and Transition 13. Becoming Canadian Conclusion Appendixes 1. Elim Congregation Statistics (Baptised Members / Families / Totals 1927–c.1980) 2. Agreement with the International Company over Land on East Reserve Bibliography

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Book SynopsisOn Stony Ground presents a historical ethnographic account of a generation of Mennonites from the Soviet Union who, following Russia’s revolution and civil war, immigrated to Manitoba during the 1920s. James Urry examines how they came to terms with a new land and with their new neighbours, including other Mennonites, Ukrainians, French Canadians, and Indigenous Peoples. The book discusses the impact of the Great Depression and how the immigrants struggled with their identity in Canada as Hitler and Stalin rose to power in Germany and the USSR. It reveals the immigrants’ desire to maintain their faith, language, and culture while encouraging their children to take advantage of an education conducted mainly in English. On Stony Ground explores how prosperity following the Second World War helped the immigrants to build a community in conjunction with others, including Mennonites and non-Mennonites, and to accept their new home in Canada.Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1. Russia and Canada: The Consequences of the First World War 2. Russländer Mennonites Find Homes 3. The Bases of Community 4. Re-establishing Institutions 5. Schools and Education 6. Debts, Depression, and a New Grunthal 7. Old and New World Politics 8. Conflicted Identities 9. The War Years 10. Post-War Prosperity 11. A United and Divided Community 12. Generational Succession and Transition 13. Becoming Canadian Conclusion Appendixes 1. Elim Congregation Statistics (Baptised Members / Families / Totals 1927–c.1980) 2. Agreement with the International Company over Land on East Reserve Bibliography

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Book Synopsis'A word and an arrow are the same -- both deliver with speedy aim.' From this saying comes the title of this entertaining collection of lively and engaging adages, bons mots, maxims, and proverbs -- an attractive sampling of the accumulated wisdom of the past. The timeless Yiddish sayings in this volume -- some 1800 of them -- paint a verbal picture of the long and varied experience Jewish life in Eastern Europe and later in immigrant North America. They reflect religious, moral, and political concerns as well as the daily struggle for survival. They range from statements of the obvious to profound commentaries on subjects as varied as arranging a marriage, bearing and raising children, education them, earning a living, growing old, and dying. In her introduction Shirley Kumove provides a concise description of the Yidding language and its development, the historical and social context in which these folk sayings were created, and an explanation of folk sayings as a fo

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Book Synopsis'When the name "Hitler" is mentioned, nothing occurs to me' – so said Karl Kraus. For this leading Viennese Jewish critic and intellectual the touchstone of art was ethics. How could he be speechless in the face of a threat to all that ethics means?To answer this question, the author makes a detailed chronological study of Kraus's intellectual activity as reflected in his work on the theatre. The results are presented in five chapters, each dealing with a different 'mask' adopted by Kraus during the period 1892-1936. Grimstad considers not only theatre and drama criticism in Die Fackel and Kraus's dramatic writings, but also biographical data, to help uncover the rationale of his work. That rationale is the logic of the theatrical mode in which he lived and wrote. The stage was not only his subject matter, it determined what he would see and say. Grimstad argues that when Kraus wrote, his words were the speech of an 'actor' who was often infatuated with himself

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Book SynopsisIn photos and short biographies, Jewish Sports Legends introduces famous, and not so famous, Jewish sports greats throughout history. Trade Review“As a piece of reference material it is a fine accomplishment. It’s exhaustive research into a myriad of sports, and the accompanying biographies and pictures are done first class. . . . It is an education.”—Los Angeles Times“The impressive achievements of Jews in sports are well documented in this encyclopedic reference volume. . . . A first-rate account of Jews in sports since the end of the nineteenth century.”—Jerusalem Post“Any sports enthusiast, armchair or otherwise, will find this book a fascinating read. This is indeed a keepsake to read and hold for many years for those interested in sports of all ages.”—National Jewish Post and Opinion“It is the ultimate book for the serious sports fan.”—Jewish News“Jewish stars shine! The book should put to rest the notion that there are few great Jewish athletes. The book profiles the nearly 250 members of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.”—Washington Jewish Week“Libraries with a strong emphasis on sports collections may want to add this title to their collection.”—American Reference Books Annual“This encyclopedic and lavishly illustrated volume covers a dizzying array of sports. . . . I was amazed!”—Canadian Jewish NewsTable of ContentsForeword by Mark Spitz Preface by Joseph M. Siegman Acknowledgements Prologue by Dr. Uriel Sirnri 1. AUTO RACING Kenny Bernstein, United States Mauri Rose, United States Jody Scheckter, South Africa Sheliah Van Damm, Great Britain 2. BASEBALL Moe Berg, United States Harry Danning, United States Barney Dreyfuss, United States Sidney Gordon, United States Shawn Green, United States Henry "Hank" Greenberg, United States Ken Holtzman, United States Sanford "Sandy" Koufax, United States Mike Lieberthal, United States Marvin Miller, United States Charles "Buddy" Myer, United States Lipman Pike, United States Jimmie Reese, United States Al "Flip" Rosen, United States Al Schacht, United States Allan “Bud” Selig, United States Harry Simmons, Unaited States Steve Stone, United States Albert Von Tilzer, United States Kevin Youkilis, United States 3. BASKETBALL Arnold "Red" Auerbach, United States Sam Balter, United States Louis Bender, United States Senda Berenson, United States Harry Boykoff, United States Tal Brody, Israel Lawrence Brown, United States William “Bill” Davidson, United States Max Friedman, United States Harry Glickman, United States Julius Goldman, United States Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet Union Edward Gottlieb, United States Baruch Hagai, Israel Lester Harrison, United States Nat Holman, United States William "Red" Holzrnan, United States Rudy LaRusso, United States Harry Litwack, United States 1935-1936 Long Island University Basketball Team Donna Geils Orender, United States Orna Ostfeld, Israel Philadelphia SPHAs, United States Maurice Podoloff, United States Leonard Rosenbluth, United States Mendy Rudolph, United States Abe Saperstein, United States Adolph "Dolph" Schayes, United States Barney Sedran, United States Morris “Moe” Spahn, United States David Stern, United States Earl Strom, United States Sidney Tanenbaum, United States David “Pep” Tobey, United States Max Zaslofsky, United States 4. BILLIARDS Arthur Ruben, United States Michael Sigel, United States 5. BOWLING John Brunswick, United States Marshall Holman, United States Mortimer “Mort” Lindsey, United States Mark Roth, United States Louis Stein, United States Sylvia Wene (Martin), United States 6. BOXING Ray Arcel, United States Abe Attell, United States Monte Attell, United States Max Baer, United States Benny Bass, United States Jackie “Kid” Berg, Great Britain Samuel Berger, United States Jack Bernstein, United States Morris “Whitey” Bimstein Joe Choynski, United States Robert Cohen, France (Algeria) Dutch Sam (Samuel Elias), Great Britain Leone Efrati, Italy Jackie Fields, United States Charley Goldman, United States Abe Goldstein, United States Reuven “Ruby” Goldstein, United States Alphonse Halimi, France (Algeria) Harry Harris, United States Ben Jeby, United States Mike Jacobs, United States Louis "Kid" Kaplan, United States Solly Krieger, United States Benny Leonard, United States Battling Levinsky, United States Harry Lewis, United States Ted "Kid" Lewis, Great Britain Al McCoy, United States Daniel Mendoza, Great Britain Samuel Mosberg, United States Bob Olin, United States Victor "Young" Perez, Tunisia Charley Phil Rosenberg, United States Maxie Rosenbloom, United States Barney Ross, United States Corporal Izzy Schwartz, United States Eric Seelig, Germany Al Singer, United States Jack Solomons, Great Britain Lew Tendler, United States Gyula Torok, Hungary Irving Underman, Canada Matt Wells, Great Britain Young Dutch Sam, Great Britain 7. CANOEING Leonid Geishtor, Russia Myriam Fox Jerusalmi, France 8. CONTRIBUTORS Jehoshua Alouf, Israel Robert Atlasz, Germany/Israel Baruch Bagg, Israel Richard Blum, Germany Alfred Brull, Hungary Haskell Cohen, United States Lajor Domeny-Deutsch, Hungary Pierre Gildesgame, Great Britain Emmanuel Gill, Israel Chaim Glovinsky, Israel Arthur Abraham Gold, Great Britain Kenneth Gradon, Great Britain Sir Ludwig Guttmann, Germany/Great Britain Arthur Hanak, Israel Ben Hatskin, Canada Joseph Inbar, Israel Ferenc Kemeny, Hungary Dr. Herman Lellewer, Germany Ferenc Mezo, Hungary Zvi Nishri, Israel Charles Ornstein, Unted States Emmanuel Simon, Israel Dr. Uriel Simri, Israel Arthur Takac, Yugoslavia Chaim Wein, Israel Joseph Yekutieli, Israel Aviezer Yellin, Israel Paul Ziffren, United States Harold O. Zimman 9. CRICKET Aron "Ali" Bacher, South Africa 10. EQUESTRIAN Margie Goldstein Engle, United States Robert Dover, United States 11. FENCING Albert Axelrod, United States Daniel Bukants, United States Jeno Fuchs, Hungary Tamas Gabor, Hungary Janos Garay, Hungary Oszkar Gerde, Hungary Sandor Gombos, Hungary Sada Jacobson, United States Allan Jay, Great Britain Endre Kabos, Hungary Grigori Kriss, Soviet Union Alexandre Lippmann, France Mark Midler, Soviet Union Armand Mouyal, France Ivan Osiier, Denmark Attila Petschauer, Hungary Julia Jones Pugliese, United States Mark Rakita, Soviet Union Yakov Rylsky, Soviet Union Sergi Sharikov, Russia David Tyshler, Soviet Union Eduard Vinokurov, Soviet Union Lajos Werkner, Hungary 12. FIELD HOCKEY Carina Benninga, Netherlands 13. FIGURE SKATING / ICE DANCING Ilia Avenrbukh, Russia Ellen Burka, Canada Petra Burka, Canada Alain Calmat, France Sasha Cohen, United States Sarah Hughes, United States Gennadi Karponosov, Soviet Union Lily Kronberger, Hungary Emilia Rotter, Hungary Louis Rubenstein, Canada Irina Slutskaya, Russia Laszlo, Szollas, Hungary 14. FOOTBALL Joseph Alexander, United States Lyle Alzado, United States Harris Barton, United States Arthur “Bluey” Bluethenthal, United States Al Davis, United States Benny Friedman, United States Sid Gillman, United States Marshall Goldberg, United States Charles “Buckets” Goldenberg, United States Sid Halter, Canada Sigmund “Sig” Harris, United States Lew Hayman, Canada Mark Levyu, United States Benny Lom, United States Sid Luckman, United States Joseph Magidsohn, United States Ron Mix, United States Edward Newman, United States Harry Newman, United States 15. GOLF Amy Alcott, United States Herman Barron, United States 16. GYMNASTICS Valeri Belenki, Azerbaijan/Germany Alfred Flatow, Germany Gustav Felix Flatow, Germany Mitch Gaylord, United States Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet Union Abie Grossfeld, United States George Gulack, United States Agnes Keleti, Hungary Tatiana Lysenko, Soviet Union/Ukraine Netherlands’1928 Women’s Olympic Champions Alexandra “Aly” Raisman, United States Yelena Shushuvona, Soviet Union Kerri Strug, United States Galina Urbanovich, Soviet Union 17. HANDBALL Vic Hershkowitz, United States Jimmy Jacobs, United States Fred Lewis, United States Steve Sandler, United States 18. HORSE RACING Walter Blum, United States Robert “Bobby” Frankel, United States William “Willie” Harmatz, United States Hirsch Jacobs, United States Walter Miller, United States Georges Stern, France 19. ICE HOCKEY Garry Bettman, United States Hyman “Hy” Buller, Canada Nikolay Epshtein, Soviet Union Cecil "Cece" Hart, Canada Alfred Kuchevsky, Soviet Union Mathieu Schneider, United States 20. JUDO Yael Arad, Israel Rena Kanokogi (Rusty Glickman) Daniela Krukower, Argentina 21. LACROSSE Victor Ross, United States 22. MEDIA Jesse Abramson, United States Maury Allen, United States Mel Allen, United States Ira Berkow, United States Simon “Si” Burick, United States Murray Chass, United States Howard Cosell, United States Dan Daniel, United States Massimo Della Pergola, Italy Al Munro Elias, United States Red Fisher, United States Nat Fleischer, United States Marty Glickman, United States Al Greenberg, United States Bud Greenspan, United States Jerome Holtzman, United States Jerry Izenberg, United States Hank Kaplan, United States Max Kase, United States Leonard Koppett, United States A.J. Liebling, United States Willy Meisl, Germany & Great Britain Barney Nagler, United States Ben Olan, United States Murray Olderman, United States Bernard Postal, United States Shirley Povich, United States Joe Reichler, United States Harold Ribalow, United States Ed Sabol, United States Dick Schapp, United States Jesse Silver, United States Roy Silver, United States Bill Stern, United States Gyorgy Szepesi (Friedlander), Hungary Sam Taub, United States 23. RACQUETBALL Sheerman Greenfeld, Canada Marty Hogan, United States 24. ROWING Nathan Cohen, New Zealand Laszlo Fabian, Hungary Joe Jacobi, United States Allen Rosenberg, United States Leon Rottman, Romania Donald Spero, United States 25. RUGBY Aaron “Okey” Geffen O”The Boot”), South Africa Jonathan Kaplan, South Africa Sydney Nomis, South Africa Wilf Rosenberg, South Africa Albert Rosenfeld, Great Britain/Australia Joel Stransky, South Africa 26. SAILING Jo Aleh, New Zealand Zephania Carmal, Israel Gal Fridman, Israel Lee Korsitz, Israel Lydia Lazarov, Israel Walentin Mankin, Soviet Union 27. SOCCER Arthur Baar, Austria Jozsef Braun, Hungary Bela Guttmann, Hungary Hakoah.Vienna Club, Austria Kurt Lamm, United States Gyula Mandi, Hungary Hugo Meisl, Austria 28. SOFTBALL Harry “Coon” Rosen, United States 29. SPEED SKATING Irving Jaffee, United States 30. SURFING Shaun Tomson, South Africa 31. SWIMMING William Bachrach, United States Seymon Belits-Geiman, Russia Judith Deutsch, Austria Leo Donath, Hungary Charlotte Epstein, United States Anthony Ervin, United States Harry Getz, South Africa Alfred Hajos-Guttmann, Hungary Otto Herschmann, Austria Lenny Krayzelburg, United States Keren Leibovitch, Israel Jason Lezak, United States Alfred Nakache, France Paul Neumann, Austria/United States Marilyn Ramenofsky, United States Margalit Sonnenfeld, Israel Mark Spitz, United States Eva Szekely, Hungary Judit Temes, Hungary Dara Torres, United States Garrett Weber-Gale, United States Ben Wildman-Tobriner, United States Wallace “Wally” Wolf, United States 32. TABLE TENNIS Ruth Aarons, United States Angelica Adelstein-Rozeanu, Romania Viktor Barna, Hungary Laszlo Bellack, Hungary Richard Bergmann, Austria & Great Britain Traute Kleinova, Czechoslovakia Erwin Kohn, Austria/Argentina Ivor Goldsmid Montagu, Great Britain Anna Sipos, Hungary Mikios Szabados, Hungary Leah Thall-Neuberger, United States Leah Thall-Sommer, United States 33. TENNIS Angela Buxton, Great Britain Pierre Darmon, France Umberto de Morpurgo, Italy Herb Flam, United States Ian Froman, South Africa Brian Gottfried, United States Jim Grabb, United States Ladislav Hecht, Czechoslovakia Gladys Heldman, United States Julie Heldman, United States Ilana Kloss, South Africa Zsuzsa (Suzy) Kormoczy, Hungary Harold Landesberg, United States William Lippy, United States Nicholas Massu, Chile Tom Okker, Netherlands Daniel Prenn, Germany & Great Britain Dick Savitt, United States Joseph Shane, United States Harold Solomon, United States Brian Teacher, United States Eliot Teltscher, United States 34. TRACK & FIELD Harold Abrahams, Great Britain Gerald Ashworth, United States Gretel Bergmann (Margaret Lambert), Germany Lillian Copeland, United States Milton Green, United States Gary Gubner, United States Lilli Henoch, Germany Harry D. Henshel, United States Maria ltkina, Soviet Union Elias Katz, Finland Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska, Poland Abel Kiviat, United States Shaul Ladany, Israel Henry Laskau, United States Fred Lebow, United States Fania Melnik, Soviet Union Laurence "Lon" Myers, United States Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukraine Myer Prinstein, United States Mel Rosen, United States Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, Canada Ester Roth-Sachamarov, Israel Fred Schmertz, United States Sam Stoller, United States Allen Tolmich, United States 35. VOLLEYBALL Doug Beal, United States Adriana Behar, Brazil Arie Selinger, Israel Eugene Selznick, United States Hagai Zamir, Israel 35. WATER POLO Istvan Barta, Hungary Gyorgy Brody, Hungary Bela Komjadi, Hungary Bela Rajki-Reich, Hungary Miklos Sarkany, Hungary 37. WEIGHTLIFTING Isaac Berger, United States Ben Helfgott, Great Gritain Edward Lawrence Levy, Great Britain Grigori Novak, Soviet Union Frank Spellman, United States Oscar State, Great Britain Ben Weider, Canada Joe Weider, Canada 38. WRESTLING Boris Makovitch Gurevich, Soviet Union Boris Mikhaylovich Gurevitch, Soviet Union Nikolaus “Mickey” Hirschl, Austria Karoly Karpati, Hungary Fred Oberlander, Canada & Europe Yakiv Punkin, Ukraine Richard Weisz, Hungary Henry Wittenberg, United States 39. LIFETIME ACHEIVEMENT AWARD Sam Sharrow – 1992 David Pincus – 1993 Karl Ribstein – 1994 Monty Hall – 1995 Yariv Oren – 1996 Alan Sherman – 1997 Moshe Rashkes – 1998 Fred Worms – 1999 Joseph Luttenberg – 2000 Robert Spivak – 2001 Uri Afek – 2002 Lester Fein – 2003 Shimon Mizrahi – 2004 Sidney Greenberg – 2005 Alex Gilady – 2006 Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer – 2007 Stephen Rubin – 2008 Michael Kevehazi – 2009 Moshe Theumim – 2010 Robert Levy – 2011 Michel Grun – 2012 William Steerman – 2013 Harry Swimmer – 2014 Robert Kraft – 2015 Dr. Uri Schaefer – 2016 Victor Vaisman - 2017 Joseph Siegman - 2018 Roy Salomon - 2019 40. PRESIDENT’S AWARD OF EXCELLENCE Samuel P. Sporn – 2010 Teddy Kaplan – 2012 Reuven Heller – 2013 Zohar Sharon – 2013 Dr. Anita Shkedi – 2015 Arie Rosenzweig – 2016 Lenny Silverberg - 2017 41. About the Hall of Famer 42. Wingate Institute 43. Distinguished Authorities 44. Benefactors 45. Jewish Olympic Medalists by Dr. George Eisen 46. The Maccabiah Games 47. Munich 11

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Book Synopsis The history of the Jewish people has been a history of migration. Although Jews invariably brought with them their traditional ideas about food during these migrations, just as invariably they engaged with the foods they encountered in their new environments. Their culinary habits changed as a result of both these migrations and the new political and social realities they encountered. The stories in this volume examine the sometimes bewildering kaleidoscope of food experiences generated by new social contacts, trade, political revolutions, wars, and migrations, both voluntary and compelled. This panoramic history of Jewish food highlights its breadth and depth on a global scale from Renaissance Italy to the post–World War II era in Israel, Argentina, and the United States and critically examines the impact of food on Jewish lives and on the complex set of laws, practices, and procedures that constitutes the Jewish dietary system and regulates what can be eatenTrade Review"The authors of the articles assembled in Global Jewish Foodways: A History illustrate how Jewish food, identity, and history are fundamentally intertwined. They bring different approaches to distinct aspects of this rich and long-lived heritage. As the field of food studies continues to expand, this book will become essential reading. Its diverse chapters show the interdisciplinary nature involved in this research. This book is recommended for use in Jewish studies, Jewish folklore studies, and Jewish history courses, as well as in ethnic studies more generally."—Annette Fromm, Journal of Folklore Research"An excellent resource for courses on food and foodways, Jewish studies, anthropology, and history courses about areas throughout the world with diasporic populations."—E. Pappas, Choice"Global Jewish Foodways is an essay collection that explores how food has helped maintain boundaries for Jews and how those boundaries and their culinary markers have shifted across time and geography. . . . Global Jewish Foodways is also an engaging look at little known chapters in Jewish history, including the millennia-old communities of Iraq, whose existence was cut short after 1948."—David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express“Finally we have a book on Jewish food that excavates the culinary history of the world’s oldest diasporic people. Global Jewish Foodways is a path-breaking collection, the first to track the extraordinarily diverse practices of a minority for whom food serves as a center of their identity. It will immediately become a classic in Jewish studies courses, open up food studies to Jewish perspectives, and excite general readers who want to better understand what constitutes Jewish food.”—Roger Horowitz, director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library“While kosher foods are widely known for marking the Jewish people’s distinctiveness, this outstanding volume shows that food also has been a historical source of connection between diasporic Jews and their gentile neighbors around the world. An unrivaled mosaic of the rich, global diversity of Jewish cuisines.”—Jeffrey M. Pilcher, University of Toronto Scarborough Research Excellence Faculty Scholar“Global Jewish Foodways is a significant contribution to the field of Jewish food studies. It offers a uniformly sophisticated and incisive collection of analyses of Jewish food in a broad range of modern global contexts by many well-known and up-and-coming scholars in Jewish food studies. It is informed by the most up-to-date critical discussions of ‘identity’ and food preferences and discourses about food as expressions of it.”—Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, professor of religion at Wheaton College Table of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword by Carlo Petrini Acknowledgments Introduction: Jewish Foodways in Food History and the Jewish Diasporic Experience Simone Cinotto and Hasia R. Diner Part 1. Crossing and Bridging Culinary Boundaries: Resistance, Resilience, and Adaptations of Jewish Food in the Encounter with the Non-Jewish Other 1. The Sausage in the Jews’ Pantry: Food and Jewish-Christian Relations in Renaissance Italy Flora Cassen 2. Global Jewish Peddling and the Matter of Food Hasia R. Diner 3. Jews among Muslims: Culinary Contexts Nancy E. Berg Part 2. The Politics of Jewish Food: Culinary Articulations of Power, Identity, and the State 4. Mosaic or Melting Pot: The Transformation of Middle Eastern Jewish Foodways in Israel Ari Ariel 5. Soviet Jewish Foodways: Transformation through Detabooization Gennady Estraikh 6. The Embodied Republic: Colonial and Postcolonial French Sephardic Taste Joëlle Bahloul Part 3. The Kosherization of Jewish Food: Playing Out Religion, Taste, and Health in the Marketplace and Popular Culture 7. Appetite and Hunger: Discourses and Perceptions of Food among Eastern European Jews in the Interwar Years Rakefet Zalashik 8. The Battle against Guefilte Fish: Asserting Sephardi Culinary Repertoires among Argentine Jews in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century Adriana Brodsky 9. Still Life: Performing National Identity in Israel and Palestine at the Intersection of Food and Art Yael Raviv Part 4. The Food of the Diaspora: The Global Identity, Memory, and History of Jewish Food 10. From the Comfort of Home to Exile: German Jews and Their Foodways Marion Kaplan 11. “To Jewish Daughters”: Recipes for American Jewish Life, 1901–1918 Annie Polland 12. Dining in the Dixie Diaspora: A Meeting of Region and Religion Marcie Cohen Ferris List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisIn Wrapped in the Flag of Israel, Smadar Lavie analyzes the racial and gender justice protest movements in the State of Israel from the 2003 Single Mothers’ March to the 2014 New Black Panthers and explores the relationships between these movements, violence in Gaza, and the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran. Lavie equates bureaucratic entanglements with pain—and, arguably, torture—in examining a state that engenders love and loyalty among its non-European Jewish women citizens while simultaneously inflicting pain on them. Weaving together memoir, auto-ethnography, political analysis, and cultural critique, Wrapped in the Flag of Israel presents a model of bureaucracy as divine cosmology that is both lyrical and provocative. Lavie’s focus on the often-minimized Mizra?i population juxtaposed with the state’s monolithic culture suggests that Israeli bureaucracy is based on a theological notion that inserts the categoriesTrade Review“Thick, accusative, and critical, Wrapped in the Flag of Israel is indeed a must-read for all.”—Anne de Jong, American Anthropologist“Important and provocative. . . . Recommended to researchers, postgraduate students, and undergraduates who are interested in Israel/Palestine, political protest, discrimination, and the anthropology of the state.”—Tobias Kelly, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute“Incredibly insightful conceptually but also powerful politically. It does not merely challenge conceptual frameworks and academic canons but actively undoes them through shifting and diverse modes of writing.”—Adi Kuntsman, Journal of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies“Engaging and insightful. . . . The book makes an important contribution to the literature, demonstrating that throughout the history of Israel, the Jewish immigrants of European descent have retained their privileged socioeconomic position and maintained claims to cultural superiority over communities coming from Asia and the Middle East. Wrapped in the Flag of Israel is an important ethnography of Mizrahi women and an excellent addition to anthropology of Israel.”—Yulia Egorova, American Ethnologist“Lavie’s study is solid, scrupulously researched and documented and has the ring of truth that comes from the personal experience of a researcher who has had to live through her fieldwork situation in a manner that few anthropologists experience. . . . Lavie has created a text whose insights and analysis extend far beyond her admirable Israeli study.”—William O. Beeman, Anthropological Quarterly“Lavie raises important questions about victimhood and agency pertinent to the study of the subaltern. . . . This book is not just a unique contribution to understanding gender and race in state bureaucracy and the operations of nationalism in the Middle East; it will interest anyone studying the disenfranchised and their everyday life, something that almost always involves ‘bureaucratic torture.’ . . . Wrapped in the Flag of Israel exposes how inhumanity can be normalized and can thrive in any modern liberal democracy.”—Sealing Cheng, Asian Anthropology“Lavie’s meticulous ethnographic work and pointed theoretical analysis explain the hopelessness of social protest and problematize the concept of agency in the context of intra-Jewish conflict in Israel; in this Lavie also addresses the ramifications of Mizrahi marginalization on the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”—Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, Cultural Studies“Lavie illustrates how asking difficult, troubling questions that disturb taken-for-granted silences can be an important strategy of resistance. In doing so, Wrapped in the Flag of Israel offers theoretical and political insights that extend beyond Israel’s undeclared borders.”—Simona Sharoni, Journal of Palestine Studies“Lavie has written a brave and scholarly auto-ethnography using an extended case study method, of a social movement in contemporary Israel. . . . With theoretical sophistication and granular accounts of day-to-day struggles of her own and other single mothers’ efforts to survive and gain access to resources and entitlements as Israelis . . . This is a painful account well worth reading. Social workers from many nations who are involved in difficult macro- and mezzo-practice would find illuminating the many elements of social movement activity and peer-group support that Lavie characterizes and theorizes so powerfully.”—Barbara Levy Simon, Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work“At the crossroads between a coursebook, a piece of writing about life and a feminist manifesto, Wrapped in the Flag of Israel . . . [is] both an enlightening insight into Israeli intra-racism and an original and valuable connection between two seemingly unrelated concepts: bureaucracy and torture.”—Sorina Georgescu, HyperculturaTable of ContentsNote on Transliteration Introduction: Marching on Jerusalem with Israel’s Single Mothers “Reaganomics,” Ḥok HaHesderim, and the Oslo Boomtime The Hudna Knafonomics: Vicky and I On Ethnographic Data Wrapped in the Flag of Israel’s Bureaucracy: A Road Map Chapter 1. Left Is Right, Right Is Left: Zionism and Israel’s Single Mothers Ḥad Horit: Notes on the Hebrew Etymology of Single Motherhood The Typology of Israel’s Single Mothers On Zionism Why Mizraḥim Support the Right Wing Why Mizraḥi Feminists’ Hands Are Tied Chapter 2. Protesting and Belonging: When the Agency of Identity Politics Becomes Impossible Figurations of Agency Protesting and Belonging: An Argument in Six Parts Capturing and Conveying Elusive Bureaucratic Torture Chapter 3. Take 1: The GendeRace Essence of Bureaucratic Torture Classificatory Schemes of Bureaucratic Logic Negative Communitas: Bureaucracy’s “Tough Love” The Plus-Minus Model of Torture The Zone of Repulsion: Plus-Plus Relationships of Pain Documents as Implements of Torture Bureaucracy’s Essence: GendeRace Response to Bureaucracy: Bracketing Impossible Articulation, Impossible Agency Chapter 4. Take 2: Ideology, Welfare, and Single Mothers Chapter 5. Take 3: Diary of a Welfare Mother Chapter 6. The Price of National Security Knafoland—The End This Is Exactly What We Did Epilogue: Israel, Summer 2011 Afterword(s): Gaza 2014 and the Mizraḥi Predicament Bureaucratic Torture: When Agency Becomes Impossible Agency Torture One People One Heart: The War on Gaza 2014 The New Black Panthers, or HaLo Neḥmadim Ḥok HaHesderim 2014 Labor Hill B-Jamusin The Ḥamas Salary Fiasco Operation Brother’s Keeper The War on Gaza—Protective Edge Under the Smokescreen of War Elections 2015: The Center Moves Further to the Right The Mizraḥi Cultural Renaissance The Steady Drumbeat of Eternal Return Acknowledgments Notes Glossary of Hebrew, Arabic, and Yiddish Terms References Index

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Book Synopsis The history of the Jewish people has been a history of migration. Although Jews invariably brought with them their traditional ideas about food during these migrations, just as invariably they engaged with the foods they encountered in their new environments. Their culinary habits changed as a result of both these migrations and the new political and social realities they encountered. The stories in this volume examine the sometimes bewildering kaleidoscope of food experiences generated by new social contacts, trade, political revolutions, wars, and migrations, both voluntary and compelled. This panoramic history of Jewish food highlights its breadth and depth on a global scale from Renaissance Italy to the post–World War II era in Israel, Argentina, and the United States and critically examines the impact of food on Jewish lives and on the complex set of laws, practices, and procedures that constitutes the Jewish dietary system and regulates what can be eatenTrade Review"The authors of the articles assembled in Global Jewish Foodways: A History illustrate how Jewish food, identity, and history are fundamentally intertwined. They bring different approaches to distinct aspects of this rich and long-lived heritage. As the field of food studies continues to expand, this book will become essential reading. Its diverse chapters show the interdisciplinary nature involved in this research. This book is recommended for use in Jewish studies, Jewish folklore studies, and Jewish history courses, as well as in ethnic studies more generally."—Annette Fromm, Journal of Folklore Research"An excellent resource for courses on food and foodways, Jewish studies, anthropology, and history courses about areas throughout the world with diasporic populations."—E. Pappas, Choice"Global Jewish Foodways is an essay collection that explores how food has helped maintain boundaries for Jews and how those boundaries and their culinary markers have shifted across time and geography. . . . Global Jewish Foodways is also an engaging look at little known chapters in Jewish history, including the millennia-old communities of Iraq, whose existence was cut short after 1948."—David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express“Finally we have a book on Jewish food that excavates the culinary history of the world’s oldest diasporic people. Global Jewish Foodways is a path-breaking collection, the first to track the extraordinarily diverse practices of a minority for whom food serves as a center of their identity. It will immediately become a classic in Jewish studies courses, open up food studies to Jewish perspectives, and excite general readers who want to better understand what constitutes Jewish food.”—Roger Horowitz, director of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library“While kosher foods are widely known for marking the Jewish people’s distinctiveness, this outstanding volume shows that food also has been a historical source of connection between diasporic Jews and their gentile neighbors around the world. An unrivaled mosaic of the rich, global diversity of Jewish cuisines.”—Jeffrey M. Pilcher, University of Toronto Scarborough Research Excellence Faculty Scholar“Global Jewish Foodways is a significant contribution to the field of Jewish food studies. It offers a uniformly sophisticated and incisive collection of analyses of Jewish food in a broad range of modern global contexts by many well-known and up-and-coming scholars in Jewish food studies. It is informed by the most up-to-date critical discussions of ‘identity’ and food preferences and discourses about food as expressions of it.”—Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, professor of religion at Wheaton College Table of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword by Carlo Petrini Acknowledgments Introduction: Jewish Foodways in Food History and the Jewish Diasporic Experience Simone Cinotto and Hasia R. Diner Part 1. Crossing and Bridging Culinary Boundaries: Resistance, Resilience, and Adaptations of Jewish Food in the Encounter with the Non-Jewish Other 1. The Sausage in the Jews’ Pantry: Food and Jewish-Christian Relations in Renaissance Italy Flora Cassen 2. Global Jewish Peddling and the Matter of Food Hasia R. Diner 3. Jews among Muslims: Culinary Contexts Nancy E. Berg Part 2. The Politics of Jewish Food: Culinary Articulations of Power, Identity, and the State 4. Mosaic or Melting Pot: The Transformation of Middle Eastern Jewish Foodways in Israel Ari Ariel 5. Soviet Jewish Foodways: Transformation through Detabooization Gennady Estraikh 6. The Embodied Republic: Colonial and Postcolonial French Sephardic Taste Joëlle Bahloul Part 3. The Kosherization of Jewish Food: Playing Out Religion, Taste, and Health in the Marketplace and Popular Culture 7. Appetite and Hunger: Discourses and Perceptions of Food among Eastern European Jews in the Interwar Years Rakefet Zalashik 8. The Battle against Guefilte Fish: Asserting Sephardi Culinary Repertoires among Argentine Jews in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century Adriana Brodsky 9. Still Life: Performing National Identity in Israel and Palestine at the Intersection of Food and Art Yael Raviv Part 4. The Food of the Diaspora: The Global Identity, Memory, and History of Jewish Food 10. From the Comfort of Home to Exile: German Jews and Their Foodways Marion Kaplan 11. “To Jewish Daughters”: Recipes for American Jewish Life, 1901–1918 Annie Polland 12. Dining in the Dixie Diaspora: A Meeting of Region and Religion Marcie Cohen Ferris List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAfter the 2008 election and 2012 reelection of Barack Obama as US president and the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as the first of several blacks to serve as South Africa's president, many within the two countries have declared race to be irrelevant. For contributors to this volume, the presumed demise of race may be premature.Trade ReviewContesting Post-Racialism is a powerfully persuasive analysis of the ways that race still operates in the United States and South Africa. This book effectively dispels the notion that we now reside in a post-racial or post-apartheid society. The arguments represent perspectives that are theological and sociological, as well as ecclesial and communal. This book needs and deserves a wide readership."" - Curtiss Paul DeYoung, executive director of the Community Renewal Society and former professor of reconciliation studies, Bethel University""In light of the continuing systemic misdirection and misinformation around the world about post-racialism, so-called, there is an urgent need for prophetic truth-telling in the United States, South Africa, and wherever peoples of African descent are found. With critical acumen and refreshing candor, the contributors to this volume serve to remind us that the near permanence of racism in its most subtle and incendiary forms requires the need for people of vision and faith to fight on."" - Dr. Alton B. Pollard, dean and professor of religion and culture, Howard University School of Divinity

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Book SynopsisProvides a close reading of Rutu Modan's work and examines her role in creating a comics arts scene in Israel. Drawing on archival research, Kevin Haworth traces the history of Israeli comics from its beginning in the 1930s, to the counterculture movement of the 1970s, to the burst of creativity that began in the 1990s and continues today.

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