Social groups: religious groups and communities Books

Book SynopsisFollow Sue William Silverman, a one-woman cultural mash-up, on her exploration of identity among the mishmash of American idols and ideals that confuse most of us - or should. This searching, bracing, hilarious and moving book tries to make sense of that most troubling American condition: belonging, but to what?Trade Review"A masterly stylist continues her uncompromising examination of the inner life."—Kirkus Reviews“Silverman’s language is, by turns, blunt, wrenching, sophisticated, lyrical, tender, hilarious. She writes with wicked dark humor, splendid intelligence, wry wit, and honest confrontation. There’s no other book quite like it.”—Lee Martin, author of From Our House“Although many of the topics and themes in these essays are somber and sincere, Silverman’s ever-present humor sets a self-deprecating tone. . . . Readers will relate to these stories, for while they’re directly about this writer’s spiritual journey, they’re also about the universal feeling that one doesn’t quite belong, and the fact that Silverman has survived, recovered, and discovered her true self gives hope to the rest of us.” —newpages.com“Silverman’s writing is very alive. As a reader you feel immersed in her world, not just seeing it but feeling, tasting and smelling it.”—The New Book Review“Filled with warmhearted humor and profound compassion, this tour de force exploration of the search for identity is a joy to behold.”—Kaylie Jones, author of Lies My Mother Never Told Me“Silverman is the Tennessee Williams of memoir.”—Robert Vivian, author of The Least Cricket of EveningTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Dear Gent[i]le Reader The Pat Boone Fan Club The Wandering Jew The Mercurialist Gentle Reader The Endless Possibilities of Youth Swimming Like a Gefilte Fish For Jews Only That Summer of War and Apricots The Invisible Synagogue Concerning Cardboard Ghosts, Rosaries, and the Thingness of Things Prepositioning John Travolta Gentle Reader Galveston Island Breakdown: Some Directions Gentle Reader The Fireproof Librarian Fahrvergnügen: A Road Trip through a Marriage Almond Butter in the Ruints I Was a Prisoner on the Satellite of Love (Featuring Crow T. Robot, Star, Mystery Science Theater 3000) 000See the Difference The New Pat Boone Show My Sorted Past Gentle Reader An Argument for the Existence of Free Will and/or Pat Boone’s Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Encore

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Book SynopsisDemonstrates universal religious experience and shows how humanity's effort to live within a sacred sphere has manifested itself in myriad cultures from ancient to modern times; and, how certain beliefs, rituals, symbols, and myths have, with interesting variations, persisted.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Medical Imperialism in French North Africa adds much to our understanding of French colonial policies towards minority communities in colonial North Africa and of gender and empire in general."—Nancy Gallagher, Journal of the History of Medicine"Park's Medical Imperialism is a very welcome contribution to the study of eugenics, imperialism and religious and ethnic identities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. . . . While Parks's work provides an interesting glimpse into a little known field of French colonial history, this book also raises broader questions that will be of interest to scholars of public health, empire and the state. By focusing on how the project of national regeneration played out in the recently established French protectorate in Tunisia, Parks provides readers with a window into broader scholarly debates about identity, biopolitics and the nature of colonial rule."—Jessica Lynne Pearson, Social History of Medicine"By showing how discourses of public health, urban planning, and hygiene established the difference of Tunisian Jews both from non-Jewish inhabitants of Tunis, as well as from French Jews, Parks adds a valuable contribution to the history of North African Jews."—Aro Velmet, French Politics, Culture and Society"Medical Imperialism is a must-read in the panoply of works on French imperialism for its novelty and thoroughness."—Claudy Delné, French Review"This book represents an attempt to reconstruct the social, cultural, and historical context of the Tunisian Jewish community under French protectorate, in particular the period between the two World Wars. It presents useful information for readers who may not be very familiar with the histories and complex ethnic and religious struggles which were at play in Maghrebi and Middle Eastern societies during the Ottoman and European empires."—Aimée Israel-Pelletier, Reading Religion"[Medical Imperialism in French North Africa] indicates the importance of studying religion in colonial medicine outside of the realm of Christian missionaries."—Hannah-Louise Clark, Journal of Modern History“Richard Parks adds new layers to our understanding of the interactions between colonizer and colonized in Tunisia, demonstrating how European ideologies and methodologies were challenged and reinterpreted on the ground. In doing so, he also sheds a new and powerful light on the complex interethnic landscape of colonial Tunisia.”—Maud S. Mandel, Dean of the College at Brown University and author of Muslims and Jews in France: History of a Conflict “In his highly original study, Richard Parks poses a fundamental question: Did a Tunisian Jewish community historically exist during the colonial era? Ethnographically and conceptually rich, this work employs the notion of regeneration to probe multiple kinds of lived and imagined social space—urban, hygienic, residential, reproductive, and associative. The author’s sustained and nuanced attention to issues of women and gender makes this book particularly compelling.”—Julia Clancy-Smith, professor of history at the University of Arizona and author of Mediterraneans: North Africa and Europe in an Age of Migration, c. 1800–1900Table of ContentsList of Maps Preface Acknowledgments 1. Situating Regeneration: Medicine, Science, and “Modern” Bodies 2. Regenerating Space: Destruction and Divided Communities 3. Regenerating Space, Part 2: Not All Ghettoes Are the Same 4. Regenerating Youth: The Role of the Alliance and the Rise of Zionism 5. Regenerating Women: The Assertion of Reproductive Control Conclusion: A Brief Reflection on Identity Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA former minor leaguer gets one last chance at pro ball in the unlikeliest of places, Israel.Trade Review"Mr. Pribble makes his adventure into a fascinating tale, full of both difficulties and thrills. Pitching in the Promised Land makes good reading."-Dorothy Seymour Mills, NY Journal of Books -- Dorothy Seymour Mills NY Journal of Books "[Pitching in the Promised Land] takes us on an interesting and enjoyable jaunt through a unique moment in Israeli and baseball history."-Donald H. Harrison, San Diego Jewish World -- Donald H. Harrison San Diego Jewish World "Aaron Pribble, a former professional baseball player turned schoolteacher, who starred for the Tel Aviv Lightning in the Israel Baseball League's only season, provides readers with a front row seat and his own unvarnished take on the upstart league."-Jonathan Papernick, Jewish Daily Forward -- Jonathan Papernick Jewish Daily Forward "This is, of course, much more than a baseball story. Pribble relates his romantic involvement, developing bonds of comradeship, and his efforts to consider his own Jewish identity within an Israeli society still striving to resolve its own contradictions. Pribble consistently hits the right notes, conveying his experiences with humor, irony, and a sense of novelty."-Jay Freeman, Booklist -- Jay Freeman Booklist "Pribble tells his story with wit, a little self-deprecating humor, and an eye for detail... It's hard to imagine a better introduction to a far-off land and its age-old conflicts."-James Bailey, Baseball America -- James Bailey Baseball America "With a writing style that is approachable, warm, effective, and engrossing, Pitching in the Promised Land will likely appeal to both Jewish seamheads and casual fans."-Joshua Platt, Jewish Book World -- Joshua Platt Jewish Book World "[Pribble's] is a story of coming of age spiritually and athletically in one short season in the throes of romance, Middle Eastern politics, and the dreams of America's pastime far from home."-Shofar ShofarTable of ContentsFirst Half1. Five2. Kfar Hayarok3. Tel Aviv Lightning4. Opening Day5. Safety First6. Call from the Pen7. Al Quds8. Nokona Wreckin Crew9. Arm Trouble10. Fun and Games11. Huelga! Huelga!12. The Mighty Black Sox13. Shabbat Shalom14. Sabras15. Sportek16. Para Bailar La Bomba17. The Love Doctor18. Rainout in the Desert19. Blooming the Desert20. Bus Ride21. Three Fields of Wheat22. Losing SucksAll-Star Break23. Flirting with Ramallah24. All-Star GameSecond Half25. Progress Report; or, Every Five Days26. Fourth Time's a Charm27. The Clara Fashion Bar28. The Road to Peace29. Home Run Derby30. Tikkun Olam31. The Rookie32. Clinched33. A Day in Palestine34. Playoffs35. All Good Things36. The Schnitzel Awards37. Sportsmanship and Character38. YallaEpilogueAcknowledgments

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Book SynopsisBen-Zion Gold's memoir brings to life the world of a million Jews in pre-World War II Poland who were later destroyed by the Nazis. Warmly recalling the relationships, rituals, observances, and celebrations, Gold evokes the sense of family and faith that helped him through the catastrophe that followed.Trade Review"In this moving memoir, Ben-Zion Gold describes how Jews lived in Poland, and not how they died... It took Rabbi Ben-Zion Gold 20 years to complete his spare, powerful memoir, which originated as a message to his daughters, both of them born in the United States after World War II... Poignant as each individual memory may be, taken together they attest to the wide range of religious experiences that Polish Judaism in full flower provided for an ardent, intelligent seeker like young Gold." - Harvey Blume, Jerusalem Report "Rabbi Gold writes with a rare combination of insight and understanding; the result is a fascinating, instructive and uniquely intimate memoir." - Ruth Anna Putnam, professor emerita of philosophy at Wellesley College and editor of The Cambridge Companion to William James "This beautifully written and moving account of his youth as a member of a traditional religious Jewish family in Radom in central Poland, by Ben-Zion Gold, stands out among Holocaust memoirs. Gold lovingly recreates this destroyed world and attempts to convey its deep spirituality, while distancing himself from its fundamentalism and ethnic self-centeredness. This is one of the most uplifting accounts of the resilience of the human spirit I have read in recent years." - Antony Polonsky, Walter Stern Hilborn Professor of Judaic and Social Studies at Brandeis University and coeditor of Contemporary Jewish Writing in Poland: An Anthology "When my colleague, Rabbi Harold Kushner, visited the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, he said: This place describes how the Jews died better than any other place that I have ever seen. Now we need to have a second museum, one that will tell the story of how the Jews lived. If such a museum is ever built, this book will deserve an honored place within it. For Ben-Zion Gold has told the story of the world of Polish Jewry between the wars, as reflected in his own life, with insight and grace... This is a wonderful memoir, and I learned much from it." - Rabbi Jack Riemer, Jewish Journal: L'Chaim "This book is quite different in character from existing Holocaust memoirs. It is an eyewitness account of a lost milieu and it tells us, as the saying goes, not how European Jews died but how they lived." - Robert Alter, professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with CommentaryTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Jewish Radom2. Home and Family3. My Father's Marriage and Business4. My Religious Upbringing5. Heder6. My Sisters' Education7. Yeshiva8. Jews and Poles9. Rayzel's Engagement10. Pinye's Death11. Finding a Tutor12. The Beit HaMidrash and the Yeshiva13. Encounters with Hasidism14. Musarnikes15. Bathya's Engagement16. Love's First Glance17. Escape to Freedom18. The Encounter19. After Liberation

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Book SynopsisNelly Las navigates primarily among three cultures (French, Anglo-American, and Israeli) to present a philosophical and historical analysis of the intersection between contemporary Jewish dilemmas and feminism and its impact on Jewish thinking. She also explains the ambivalent attitude of feminist activists regarding current developments in the Jewish world.Trade Review"This volume privileges the voices and experiences of women and so should be required reading for those interested in feminist theory, Middle Eastern politics, and/or religious identity."—CHOICE"Nelly Las offers a transnational approach to analyzing the intersections of feminism and Jewishness."—Joyce Antler, Springer Journal“On a matter that concerns us today—the question of identity—Nelly Las examines the diversity, contradictions, and complexities of various ‘Jewish voices’ in French and American feminism during the last half century. This thought-provoking book helps us to better hear and understand these voices in the context of our time.”—Michelle Perrot, coeditor of the History of Women in the West series and 2014 winner of the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: New Orientations and Commitments in Contemporary Feminism1. Differences and Identities: From Feminist Controversies to Current Jewish Dilemmas2. The Use and Abuse of Jews/Women Analogies in Contradictory Arguments3. Identity through the Feminist Lens: American Responses4. Being Jewish and Feminist in France5. From Confrontation to Dialogue: Jewish Women Face Christian Theologies6. Feminism, Secularism, and Religion in France7. Feminism and Zionism: Conflictual Narratives8. Israel and Zionism in the Global Feminist DebateConclusionSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisInvestigates the political and religious identities of women who understand their social-justice activism as religiously motivated. Placing these women in historical context as faith-based activists for social change, this book discusses what their activities reveal about the public significance of religion in the pluralistic context of North America and in an increasingly globalized world.Trade Review"Zwissler's book gives a unique insight into the ways activists of faith create new communities and practices in imagining and bringing about a better world, based on a cosmology of interconnection that goes beyond individualism and recognizes every person's ethical responsibility for the well-being of others. It deserves to be widely read by scholars of religion, politics, and the complex interaction between the two."—Kim Knibbe, Political Theology"Bringing together ideas that are often thought to be incongruent, Zwissler . . . discusses individuals who have deep commitments to religion but also to feminism and activism. . . . Offering a wealth of information, this accessible book is well suited to classroom use as well as secondary reading."—M. M. Veeneman, Choice"Based on their worldview of interconnection, activists come together in communities that provide support, encourage patience and compassion, and connect people. With this ethnography of groups rarely studied with such depth, Zwissler provides an important contribution to scholarship on social movements and feminist and religious studies."—Sharon P. Doetsch-Kidder, Reading Religion"Laurel Zwissler centers her analysis around case studies of three women in Canada from the Catholic, United Church, and Pagan traditions. Both micro perspectives and macro investigation provide readers with insights into important differences among the subjects but equally important commonalities of spirit, politics, and action."—Water Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual"More often than not, the attention given to religious activism focuses on the influence of right-wing evangelical Christians in contemporary North American politics. Less often are we made aware of the ways in which other religious groups (Christian or non-Christian) have advocated for progressive policies that tend to fall on the left side of the political spectrum. The stories told by Laurel Zwissler in her book, Religious, Feminist, Activist: Cosmologies of Interconnection fills this void not only by providing a unique perspective on left-leaning religious activism in North America, but her work is imperative to understand the variety of ways in which religious women actively participate in the public and political spheres."—Stacy Keogh George, Religion and Gender“A valuable window into the complex but important role of religion in many progressive feminist groups. Zwissler’s volume helps us to better reflect on the challenging dance of religion and feminism, within the all-important context of activist work. Focusing on cultural and religious resources, rituals, and discourses that shape and constrain movement activity, this is a beautifully written, thoughtfully argued, and timely contribution.”—Courtney Bender, professor in the Department of Religion at Columbia University“The most effective way to understand activist religion is [through] finely tuned ethnographic work. Laurel Zwissler asks perceptive questions, listens to complex responses, and observes the multiple layers of women engaged in progressive public enactments in Toronto. The result is a convincing, compelling book.”—Ronald L. Grimes, director, Ritual Studies International and professor emeritus of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University“Laurel Zwissler’s comprehensive and up-to-date summary and synthesis of matters pertaining to religious, spiritual, and political uses of ritual, ceremony, and action are critical to every large scale protest movement of our time.”—Mary Keller, assistant academic professional lecturer for the Department of Religious Studies at the University of WyomingTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Changing Rituals, Changing Worlds 2. “The Shrine Was Human Rights”: Pilgrimage and Protest 3. “Spirituality” as Feminist Third Choice: Gendering Religion and the Secular 4. Self, Community, and Social Justice Conclusion Source Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Falafel Nation is] a thought-provoking read for someone interested in a detailed, intellectual exploration of the origins of Israeli identity from a new perspective."—Joy Getnick, Jewish Book Council"Falafel Nation is an extraordinary, insightful study of Zionism and modern Jewish nationalism."—Washington Book Review"Raviv successfully accomplishes a difficult task in a work that foodies, historians and sociologists will find of great interest."—Rachel Esserman, Reporter Group"Informative and intriguing."—Sheldon Kirshner, Times of Israel"This book is an excellent cultural and culinary history in the making of Israel's modern day identity, and how religious and secular ideologies surprisingly worked together to unify the nation. . . . Excellent writing and thorough research."—Jordan Griffith, International Social Science Review"[A] fascinating cultural history."—Jenna Weissman Joselit, Springer Journal“Falafel Nation [is] a book that makes food a partner in the creation of Israel in the twentieth century, set in the context of migrations, politics, intergroup struggles, and state building. This work will be an important addition to the literature on food history and the history of Israel.”—Hasia R. Diner, author of Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration “What do Israelis talk about when they talk about food? Yael Raviv explores the food stories emerging from Zionism as they take shape in response to crisis, propaganda, and wave after wave of immigration. This lively and enlightening study of agriculture and cuisine as powerful elements in the task of state-making deserves wide readership in the academy and beyond.”—Laura Shapiro, author of Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century “Original, thought-provoking, and in many ways groundbreaking. Falafel Nation is rich with interesting and insightful ideas and comments that made me think time and again of the ways in which Israel can be observed from the culinary perspective. No doubt, approaching Israeli history, society, and political conflicts from the kitchen and the restaurant allows for a fresh and, indeed, critical view of this society.”—Nir Avieli, author of Rice Talks: Food and Community in a Vietnamese Town “Everybody who is interested in nation-building should read this book. Using falafel as a metaphor, Yael Raviv has done a brilliant job at portraying her native country. Bravo!”—Joan Nathan, author of Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in FranceTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Putting Down Roots: Agricultural Labor and Icons 2. Patriotic Distribution: The “Hebrew” Watermelon 3. Kitchen Lessons: Educating Home Cooks 4. The Virtual Kitchen: Making Room for Pleasure 5. The Professional Kitchen: Articulating a National Cuisine 6. No Table Required: Consumption and the Public Sphere Conclusion Appendix: Historical Context Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn this oral history collection, Douglas Stark chronicles Jewish basketball throughout the twentieth century, focusing on 1900 to 1960. As told by the prominent voices of twenty people who played, coached, and refereed it, these conversations shed light on what it means to be a Jew and on how the game evolved from its humble origins to the sport enjoyed worldwide by billions of fans today.Trade Review"[When Basketball Was Jewish elevates] the voices of twenty distinguished Jewish basketball players, men who played the city game with passion, precision, and pride."—AETHLON"Douglas Stark provides an intimate look into the lives of young Jews whose athletic skills gave them an edge in society."—Fred Isaac, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews"When Basketball was Jewish is more than a sports record. . . . Both Jewish history and basketball enthusiasts will enjoy this fascinating record of American Jewish life and its impact on American sport."—Jonathan Fass, Jewish Book Council"When Basketball Was Jewish reveals, as no previous book has, the evolving role of Jews in basketball and illuminates their contributions to American Jewish history as well as basketball history."—Phil Jacobs, Jewish Link NJ“A terrific first-person account of basketball life. As I read the stories of people I knew, like Nat Holman and of course my dad, Dolph Schayes, I found myself living the stories of their time in the game. Their accounts are so real and dynamic that the game comes to life as you feel like you are experiencing it with them. A terrific read!”—Danny Schayes, eighteen-year NBA player and son of Hall of Fame and NBA top-fifty player Dolph Schayes “The players and coaches chronicled in this book are not only important figures in Jewish basketball history; they played an important part in the history of the game. As a student of the game, a basketball lifer, and someone who is extremely proud of his Jewish heritage, I can appreciate the doors that they opened, and I’m glad that their stories are being told.”—Ernie Grunfeld, president of the Washington WizardsTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Nat Holman Harry “Jammy” Moskowitz Les Harrison Harry Litwack Joel “Shikey” Gotthoffer Moe Spahn Sammy Kaplan Bernard “Red” Sarachek Phil Rabin Moe Goldman Bernie Fleigel Jack “Dutch” Garfinkel Ossie Schectman Ralph Kaplowitz Louis “Red” Klotz Norm Drucker Sonny Hertzberg Jerry Fleishman Max Zaslofsky Dolph Schayes Index

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the use of older biblical texts in Isaiah 40-66, notably the writings attributed to Deutero-Isaiah. Its discussion of allusions, influence, and intertextuality generates significant questions for both biblicists and literary critics: Why do authors allude? How does the presence of older material in a text affect readers? How can critics identify genuine cases of allusion? Are contemporary theories of intertextuality applicable to ancient texts? The author defends the controversial historical questions asked by scholars of inner-biblical exegesis, modifying some of the dominant (and, in some ways, misleading) categories other biblical scholars have created. In sum, the book aims to refine the study of inner-biblical exegesis through an extensive examination of the use of older texts in one corpus.The redactional complexity of the Book of Isaiah has rendered it central to discussions of canon formation and the final shaping of biblical material. The author deTrade Review"This book is a very careful and well-written consideration of how Second Isaiah uses scripture. It demonstrates a deep knowledge of literature and literary theory that is not often paralleled in the field of biblical studies, and it goes beyond earlier pathbreaking work on 'inner-biblical exegesis.' Especially provocative is Sommer's argument that the prophesies of Isa. 1—39 evidently did not bear any primacy of authority for Second Isaiah. The thesis is closely argued and will certainly attract much attention and further discussion." -- Gary A. Anderson * Harvard Divinity School *“This very impressive work is an original and deeply instructive contribution to biblical studies. Sommer is a finely perceptive reader of biblical texts, has a real mastery of the immense body of biblical scholarship, and moves with remarkable assurance from literary to historical analysis. The book not only enables us to read the prophet Deutero-Isaiah in a new and illuminating way but also leads us to understand the development of later biblical history in a new way.”—Robert Alter, University of California, Berkeley“Sommer has written a very detailed and precise account, arguing that the prophetic figure Deutero-Isaiah knew and used, by allusion and by various modes of reinterpretation, the very words of certain other biblical texts. He defines the different forms of allusion very exactly, and his study, interestingly, does not seek to overturn, but actually supports, familiar source-critical approaches. With present interests in canon and intertextuality, this is a work of first-rate importance.”—James Barr, Oxford UniversityTable of Contents1. Literary theory and the study of inner-biblical allusion and exegesis 2. Deutero-Isiah's use of Jeremiah 3. The appropriation of prophetic tradition 4. From poetry to prophecy: transformations of psalms and laments 5. Deutero-Isiah's use of pentateuchal texts 6. Learned tongue, inspired tongue Appendix Notes Bibliography Chart Indices.

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Book SynopsisA pioneering interdisciplinary scholar examines the roles of images in the construction of stereotypes of the Jew's body in 20th-century art and literature.Table of Contents1. Ethnicities: why I write what I write 2. Love + marriage = death: STDs and AIDS in the modern world 3. Max Nordau, Sigmund Freud, and the question of conversion 4. Salome, syphilis, Sarah Bernhardt and the 'modern Jewess' 5. Zwetschkenbaum's competence: madness and the discourse of the Jews 6. Otto Weininger and Sigmund Freud: race and gender in the shaping of psychoanalysis 7. Sibling incest, madness, and the Jews 8. R. B. Kitaj's 'good bad' diasporism and the body in American Jewish post-modern art 8. Who is Jewish? The newest Jewish writing in German and Daniel Goldhagen Notes Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines representations of modernity in Yiddish literature between the Russian revolution of 1905 and the beginning of the First World War. Within Jewish society, and particularly Eastern European Jewish society, modernity was often experienced as a series of incursions and threats to traditional Jewish life. Writers explored these perceived crises in their work, in the process reconsidering the role and function of Yiddish literature itself.The orientation of nineteenth-century Yiddish fiction toward the shtetl came into conflict with the sense of reality of young writers, who felt themselves part of a rapidly changing modern urban environment. This opposition between the generations was reflected in their principles of plot construction. The conservatives employed cyclical patterns, producing mythological schemes for incorporating the new experience into the traditional order. Modernists emphasized the uniqueness of the new, and therefore preferred a linear organTrade Review"Krutikov's work is a welcome addition to the growing field of Yiddish literary studies." -- The Russian Review"In this remarkably readable book, Krutikov constructs, with elegance and rigor, sturdy bridges built out of the disparate offerings of Yiddish litterateurs spanning the turbulent, shifting historical terrain between the Russian revolution in 1905 and the onset of World War I in 1914 . . . .This book is requisite for scholars and students of history, literary theory and criticism, and twentieth-century Yiddish literature. It will undoubtedly be captivating for the general reader as well." -- Religious Studies Review"His sophisticated deployment of Marxist theory and modern critical methodologies, coupled with his wide reading in several languages, has ensured that his study is not only stimulating in itself, but will create a seedbed for new approaches to Yiddish fiction." -- Journal of Modern Jewish StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Note on Translitcration Introduction: Conceptual Framework and Methodology llTe Economic Crisis The Crisis of Revolution The Crisis of Immigration Love and Destiny: The Crisis of Youth Conclusion: Yiddish Fiction Faces Modernity Biblioragphy Index

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Book SynopsisWhy did the social sciences become an integral part of Jewish scholarship beginning in the late nineteenth century? What part did this new scholarship play in the ongoing debate over emancipation and assimilation, Zionism and diasporism, the nature of Jewish identity, and the problem of Jewish continuity and survival. To answer these questions, this book traces the emergence and development of an organized Jewish social science in central Europe, and explores the increasing importance of statistics and other social science modes of analysis for Jewish elites throughout Europe and in the United States.The author locates the initial impetus for an organized, institutionalized Jewish social science in the Zionist movement, as Zionists looked to the social sciences to provide them with the knowledge of contemporary Jewish life deemed necessary for nationalist revival. In particular, the social sciences offered empirical evidence of the ambiguous condition of Jewry in the diasporaTrade Review"Hart has made a significant contribution to European Jewish history, to the social scientific study of Jews, and to the intellectual history of the social sciences in his innovative study of the politics of modern Jewish identity within the newly developed field of Jewish social sciences." -- The Journal of Interdisciplinary History"Considering the technical nature of many of the sources, Hart's book is quite readable and in many ways, exciting." Relgious Studies Review"Hart's work provides both a critical contribution to understanding the Jewish social scientific debate as it was framed during its formative decades, and an essential context for the present debates." -- Studies in Contemporary JewryTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. 'Wir mussen mehr wissen': institutional and ideological foundations of a Jewish statistics; 2. The bureau for Jewish statistics and the development of Jewish social science 1904-1931; 3. The wages of modernity: fertility, intermarriage, and the debate over Jewish decline; 4. The pathological circle: medical images and statistics in Jewish social science; 5. The diaspora as cure: non-zionist uses of social science; 6. Measuring and picturing Jews: racial anthropology and iconography; 7. National economy and the debate over Jewish regeneration; Conclusion: a usable knowledge; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn the Russian Empire of the 1870s and 1880s, while intellectuals and politicians furiously debated the Jewish Question, more and more acculturating Jews, who dressed, spoke, and behaved like non-Jews, appeared in real life and in literature. This book examines stories about Jewish assimilation by four authors: Grigory Bogrov, a Russian Jew; Eliza Orzeszkowa, a Polish Catholic; and Nikolai Leskov and Anton Chekhov, both Eastern Orthodox Russians. Safran introduces the English-language reader to works that were much discussed in their own time, and she situates Jewish and non-Jewish writers together in the context they shared.For nineteenth-century writers and readers, successful fictional characters were types, literary creations that both mirrored and influenced the trajectories of real lives. Stories about Jewish assimilators and converts often juxtaposed two contrasting types: the sincere reformer or true convert who has experienced a complete transformation, and the secreTrade Review"Intelligently and creatively, Safran compares closely the work of the Jewish author, Grigory Bogrov; the Polish author, Eliza Orzeszkowa; and the Russian writers Nikolai Leskov and Anton Chekhov with characterizations of Jews found in Russian letters throughout the whole of the century. In doing so, she demonstrates a familiarity and comfort with both critical themes of pre-Soviet Russian literature and literary criticism and with the broader context of Jewish life in the empire. Accordingly, her work is of genuine interest to students of Russian literature as well as for those committed to the investigation of both Jewish and Russian cultural history in the Tsarist empire." -- The Russian Review"Writ[ten] in a clear, engaging and distinctive style. . . . [Safran] shares her insights on many important aspects of Jewish identity, issues of national identity, acculturation, assimilation, conversion, and anti-Semitism, among others, while she studies her four writers and their literary milieu. For academic libraries." -- Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter"[Safran's] work makes a serious contribution to our understanding of the complex nexus of Jew and Gentile in late Imperial Russia . . . .[It] should be read by anyone interested in the 'Jewish question,' national identities, and literature in the late Russian Empire. " -- Canadian Slavonic PapersTable of ContentsIllustrations A note on transliteration Introduction 1. An unprecedented type of human being Grigory Bogrov 2. The nation and the wide world Eliza Orzeszkowa 3. Jew as text, Jew as reader Nikolai Leskov 4. Mutable, permutable, approximate, and relative Anton Chekhov Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society.Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.Postulating Trade Review"Lorberbaum's intellectual, erudite, and scholarly work is insightful, carefully thought out, substantial, well researched, and complex. . . . Lorberbaum makes a good contribution to the fields of medieval Jewish philosophy, political philosophy, and rabbinics." -- Association of Jewish Libraries" . . . Lorberbaum has provided an excellent study about timely issues in medieval Jewish thought." -- Speculum

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Book SynopsisThis posthumous and crucial contribution by one of the latter twentieth-century's most important sociologists, overturns a half-century of assumptions about the sociology of religion.Trade Review"This posthumously published book by Niklas Luhmann is arguably one of the most important works in the sociology and philosophy of religion of the last hundred years. It can only be compared in significance and scope to the works of Rudolf Otto, Mary Douglas, René Girard, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Claude Lévi-Strauss. It is not just original, but also generative and indispensable: future discussions will have to refer to it, and it will become de rigueur and uncircumventable."—Eduardo Mendieta, Stony Brook University"Don't be afraid: this book does not preach atheism. This book is not about the existential concerns of one individual. Rather, it approaches religion as a system as vital to society as those of the economy, law, and love. Luhmann shows what makes religion unique to society, its special capacity to guarantee meaning even when meaning defies obvious verification. This book is a further step in Luhmann's general theory of society, a theory that remains unsurpassed as an approach to our times."—Nikolaus Wegmann, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisGod's Beauty Parlor opens the Bible to the contested body of critical commentary on sex and sexuality known as queer theory and to masculinity studies. The author pursues the themes of homoeroticism, masculinity, beauty, and violence through such texts as the Song of Songs, the Gospels, the Letter to the Romans, and the Book of Revelation.Trade Review"Too often the debate about the Bible and homosexuality is reduced to a dull episode of Crossfire. On the right, the Book of Romans condemns queers! On the left, the Book of Romans celebrates queers! In four essays Moore queers the debate for both sides, discussing the gay iconography of Jesus, the Song of Solomon, and the masculinity of the apostles as well as his own travels through the study of the good book. Deftly combining easy humor with academic theory, Moore turns up the disco music and hangs a mirror ball over the debate." -- Out Magazine"For well over a decade Stephen D. Moore has served as a powerful advocate for the intercourse between biblical interpretation and contemporary critical theories. His latest book, God's Beauty Parlor, shares many of the characteristics that Moore's readers have come to expect from his work: a solid if often irreverent grounding in biblical scholarship; a penetrating awareness of the possible implications of utilizing those methods and theories as resources for reading the Bible; and a prose style that is engaging, frequently humorous, and clear but seldom simplistic." -- Ken Stone * Chicago Theological Seminary *Table of ContentsCONTENTS PART I: 1 2 PART II: 3 4

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Book SynopsisThe author examines the work of key figures in the early history of Jewish literature through the prism of their allusions to classical Jewish texts, focusing on the highly complex strategies the maskilim employed to achieve their potential and ideological goals.Trade Review"This fascinating new study of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature is not only an excellent academic piece of work, but an accessible and compelling read." -- The Jerusalem Post"The book not only offers an overview of the early poetic, linguistic, and social challenges of Yiddish and Hebrew literature; it invites the reader to examine the varied contexts of the Jewish Enlightenment as a means of better understanding Modern Jewish Culture." -- Hebrew Studies"Dauber has produced a first-rate book, at once interesting and eminently readable, and both historians and students of Jewish literature will learn much. Given that this is a first book from a young scholar, Antonio's Devils is a most impressive offering, one that would elicit from his maskilic protagonists the hope that he produce books without limit." -- SHOFAR"Dauber's textual exegesis is often very instructive."Jewish HistoryTable of ContentsContents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii Note on Orthography iii List of Abbreviations iii @toc1:Part One Setting the Stage @toc2:1. Antonio's Devil: Shylock, Allusion, and the Birth of Modern Jewish Literature 000 2. Allusion in a Jewish Key: Literary Theory and the Study of Haskala Literature 000 3. Historical Background 000 @toc3:I. The early Prussian Haskala (to the mid-1780s): Moses Mendelssohn II. Toward the 1790s: Radicalization, assimilation, and Wolfssohn III. Early 19th century Galicia: Joseph Perl @toc1:Part Two Prussia @toc2:4. Moses Mendelssohn 000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Biographical and social notes III. The early years: the Philosophical Writings and Kohelet Musar IV. Brief notes on the middle years V. Jerusalem VI. Conclusion @toc2:5. Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn 000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Wolfssohn's life and work III.Wolfssohn's new theater and writing in Yiddish IV. Laykhtzin un fremelay: a theoretical and textual introduction V. The characters VI. Conclusion @toc1:Part Three Galicia @toc2:6. Joseph Perl: Between Hebrew and Yiddish 000 @toc3:I. Introduction II. Perl: A brief biography III. Perl's literary work: details and Jewish influences IV. Hasidic literature and Perl's Hasidic parodies V. Rabbi Nachman's Sipurei Maasiyot and Perl's parodic Tales and Letters VI. Perl's Tales and Letters: The frame letters VII. Perl's Tales and Letters: The "completion" of "The Tale of the Loss of the Princess" VIII. Perl's own parodic tale: "The Tale of the Loss of the Prince" @toc2:7. Joseph Perl: Megale Temirin 000 @toc3:I. Introduction: The Shivkhei HaBesht II. Formal and historical details: the making of Megale Temirin III. Megale Temirin: the anti-Shivkhei HaBesht IV. Style: textual citation in Megale Temirin V. Hebrew and Yiddish versions of Megale Temirin VI. The battle of the books: dueling canons VII. The texts themselves: referentiality and transferability VIII. The texts themselves: non-transferred material IX: The texts themselves: transferred material VIII. Conclusion @toc1:Part Four Coda @toc2:Conclusion and Further Directions for Study 000 @toc4:Bibliography 000 Index 000 Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Jewish literature History and criticism, Haskalah, Jewish authors Biography, Pearl, Joseph

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Book SynopsisThis is a work of unprecedented scope that traces the origins of Jewish autobiographical writing from the early-modern period to the early twentieth century.Trade Review"This is one of the most ambitious and accomplished first books I have read in some time. Marcus Moseley correctly assesses the importance of the emergence of the autobiography as a prime--though neglected--cultural index of the modernization of the Jews of Eastern Europe, and he conducts a thorough investigation of the presuppositions and implications of this assessment. . . . Throughout, one is aware of the presence of a guiding critical intelligence of a high order. . . . The book is illuminating for the reader interested in either Jewish studies or modern cultural history." -- Arnold Band * University of California, Los Angeles *"Marcus Moseley's Being for Myself Alone is truly engrossing. The erudition, the astonishing range of material examined and the unusual intensity of the argument combine to make the reading of this book a rare intellectual pleasure. At one level, it is novelistic, introducing us to a remarkable number of fascinating and often bizarre individuals; while at another, it is an extended and highly sophisticated scholarly essay on the theory of autobiography. What a rewarding work this is for anybody interested in the history and culture of the Jews over the last few centuries, particularly in Eastern Europe." -- Jonathan Frankel * Hebrew University of Jerusalem *Table of ContentsCONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... 1. AUTOBIOGRAPHY: THE ELUSIVE SUBJECT...7 Generic Dilemmas...7 Rousseau's Confessions as Autobiographical Paradigm ...11 The "Children of Jean Jacques" in Jewish Eastern Europe...19 In and Around the Self: The Critical Discourse...24 2. INTERTEXTUAL RELATIONS: JEWISH AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ENCOUNTERS...58 Autobiography as "Text"/Autobiography as "Discourse"...58 Symptoms of Transition: The Crystallization of Autobiographical Discourse...62 Cross-Cultural Fashionings of the Sel...66 Arrested Development: The Constitution of a Jewish Autobiographical Field...70 III. AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS READING...100 The "Tradition Model for the Study of Jewish Autobiography...100 Sephardic Origins I: Valley and Vision: Abraham Yagel's Gei hizzayon...114 Sephardic Origins II: "Un coup de des n'abolira jamais le hasard": Yehudah Aryeh Modena's Hayyei yehudah...135 Early-Modern Autobiography in Ashkenaz I: Scrolls of Lamentation and Lament...179 Early Modern Autobiography in Ashkenaz II: The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln...187 The Function of the First Person in Pre-Modern Jewish Narrative: An Overview...208 IV. PRE-MODERN JEWISH AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND THE RADICAL HERMENEUTICS OF MICHAH YOSEF BERDICHEVSKY...283 Worlds within Worlds...283 The Voice of the Individual and the Burden of Inheritance: Berdichevsky's Autobiographical Counter-Tradition...301 The Crystallization of an Autobiographical Hermeneutic...307 Michah Yosef Berdichevsky Before the Speculum of Bin Gorion: The Collected Works as Encylopaedia...347 From Re-Collection to Recollection: The Great Memory of Bin-Gorion...354 Miriam: The Summing Up...361 V. JEWISH AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITING AT THE TIME OF ROUSSEAU...413 Synchronicities...413 Jacob Emden's Megillat sefer...415 Nathan of Nemirov's Yemei maharnat...438 VI. DOMESTICATING ROUSSEAU: MORDECHAI AARON GUENZBERG'S AVIEZER...473 "I am not the father of this book, rather its mother, for in pain did I bear it"...473 The Conception of the Child...484 Generation and Gender: Discourses on Power...492 Autobiographies in Dialogue: From Aviezer to Hatt'ot ne'urim...506 VII. RAMIFICATIONS OF THE SELF: CULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF JEWISH AUTOBIOGRAPHY...531 Autobiography against Autobiography: Traditionalist Versions of the Self...531 The Semiotics of Autobiographical Behaviour...565 Buried Autobiographies...574 Summons to Autobiography/Response...589 Matrices of the Jewish Autobiographical Self...596 "Time present and time past/Are both perhaps present in time future,/And time future contained in time past."...610 Notes to Chapter XX BIBLIOGRAPHY...656 Index

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Book SynopsisSing, Stranger is a comprehensive historical anthology of a century of American poetry written in Yiddish and now translated into English for the first time. This anthology reveals both an amazing achievement of Jewish creative work and an important body of American poetry.Trade Review"This latest work of Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, truly the doyens of the field of Yiddish poetry in translation, is an important achievement. Many anthologies have tended to give relatively furtive glimpses of a poet's creation, or suggestive hints of the flavours of his or her poetry. Both the impressive, but not cumbersome, size of this anthology and its historical and geographic focus allow for making more than such fleeting acquaintances. The strength of the work, the thing that makes it of such moment, is the heterogeneous and fluid notion of Americanness which is at the heart of the project."—Modern Language Review"This anthology consists of excellent English translations of the Yiddish poetry of major American Yiddish writers... highly recommended reading for all."—Association of Jewish Libraries NewsletterTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:A Note on Transcriptions iii Preface iii @toc1:Prelude 000 @toc1:Part One: Proletarian Poets 000 @toc2: Morris Rosenfeld(18621923) 000 Dovid Edelshtat(18661892) 000 Yoysef Bovshover(18731915) 000 @toc1:Part Two: The Lyrical Turn 000 @toc2: Yehoash (18721927) 000 Mani Leyb (18831953) 000 Y. Rolnik (18791955) 000 Ruven Ayzland (18841955) 000 B. Vladek (18861938) 000 Zisho Landoy (18891937) 000 Avrom Reyzen (18761953) 000 @toc1:Part Three: Symbolism and Expressionism 000 @toc2: H. Leyvik (18881962) 000 Moyshe-Layb Halpern (18861932) 000 Berish Vaynshteyn (19051967) 000 @toc1:Part Four: Introspectivism 000 @toc2:A. L'yeles (18891966) 000 Jacob Glatshteyn (18961971) 000 J. L. Teller (19121972) 000 Ruven Ludvig (18951926) 000 B. Alquit (n.d.) 000 @toc1:Part Five: On the Left 000 @toc2:Moyshe Nadir (18851943) 000 Menke Katz (19061991) 000 @toc1:Part Six: Narrative Poetry 000 @toc2: I. Y. Shvarts (18851971) 000 @toc1:Part Seven: Women Poets 000 @toc2:Anna Margolin (18871952) 000 Tsilya Drapkin (18881956) 000 Malka Heifetz-Tussman (18961987) 000 @toc1:Songs by Yiddish Poets 000 @toc4:Glossary 000

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Book SynopsisFor more than three decades, Talal Asad has been engaged in a distinctive critical exploration of the conceptual assumptions that govern the West's knowledgesespecially its disciplinary and disciplining knowledgesof the non-Western world. The essays that make up this volume treat diverse aspects of this remarkable body of work. Among them: the relationship between colonial power and academic knowledge; the historical shifts giving shape to the complexly interrelated categories of the secular and the religious, and the significance of these shifts in the emergence of modern Europe; and aspects of human embodiment, including some of the various ways that pain, emotion, embodied aptitude, and the senses connect with and structure cultural practices. While the specific themes and arguments addressed by the individual contributors range widely, the essays cohere in a shared orientation of both critical engagement and productive extension. Note that this is not a festschrift, nor a celebrTrade Review"The nine essays in this powerful book offer students and mentors alike a window into a theoretical and practical arena that is all too regularly ignored today by pundits and exploitative "studies" on Islam and religion in general."—American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences"While centrally about secularization, this volume is much more than that. Asad's work and the essays engaging him here offer nothing short of an anthropology of the modern. Many issues are broached, leaving the reader with a dazzling array of issues to explore. This is interdisciplinary engagement at its best. An invaluable text for scholars and students working across the social sciences."—Victoria Hattam, New School for Social ResearchTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc2:1 Introduction: The Anthropological Skepticism of Talal Asad @tocca:David Scott and Charles Hirschkind 000 @toc2:2 Secularization Revisited: A Reply to Talal Asad @tocca:Jose Casanova 000 @toc2:3 What is an "Authorizing Discourse"? @tocca:Steven C. Caton 000 @toc2:4 Fasting for Laden: The Politics of Secularization in Contemporary India @tocca:Partha Chatterjee 000 @toc2:5 Europe: A Minor Tradition @tocca:William E. Connolly 000 @toc2:6 Secularism and the Argument from Nature @tocca:Veena Das 000 @toc2:7 On General and Divine Economy: Talal Asad's Genealogy of the Secular and Emmanuel Levinas's Critique of Capitalism, Colonialism, and Money @tocca:Hent de Vries 000 @toc2:8 The Tragic Sensibility of Talal Asad @tocca:David Scott 000 @toc2:9 The Grammar of Redemption @tocca:George Shulman 000 @toc2:10 Subjects and Agents in the history of Imperialism and Resistance @tocca:Jon E. Wilson 000 @toc2:11 Responses @tocca:Talal Asad 000 @toc4:Appendix: The Trouble of Thinking: An Interview with Talal Asad @tocca:David Scott 000 @toc4:Talal Asad: A Bibliography @tocca:Zainab Saleh 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Contributors 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a set of critical engagements by writers from a variety of disciplines with the work of noted anthropologist Talal Asad.Trade Review"The nine essays in this powerful book offer students and mentors alike a window into a theoretical and practical arena that is all too regularly ignored today by pundits and exploitative "studies" on Islam and religion in general."—American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences"While centrally about secularization, this volume is much more than that. Asad's work and the essays engaging him here offer nothing short of an anthropology of the modern. Many issues are broached, leaving the reader with a dazzling array of issues to explore. This is interdisciplinary engagement at its best. An invaluable text for scholars and students working across the social sciences."—Victoria Hattam, New School for Social Research

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Book SynopsisThis book is about the social history of the Arab Jews—Jews living in Arab countries—against the backdrop of Zionist nationalism.Trade Review"...this is a brave, fascinating, excellent book that will mark an important turning point in the study of Jews from Arab and Islamic countries and their relationship to the Jewish state." -- xMiddle East Journal"Shenhav provides an erudite account of how the history of the Arab Jews complicates the presuppositions undergirding teleological and state-centered Zionist historiography... Because his approach does not subscribe to a simple dichotomisation between secular and religious interpretations of national identity, Shenhav's recognition of the elastic nexus of religion, nationalism and ethnicity may contribute a valuable framework for future reflections on the role of religion in conflict and peace-building." -- Nations and Nationalisms"The cultural conflict faced by Jews, functioning under what might be considered a common ideology—Zionism—is deftly analyzed." -- Association of Jewish Libraries NewsletterTable of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii @toc2:History Begins at Home 000 @toc2:1 The "Discovery" of the Arab Jews 000 @toc2:2 Encounter in Abadan: Colonialism, Eurocentrism, and Jewish Orientalism 000 @toc2:3 How Did the Arab Jews Become Religious and Zionist? 000 @toc2:4 What Do the Arab Jews and the Palestinians Have in Common? Population Exchange, the Right of Return, and the Politics of Reparations 000 @toc2:5 The Arab Jews and Zionist Historical Memory 000 @toc2:Beyond Methodological Zionism 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Select Bibliography 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisThe Belated Witness examines major works by Art Spiegelman, Cynthia Ozick, Christa Wolf, and Paul Celan, focusing specifically on the unsettling configuration of birth-as-death trauma around which these texts are organized.Trade Review"The Belated Witness is a remarkable book and a stunning accomplishment. This beautiful, finely wrought, and impeccably argued text makes a vital and refreshing contribution to existing scholarship in a number of fields: Holocaust literary studies, contemporary German literature, psychoanalytic literary criticism, and literary theory, more generally. Timely, profound, thoughtful, and ambitious in scope, it could very well become an instant classic of literary criticism."—Elissa Marder, Emory University"The book's importance lies not only in its insights into particular texts, but in its redefinition of testimony and our responses to it. This is an outstanding work." -- Marianne Hirsch * Columbia University *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Acknowledgments iii @toc2:1. Introduction 1 2. Necessary Stains: The Bleeding of History in Spiegelman's maus I 000 3. The Vanishing Point: Spiegelman's maus II 000 4. Writing Anxiety: Christa Wolf's Patterns of Childhood and the Throat of the Witness 000 5. Toward an Addressable You: Ozick's The Shawl and the Mouth of the Witness 000 6. Silent Wine: Celan and the Poetics of Belatedness 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Works Cited 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive new study of the Greek Jewish experience during World War II to be published in sixty years.Trade Review"Professor Bowman has, in meticulous detail, provided the English-language reader the most comprehensive and up-to-date narrative of this otherwise little-known Jewish community in southeastern Europe . . . Bowman's treatment of Salonika Zionists and efforts to get Jews into mandatory Palestine makes interesting reading . . . This book will certainly be the standard resource on the subject, at least for the foreseeable future." -- Sanford R. Silverburg * Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) Newsletter *"The Agony of Greek Jews is a welcome addition to the scholarship on Greek Jewry. Bowman's contribution to the understanding of each individual community's fate during the Holocaust and Greek Civil War is invaluable." -- Katerina Lagos * California State University, Sacramento, East European Jewish Affairs *"Despite the nearly total obliteration of Greek Jewry in World War II, the Holocaust in Greece has been virtually ignored in historical literature in the English language. Bowmans volume, based on decades of research and deep familiarity with the region, its complexities, and its personalities, is an important corrective to this great gap." -- Jane Gerber * CUNY Graduate Center *"Bowman's excellent readable book utilizes the latest documentary research, including records from foreign archives only now being made public. The newly released documents confirm the horrors of a story only partially known, shedding light on a tragic episode in a remote part of the German occupation of Europe. The rich fabric of Jewish culture in Greece has never fully recovered . . . Highly recommended." -- E. N. Borza * Choice *"Few books have been written in English on the Shoah of Greek Jews. Steven Bowman's book is original because it looks at the experience of Greek Jews during World War II, not in isolation as in many other accounts, but in the context of the war in Greece . . . The Agony of Greek Jews is a book rich in information." -- Rosine Nussenblatt * Sephardic Horizons *"The Agony of Greek Jews documents with meticulous attention to detail and a laudable ambition for breadth of coverage the stories of Jewish communities scattered across the territory of modern Greece at a time of rapid, often destabilizing, and eventually catastrophic change . . . The Agony of Greek Jews is as much an impressive historical register of Jewish survival in Greece against the odds as it is a uniquely detailed archive of memory for all those who perished in the Nazi camps or lost their lives while fighting against the brutal occupying forces." -- Aristotle Kallis * H-Judaic *Table of ContentsContents @toc4:Preface xx Acknowledgments xx Abbreviations xx @toc2:Introduction 1 1. The Jews of Greece to World War I 000 2. Germans and Jews in Greece 000 3. In Victory and Defeat 000 4. Vernichtungsorganisation 000 5. Chronicle of the Deportations 000 6. Abnormal Deaths in a Foreign Land 000 7. How A a Remnant Survived 000 8. Freedom or Death 000 9. Relief and Rescue 000 10. Bitter Homecoming 000 Afterword 000 @toc4:Appendix: Numbers 000 Notes 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive, comparative study of women poets in Yiddish, A Question of Tradition shows the important role that women Yiddish poets played in the creation of Jewish literary tradition.Trade Review"This book is a hugely valuable resource for anyone interested in Yiddish poetry, literature, and women's writing. Readers unable to access the texts in Yiddish will be please that Hellerstein's English translations are presented alongside the poetic explications . . . Hellerstein's complex book brings new considerations to the study of tradition with regard to women poets writing in Yiddish. It also whets the appetite for the publication of more collections and critical appraisals to reveal the still large number of Yiddish women writers, including poets, who remain unknown and unrepresented." -- Helen Beer * Modern Language Review *"Hellerstein used the Korman anthology as the starting point for a twenty-five-year project. The result is A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586-1987— a book that is impressively wide-ranging and just as impressively deep . . . Her new book is a close look at eighteen poets, with special attention directed toward the many different ways these women wrote about the experience of being female. Training a gender-studies lens on poems that span four centuries, Hellerstein helps us achieve an intimate understanding of a wide variety of work." -- Ellen Cassedy * Jewish Currents *"Aside from the alluring treasury of poems this book holds, it is also a magnum opus unto itself. Author Kathryn Hellerstein . . . worked on it for about 25 years. So it is not surprising that she writes with such powerful authority about poems that seem to be gushing with life . . . Hellerstein has provided a new perspective on the female poets who contributed to Jewish literary tradition, creating a trove of stunning poetry as they did." -- Elizabeth Martins * Philadephia Inquirer *"This is a serious book for serious students of Yiddish poetry . . . Each chapter champions a different aspect of the journey, from the devotional to the secular . . . This is an erudite contribution to the 'Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture' series . . . Summing Up: Recommended." -- S. Gittleman * CHOICE *"Women's Yiddish poetry finally gets its scholarly due from Kathryn Hellerstein, long-time champion of the female Yiddish poetic voice, in her comprehensive and accessible account, A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586–1987 . . . Hellerstein's book is comprehensive, supplying the biographical details of six important poets' lives in one volume for the first time. Letters she quotes are revealing. . . . [Hellerstein's] book provides an amplitude to the discussion of these women that was previously denied them. The translations, accurate in meaning and still with the effortlessness of poetic language, capture the urgency of their voices. And Hellerstein's book lays to rest any question of tradition; it is there: inflected by prayer as the book's framework suggests, but also colored by difficult lives and a confidence born of their survival." -- Alyssa Quint * Cleaver Magazine *"Each poet's work is explored exhaustively, along with bibliographic essays that trace the publishing history of each poet's work, as well as notes, a thorough bibliography, and an index. Highly recommended for academic collections and collections concentrating on Yiddish." -- Beth Dwoskin * Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter *"This work is the crowning synthesis of more than twenty years of study of Yiddish women poets. It makes important 20th century Yiddish women poets available in translation, in some cases for the first time." -- Jan Schwarz * Lund University *"This is the untold story of women poets across generations and continents, who gave voice to their womanhood and sexuality, outrage and desire, amusements and commitments, even as they engaged a sometimes forgiving, sometimes indifferent and sometimes vengeful God. Kathryn Hellerstein guides us through this fascinating story with precision, patience, empathy and consummate grace." -- David G. Roskies * Jewish Theological Seminary and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem *"A Question of Tradition is an important book and an impressive contribution to the field of Yiddish studies. Kathryn Hellerstein writes beautifully. Her sensitive and illuminating readings of the poetry of a select group of Yiddish women poets makes a strong case for a tradition of women's poetry in Yiddish. Impressively researched and argued, Hellerstein's discussions range from the work of relatively obscure early poets like Toybe Pan to the well-known Kadya Molodovsky. In the process she delineates a female literary tradition in Yiddish literature that has long been obscured and neglected. This book will make an invaluable contribution, not only to the field of Yiddish Studies but to Women's Studies as well." -- Goldie Morgentaler * University of Lethbridge *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Idea of a Literary Tradition 2. Old Poems in a Modern Anthology 3. Revolution, Prayers, and Sisterhood in Interwar Poland 4. The Folk and the Book: Miriam Ulinover and Roza Yakubovitsh 5. The Art of Sex: Celia Dropkin and Anna Margolin 6. Prayer-Poems against History: Kadya Molodowsky and Malka Heifetz Tussman Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis book considers some of the most famous Yiddish writers in America, the controversies their works aroused—in Yiddish and English—during the Holocaust, and the ways in which reading them contributes to a revision of American Jewish cultural development.Trade Review"Discovering Exile is a vital, compact study of a formative moment in American Jewish culture when writers in both English and Yiddish began to confront the holocaust and its implications. Probing politics of representation, Norich uncovers the crucial role of Yiddish in American Jewish culture and American literary modernism." -- Tony Michels * AJS *"In Discovering Exile, Anita Norich restores a significant part of Jewish American cultural and literary history that had been supplanted by a prevailing myth of what she calls "gradual dissipation," the notion that Yiddish culture was somehow divided and displaced by English and thereby split from its Yiddish roots. Instead, she shows how Yiddish and English speaking worlds of the thirties, forties, and beyond drew on each other for inspiration. In rehistoricizing the living, breathing American Jewish life of these decades, Norich also gives us back an era long lost to historians who made the Holocaust the central and therefore over-determining event of the twentieth century. The result is a first-rate literary history of a largely overlooked world." -- James E. Young * University of Massachusetts, Amherst *"In her fascinating study of this traditional view/assumption, Norich examines the premises of historical and cultural pressures that determined Jewish fate from the optimistic 18th-centruy Enlightenment to its violent end in the concentration-camp universe Including helpful notes and an extensive bibliography, this thought-provoking study will reward a broad audience with fresh insights and better understanding." -- CHOICETable of ContentsCONTENTS Acknowledgments xxx Introduction 1 1. Cultural Questions, Jewish Answers 000 2. "Good Night, World:" Yankev Glatshteyn's Ambivalent Rejection 000 3. Sholem Asch and the Christian Question 000 4. From the Politics of Culture to the Culture of Mourning 000 Epilogue 000 Appendix 1. Selected News Review in Contemporary Jewish Record 000 Appendix 2. Translation of Rachel Auerbach's "Amol iz geven a meylekh" [Once There Was a King] 000 Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index

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Book SynopsisGermans into Jews turns to an often overlooked and misunderstood period of German and Jewish historythe years between the world wars. It has been assumed that the Jewish community in Germany was in decline during the Weimar Republic. But, Sharon Gillerman demonstrates that Weimar Jews sought to rejuvenate and reconfigure their community as a means both of strengthening the German nation and of creating a more expansive and autonomous Jewish entity within the German state. These ambitious projects to increase fertility, expand welfare, and strengthen the family transcended the ideological and religious divisions that have traditionally characterized Jewish communal life. Integrating Jewish history, German history, gender history, and social history, this book highlights the experimental and contingent nature of efforts by Weimar Jews to reassert a new Jewish particularism while simultaneously reinforcing their commitment to Germanness.Trade Review"Gillerman's book uncovers in fascinating manner the extent to which the renaissance of Jewish cultures overlapped with equally decisive social welfare activities to rejuvenate the body of the Jewish community." -- Nils H. Roemer * American Historical Review *"[Gillerman's] detailed work does justice to its subject by unraveling the complexities of newly arising Jewish identities, their challenges, the debates in the Jewish community, and the contradictions, as well as options available to Weimar Jews. With this work, Gillerman has done justice to a crucial topic of German and Jewish history; her choice to focus on social welfare policy was a clever one." -- Dani Kranz * German Studies Review *"Recommended for university and German Jewish collections." -- Ellen Share * AJL *"Sharon Gillerman has produced a stunning analysis of a dimension of Jewish history that is little-known and deserves recognition: the attempt by Jews to re-image, reconfigure, energize and rejuvenate themselves as a component of the greater German body politic, and as a community in its own right, in the Weimar Republic. She succeeds brilliantly in integrating Jewish history into German history, women's history, and social history; this may be the advent of the next generation of history." -- Michael Berkowitz * University College London *"Gillerman's sophisticated analysis of the 'Jewish social body' in Weimar Germany joins an increasing number of works that treat German history as it was (not as a stepping-stone to the collapse of liberalism and the rise of National Socialism), and the history of German Jewry apart from the Holocaust. Specifically, the author presents the interesting story of how Jewish social workers during Weimar worked to revitalize the country's Jewish community after the Great War by transforming individuals' health, facilitating reproduction and child care, and rehabilitating endangered youth . . . Recommended." -- J. D. Smith * Choice *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines a group of multicultural Jewish poets, Algerian Sadia Lévy, Argentine Juan Gelman, and Israeli Margalit Matitiahu, to address the issue of multilingualism within a context of minor languages and literatures, nationalism, and diaspora.Trade Review"A splendid work that will be a fascinating read for all those who are interested in Jewish literatures and languages and in poetology." -- Lazar Fleishman * Stanford University. *"The close readings that the author provides make the work of these three poets accessible to anyone interested in multilingual, transnational poetry and in the Jewish literary repertoire...Homeless Tongues therefore does more than expand specific canons (of Jewish literatures, of world literatures, and of literatures, to use Rebecca Walkowitz's terms, that are "born translated"). The book ultimately shows that linguistic diversity is good for people and good for democracy, which also is what makes Homeless Tongues so significant and timely in the current political climate." -- Tabea Alexa Linhard * Shofar: Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies *"In this book, Monique Balbuena rescues three Sephardi poets from near oblivion. Significant on their own, together they challenge the usual canons of Jewish literature and the general consensus on Jewish languages, as well as the standard theories of minority literatures." -- Nancy E. Berg * Washington University *"Monique Balbuena shifts between theoretical arguments and a meticulous analysis of poems by the three authors, providing us a deep reading of the texts. At the same time, she places the poems in a changing context, using interpretive tools from literary theory. The author's contribution is an original and ambitious one: it allows us to see relationships that aren't always evident and it offers new insight into 20th-century Jewish literary history." -- Elisa Martín Ortega * Sefarad *"Homeless Tongues has opened a new path for Sephardic scholarship....Homeless Tongues takes a crucial step forward in assigning value to contemporary Sephardic literature....Balbuena also provides a much needed summary of the field of Jewish Spanish, Sephardic studies, and contemporary Sephardic culture in general. The reference section of the monograph—almost as large as her lengthy chapters—provides a veritable gold mine for future scholarship." -- Judith K. Lang Hilgartner * Studies in Contemporary Jewry *"The great strength of this volume lies in its expert close readings, which in their unusual length and detail offer a rare opportunity for a reader to become intimate with unfamiliar sources....Balbuena's analysis of Sephardic, in general, and Ladino, in particular, poetic production addresses a major gap in research on Jewish literature. The perspectives elaborated in this book are valuable for any scholar of minor languages or literatures, and they will be particularly useful to those interested in the increasingly vital field of Sephardic studies." -- Harry Eli Kashdan * Symposium *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThis introduction first introduces poet Clarisse Nicoïdski as a Sephardic poet who shifts languages and genres when she moves from French to Ladino, and prose to poetry, when confronting the death of her mother, her people and her culture. Then the introduction briefly presents Deleuze and Guattari's formula for "minor literatures" and the counter-arguments this book presents to it. The text then proceeds discussing basic concepts that are central to the book and to the poets here discussed: genres of Sephardic poetry, the Judeo-Spanish language, its development and its many names, multilingualism and Jewish langauges, and Diaspora. 1Minor Literatures and Major Laments: Reading Sadia Lévy chapter abstractThis chapter presents Sadia Lévy, an Algerian poet who attempted to inscribe himself in the gallery of French Symbolists while writing in a French enriched by infusions of Hebrew and Judeo-Spanish, activating biblical and Kabbalistic genres in his poems. Lévy allows us to look at the development of modernism from a different angle, and serves as an example that will prompt changes in Jewish historical narrative, destabilizing certain views of Jewish culture, more specifically about Sephardi and North African Jews. Writing in French in colonial Algeria, Lévy makes us rethink the boundaries that define a French and a Francophone author. Having written one of the first Maghrebi novels in French, his precedence has gone unrecognized because as a Jew, he is considered French—an ideological exclusionary act that misses his ambivalent position and does not recognize that the privilege of his French citizenship is more artificial than ever. 2At the Crossroads: Greece, Israel and Spain in Margalit Matitiahu's Hebrew-Ladino Poetry chapter abstractChapter 2, on Israeli contemporary poet Margalit Matitiahu, focuses on her bilingual Hebrew-Ladino books—especially her first volumes, Kurtijio Kemado and Alegrika. It discusses the critical reception of her work within Hebrew and Ladino literatures and, observing that her readers and critics are for the most part still divided across linguistic borders, offers a reading of two poems in both their Hebrew and Ladino versions, with attention to the specificities of the languages and their respective audiences, and observing the poet's strategies of self-translation. This chapter also brings to the foreground the politics of Jewish languages and questions the concepts of diasporic and nationalist identities, pointing to a critique of the nation and the attempted creation of a homogenizing national subject. It also touches upon the place of the Shoah in Sephardic memory and identity. 3Archaeology of the Language/Archaeology of the Self: Juan Gelman's Journey to Ladino chapter abstractChapter 3, about Argentine Ashkenazi poet Juan Gelman, destabilizes notions of fixed identity and breaks down dichotomic divisions of ethnic origins as it traces Gelman's gradual rewriting of himself as a Sephardic Jew at the very moment when he most identifies as a Jew. It reads Gelman's bilingual Ladino-Spanish collection Dibaxu as the culmination of his rewritings of Spanish canonical authors. It focuses on the "process of self-Sephardization," initially triggered by Gelman's historical condition as a political exile, and then fed by his translation and rewriting of canonical medieval Spanish Hebrew poets. He proceeds in a linguistic "excavation" of the many layers in the Spanish language, and writes himself as a Sephardic Jew. In opposition to an oppressive regime with which his language is associated, Gelman makes a deterritorializing move and radically assumes a new language: the Jewish, exilic and minor Ladino. Conclusion: Wither chapter abstractThe conclusion revisits the main arguments of the book and discusses new developments and possibilities for the creative production in Ladino. It seeks to turn the focus from the atmosphere of death that surrounds the language to an acknowledgement, or even celebration, of Sephardim as present-day, creative, living Jews.

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Book Synopsis Islam and Nation presents a fascinating study of the genesis, growth and decline of nationalism in the Indonesian province of Aceh.Trade Review"Islam and Nation provides a detailed account of the struggle and conflict in Aceh that draws from the views and perspectives of a wide spectrum of actors who have been involved, including political leaders, rebels and non-governmental organizations. Together with a masterly command of the existing literature, this wide array of sources allows Aspinall successfully to piece together narratives behind the conflict in Aceh 'from the perspective of the participants' . . . Written with elegant style, Islam and Nation makes a significant contribution to our understanding of why the separatist struggle in Aceh lasted as long as it did, and how it eventually managed to find the resolution that it did. Aspinall's book is scholarship of the highest order, and is likely to remain the reference point for subsequent reflections on the conflict in Aceh for years to come." -- Dr. Joseph Chinyong Liow * South East Asia Research *"An outstanding pioneer work, Islam and Nation will surely stand as an invitation to scholars both in Aceh and beyond to examine the conflict from other perspectives." -- Leena Avonius * Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies *"This book tells the story of Aceh's armed nationalist movement with unprecedented authority, thoroughness and clarity. It will be the standard account of the Aceh rebellion for a long time to come." -- Anthony Reid * National University of Singapore, author of Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680 *

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Book SynopsisWhile Islamic politics pose a challenge to capitalism in some parts of the world, they have actually advanced capitalism and democracy in Turkey. This work looks closely at this transition in Turkey, and examines why this shift has not taken place in Egypt and Iran.Trade Review"Cihan Tuğal's Passive Revolution provides a rich and detailed account of the transformations of the Islamist movement in Turkey over the last three decades. It presents a sophisticated and original conceptual framework that guides the analysis of these transformations... Passive Revolution is an excellent contribution to the study of counterhegemonic projects and the alternative paths they follow. It brings the study of radicalization and deradicalization of Islamist activism into the broader eld of political sociology and demonstrates the unique contributions that critical ethnographic methods make to the study of politics." -- Salwa Ismail * University of London, American Journal of Sociology *"With breathtaking access to religious activists—even some revolutionaries—and demonstrations of how the now-dominant party mobilized the urban poor on behalf of a neo-liberal, capitalist project, Tuğal accomplishes a rare feat. Nobody will mistake this with any other work on contemporary Islamic movements." -- Charles Kurzman * University of North Carolina *"Tuğal has thus written an ambitious study that seeks to reconstruct the theoretical understanding of Islamism ... Highly recommended." -- A. Paczynska"Tuğal's fresh look at the shifting relations between radical and mainstream Islamists, Kurds, and rigid secularists in Turkey provides an alternative look at Islamic politics. Undertaken at the right time and in the right place, this nuanced account of the multi-faceted struggles of the absorption of radical Islamists into the capitalist system will definitely lead to exciting, constructive debates." -- Berna Turam

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Book SynopsisThis book brings to light the first Jewish fiction in French and reveals how the first generation of Jews born as French citizens used fiction as a laboratory for experimenting with modern forms of Jewish identity.Trade Review"Samuels's illuminating new book embarks on an innovative project to inscribe nineteenth-century French Jewish fiction within the context of modern literary history . . . Inventing the Israelite encompasses a significant contribution to Jewish studies and French literary history. Additionally, Samuels's easy flowing prose and inviting style make for an enjoyable read."—Sayeeda H. Mamoon, French Review "Sur un corpus considérable et peu connu, Inventing the Israelite éclair avec une grande subtilité la situation des juifs français avant l'affaire Dreyfus à partir d'oeuvres de fiction envisagées pour le "travail culturel" qu'ells accomplissent."—Judith Lyon-Caen, Revue d'Histoire du XIXe siècle "Samuels's book opens a new area of research by introducing readers to largely unknown authors and texts. Scholars as well as nonacademic readers interested in the history of the Jews in France are indebted to him for his painstaking archival work and for his astute interpretations, presented in an engaging and eminently readable style."—Michal Peled Ginsburg, Modern Language Quarterly "In this brilliantly researched and wonderfully written book, Maurice Samuels helps us rediscover a by-and-large forgotten chapter in French (literary) history, which is that of narratives written by Jewish authors in the nineteenth century . . . [This is] an excellent volume that I recommend most enthusiastically to any scholar of nineteenth-century French narrative."—Lawrence R. Schehr, French Forum "Samuels's work is a model for how historical and literary scholarship can be combined to open up new insights into the French past. Samuels has read deeply in both disciplines, writes with energy and without jargon, and is consistently fair minded and generous in his judgments. His literary training allows him to trace with precision the ways in which Jewish authors used fashionable genres drawn from romanticism, idealism, and realism to reflect on their relationship to France. Historians of religion can gain a deeper sense of the centrality of practice in Jewish life, which Samuels's authors treat at length, even while they remain reticent on the substance of their beliefs. Because the stories analyzed by Samuels deal so often with conflicts involving romance, marriage, and family life they add emotional depth to our understanding of the tangled visions of a French-Jewish identity that were available in the nineteenth century. Samuels has written a fascinating case study in the formation of national identity, which deserves a wide audience among scholars of modern Europe."—Thomas Kselman, Journal of Modern History "Samuels's work is beautifully crafted, and speaks to the power of literary analysis in historical enquiry. His book is a welcome challenge to the narrative that has faulted French Jews for their naïve trust in emancipation and their rush to assimilate. Samuels also makes a strong case for the notion that French Jews followed a distinct trajectory in the nineteenth century. For all these reasons, this volume is an important addition to the historiography of French Jewry."—Julie Kalman, American Historical Review "Providing a major contribution to understanding of French identity, Jewish identity in France, French literary studies, and Jewish studies, this is an extremely important book."—S. Whidden, Choice "In this pathbreaking book, Maurice Samuels brings to light an almost totally unknown area of fiction in France, that of Jewish writers in the mid-nineteenth century. Samuels puts to use his considerable talents both as a historian and as a literary analyst in showing how post-emancipation Jewish writers struggled with minority issues of assimilation and modernity as they adapted the dominant literary trends of their time. Inventing the Israelite will become a classic, in French as in Jewish studies."—Susan Rubin Suleiman, Harvard University "In his impressive new book, Samuels discovers some of Proust's unknown progenitors. In their novels, they tried, like Proust did later on, to solve the crucial contradictions of French Jewish identity—between nostalgia and regeneration, tradition and modernity, religion and nationalism. Studying this moving literature, Samuels is able to cast new light on those Jewish dilemmas through which a minority tried to 'imagine' its identity within the French nation. At a crossroad between French studies and Jewish history, this is a very innovative book."—Pierre Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus, University of Paris "Inventing the Israelite is a model study that enables us to understand the complexity of the Jewish 'situation' within French society. Samuels challenges worn-out stereotypes that Jews were obliged to give up their particularities in order to adhere to the constraints and demands of French universalism. He allows us to examine a more balanced view of Jewish identities and illustrates in a most provocative way how literature provides a means of representing what is Jewish. This book will be of major importance for all those interested in the cultural, intellectual and literary history of Europe."—Lawrence D. Kritzman, Dartmouth College

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Book Synopsis Dreaming of Michelangelo is the first book-length study to explore the intellectual and cultural affinities between modern Judaism, Italy, and the life and work of Michelangelo Buonarroti.Trade Review"Biemann breaks ground on the new interest in Jewish aesthetics in the context of German Jewish culture and German aesthetic thought . . . Dreaming of Michelangelo recommends itself as a go-to book in the field of modern Jewish Studies as it relates to art, German Jewish culture, and Jewish philosophical aesthetics." -- Zachary Braiterman * Images: Journal of Jewish Art & Visual Culture *"Asher Biemann's Dreaming of Michelangelo: Jewish Variations on a Modern Theme engages the intellectual history of the modern Jewish experience in late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Europe . . . [T]hrough a study of the German-Jewish experience of Italy, Dreaming of Michelangelo provides a powerful and compelling example of how an engagement with aesthetics can and should be the work of twenty-first-century Jewish thought." -- Benjamin E. Sax * Partial Answers *"Biemann takes the reader into the vibrant intellectual worlds of the generations of Jews in the German-speaking orbit for whom the encounter with Michelangelo, with Italy, and with classical art proved constitutive of their experience of modernity and sometimes Jewishness as well." -- Jonathan Hess * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill *"Dreaming of Michelangelo is a masterpiece of original scholarship . . . Enhanced with extensive notes and a comprehensive index, Dreaming of Michelangelo is a very highly recommended addition to academic library Judaic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists." -- James A. Cox * The Midwest Book Review *"Asher Biemann presents a very creative and productive lens for re-examining the entry into modernity by Western European Jews." -- Richard Block * University of Washington *"Dreaming of Michelangelo obliges the reader to rethink the important questions of the relationship between Deutschtum and Judentum, Judaism and Hellenism, Jewish criticism of idolatry, Jewith ethics, and religion." -- Irene Kajon * University of Rome *"Beautifully written and richly textured with readings of original sources, this meditation depicts the encounter of the Jewish imagination with Italy and Michelangelo—unrequited lover, sculptor of living form, painter of humanity's original image, and desired other of Jewish cultural Eros . . . Biemann's analysis of the German-Jewish affinity for Italy and Michelangelo through the dynamic of cultural eroticism deepens our understanding of Jewish selfhood during these crucial years and reveals to us how German-Jewish love and dreaming are not mere forms of escapism or fantasy but rather the means for self-creation and even self-empowerment." -- Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich * German History *"[The Jewish/Modern Michelangelo] provides the subject of this thoughtful, dense, and extended essay. Its main focus, modern Jewish thinkers and writers, is viewed through a very specific, possibly surprising lens: Michelangelo and Renaissance Italy . . . This stimulating and pensive book is not merely a tenure document or converted dissertation but rather a different kind of scholarly engagement with both elements of its equation, Michelangelo as well as Moses." -- Larry Silver * H-Net *

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Book SynopsisThis book proposes that the idea of the Jews in European cultures has little to do with actual Jews, but rather is derived from the conception of Jews as Christianity''s paradigmatic Other, eternally reenacting their morally ambiguous New Testament role as the Christ-bearing and -killing chosen people of God. Through new readings of canonical Russian literary texts by Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov, Babel, and others, the author argues that these European writersChristian, secular, and Jewishbased their representation of Jews on the Christian exegetical tradition of anti-Judaism. Indeed, Livak disputes the classification of some Jewish writers as belonging to Jewish literature, arguing that such an approach obscures these writers'' debt to European literary traditions and their ambivalence about their Jewishness. This work seeks to move the study of Russian literature, and Russian-Jewish literature in particular, down a new path. It will stir up controversy around Christian-Jewish Trade Review"[T]here is a profound lack of research concerning [...] the presence of Jewish components in Russian culture. This vacuum begs the question whether Jewish-Russian cultural contacts can be considered a dialogue at all [...]. This is the key question in Leonid Livak's book The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination: A Case of Russian Literature . . . Livak offers fascinating interpretations of Anton Chekhov's stories 'Tina' and 'Skripka Rotshil'da' . . . [T]he examples of Jewish themes in Russian literature per se are quite scare, and most of them have found their way into this book." -- Rafi Tsirkin-Sadan * Studies in Contemporary Jewry Vol. 27: Social Scientific Study of Jewry *"The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination presents an original, carefully researched, and cogently argued study of stultifying and persistent influence of a clichéd image of Jewish people dating back to Christian theology and folklore and found throughout Russian literature . . . Livak's study is enormously thought-provoking, and exemplary in its high scholarly standards." -- Jeremy Hicks * Modern Language Review *"This is an outstanding book, one that may force many readers, as it did me, to rethink matters they had thought safely settled . . . I will repeat: I consider this book a major scholarly contribution. Livak has adduced and integrated an immense amount of literary material. His analyses are intelligent and acute, his judgments sound and well grounded. An impressive job." -- Hugh McLean * Slavic and East European Journal *"The bibliography of primary and secondary sources is quite useful. The Jewish Persona should be of special interest to those wishing to explore the role that the image of Jews—or 'the jews'—might play in the psycho-sexual biography of non-Jewish writers." -- Gary Rosenshield * The Russian Review *"The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination contributes a new understanding both of familiar Russian literary texts and less familiar East Slavic religious and folkloric texts. Livak's theory is powerfully explanatory and will excite controversy and debate." -- Gabriella Safran * Stanford University *

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Book SynopsisMusic from a Speeding Train explores the uniquely Jewish space created by Jewish authors working within the limitations of the Soviet cultural system. It situates Russian- and Yiddish- language authors in the same literary universeone in which modernism, revolution, socialist realism, violence, and catastrophe join traditional Jewish texts to provide the framework for literary creativity. These writers represented, attacked, reformed, and mourned Jewish life in the pre-revolutionary shtetl as they created new forms of Jewish culture. The book emphasizes the Soviet Jewish response to World War II and the Nazi destruction of the Jews, disputing the claim that Jews in Soviet Russia did not and could not react to the killings of Jews. It reveals a largely unknown body of Jewish literature beginning as early as 1942 that responds to the mass killings. By exploring works through the early twenty-first century, the book reveals a complex, emotionally rich, and intensely vibraTrade Review"I recommend this book not only to all readers of Jewish, Yiddish, and Russian-Jewish literature, but to all scholars and students of Soviet and post-Soviet literature, whether written by Jews or not. Murav convinces us solidly that Jewish culture was firmly integrated into Soviet culture throughout and beyond the latter's historical purview, and we must look at both together in order to fully understand either." -- Judith Deutsch Kornblatt * Slavic and East European Journal *"This cogent book demonstrates viability and resilience of Jewish literature in Russia from the late 19th century to the current day. This is a truly admirable book, marked by keen understanding, insight, and particular sympathy, if not love, for the Jewish people. . . Highly recommended." -- V. D. Barooshian * Choice *"Murav has written an unusually rich and engaging book, which will be a must for experts on twentieth-century literatures—Jewish, Soviet, and European. Partially, its success is secured by the extraordinary quality of the forgotten texts that she presents to the reader in her lucid, though necessarily abridged, renderings . . . Murav's rendering of this vanished melody [from a speeding train] is remarkably clear." -- Alexander Etkind * The Russian Review *"By carefully reading something close to the entirety of the Russian-Jewish and Yiddish literature published in the last century and considering it on its own terms, Murav has changed the ways in which literary scholars and historians will think about the Soviet Jewish experience." -- Gabriella Safran * Slavic Review *"This pioneering book offers an illuminating interpretation of Soviet Jewish culture, treating this complex phenomenon from a refreshingly new literary perspective. It is the first literary study to cover the entire Soviet period and deal equally expertly with Yiddish and Russian texts." -- Mikhail Krutikov * University of Michigan *

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Book SynopsisSome sixty-five years after 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homeland, the popular conception of Palestinian refugees still emphasizes their fierce commitment to exercising their right of return. Exile has come to seem a kind of historical amber, preserving refugees in a way of life that ended abruptly with the catastrophe of 1948 and their campsinhabited now for four generationsas mere zones of waiting. While reducing refugees to symbols of steadfast single-mindedness has been politically expedient to both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict it comes at a tremendous cost for refugees themselves, overlooking their individual memories and aspirations and obscuring their collective culture in exile.Refugees of the Revolution is an evocative and provocative examination of everyday life in Shatila, a refugee camp in Beirut. Challenging common assumptions about Palestinian identity and nationalist politics, Diana Allan provides an immersive account of caTrade Review"[This] book provides a compelling testimony of the day-to-day struggles in Shatila . . . Allan's carefully crafted ethnography avoids reducing the camp to the prevailing sense of hopelessness and despair that has been constitutive for the Palestinian experience and instead delivers a thought-provoking, self-critical reflection on the paradoxes and limits of camp research." -- Monika Halkort * Journal of Palestine Studies *"Allan's book is the key for anyone who wants to understand one of the most dramatic strands of sixty-plus years of Palestinian dispossession." -- Victoria Brittain * The Political Quarterly *"Diana Allan has finally produced the book on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon that should have been written twenty-plus years ago . . . Brilliantly employing a phenomenological approach, Allan richly portrays the complexities and the frustratingly intricate negotiations among refugees, and between them and Palestinian power sectors as well as Lebanese national institutions, to secure services and meet personal obligations . . . Allan's meticulous research and insightful observations combine with her articulate writing style to produce extraordinary clarity. She brings to life the constant horrors and dilemmas of Palestinian refugee life in Lebanon by providing the contexts and allowing refugees to speak for themselves. . . . Refugees of the Revolution is a groundbreaking book that should be read by all serious scholars of Palestinian studies and solidarity activists who can draw from its pages fresh thinking in how to support Palestinian rights." -- Elaine C. Hagopian * Race and Class *"Overall, Refugees of the Revolution is a compelling contribution to the fields of Palestine and refugee studies, and an exemplar for political-economic studies of subaltern groups." -- Rana B. Khoury * Journal of Refugee Studies *"Diana Allan, a British anthropologist and activist, has written an important, provocative, and compelling account . . . This is an honest and provocative book that demands close reading and clear understanding of what the author describes and writes about. Allan is a very careful and introspective writer, acutely aware of every word she writes. She understands how easily these words can be misconstrued and misinterpreted. A compassionate sympathizer with the Palestinian predicament, she nevertheless places her duty as an ethnographer and anthropologist above her personal commitments as an activist . . . [R]ichly researched, amply annotated, and theoretically grounded . . . This book should be read by anyone interested in the question of Palestine and the Palestinian people, especially by politicians and diplomats who debate and negotiate the future of the Palestinians as refugees, as a people, and as a nation." -- Bassam Abed * H-Net *"Anthropologist Allan's first major publication is a breakthrough study of life in Shatila, the Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. The book provides powerful insight into notions of nation, exile, homeland, and return through a detailed and provoking study that forces readers to reassess notions about what it means to be a Palestinian refugee." -- The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs"In this intriguing study, anthropologist Allan provides a fascinating study of Palestinian identity in exile . . . Identity, Allan therefore argues, lies in the local, wherein emotions and cognitions of sociability mark felt experiences of embodied practices. Allan's methodology of 'ethnographies of the particular' underlines this everyday aspect of lived experiences and, in many ways, identifies the book's major contribution to anthropology and Middle Eastern studies . . . Highly recommended." -- B. Rahimi * CHOICE *"Diana Allan's ethnographic study provides insight into the day-to-day struggles of the residents of the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in southern Beirut. Through her direct experience in the camp and extensive interactions with the refugees, Allan applies a phenomenological lens to create a collection of narratives based on qualitative research. Refugees of the Revolution weaves stories of the pragmatic survival of Shatila's refugees, to highlight the wider implications of marginalization. Allan's work provides a well-grounded insight into the interdisciplinary effects of refugee life without imposing policy." -- Middle East Journal"This beautifully written ethnography provides a powerful account of the Palestinian refugee experience in Lebanon. Basing her analysis in the complexities of refugee lives, rather than on received frameworks, Diana Allan has produced a work whose ethnographic richness is matched by its theoretical acumen. Refugees of the Revolution should be read by anyone interested in structural poverty or long-term displacement." -- Ilana Feldman * George Washington University *"In an ethnography marked by analytical subtlety, empathy, and political courage, Diana Allan raises questions around the way that activists and researchers working in Palestinian refugee camps focus on the national past, neglecting everyday poverty, survival economies, hopes for the future, individual memories. Her careful attention to the words and lives of Shatila people has produced a study that makes us think again." -- Rosemary Sayigh * author of The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries *"With intelligence and compassion, Diana Allan has captured the experience of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon today. An outstanding book, and an important reminder that there can be no just settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that overlooks the rights of refugees." -- Eugene Rogan * author of The Arabs: A History *"The presumed primacy of economic deprivation over nationalist ideology is among the hottest topics not only in contemporary Palestine studies but also in much of the anthropology of social suffering. For that, and for its excellent ethnographic quality, Allan's timely book has been among the most debated novel works in the field since its release." -- Leonardo Schiocchet * American Anthropologist *"By combining ethnographic observations with quotations from informal interactions and formal narrative interviews, [Allan] reveals that daily life in the camp constitutes a struggle that is economic and existential, as well as political." -- Helen Taylor * Refuge *

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Book SynopsisSet in a Palestinian camp in Lebanon, Refugees of the Revolution is both an ethnography of everyday life and a provocative critique of nationalism, exploring how material realities and evolving solidarity networks are reconstituting identity and political belonging in exile.Trade Review"[This] book provides a compelling testimony of the day-to-day struggles in Shatila . . . Allan's carefully crafted ethnography avoids reducing the camp to the prevailing sense of hopelessness and despair that has been constitutive for the Palestinian experience and instead delivers a thought-provoking, self-critical reflection on the paradoxes and limits of camp research." -- Monika Halkort * Journal of Palestine Studies *"Allan's book is the key for anyone who wants to understand one of the most dramatic strands of sixty-plus years of Palestinian dispossession." -- Victoria Brittain * The Political Quarterly *"Diana Allan has finally produced the book on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon that should have been written twenty-plus years ago . . . Brilliantly employing a phenomenological approach, Allan richly portrays the complexities and the frustratingly intricate negotiations among refugees, and between them and Palestinian power sectors as well as Lebanese national institutions, to secure services and meet personal obligations . . . Allan's meticulous research and insightful observations combine with her articulate writing style to produce extraordinary clarity. She brings to life the constant horrors and dilemmas of Palestinian refugee life in Lebanon by providing the contexts and allowing refugees to speak for themselves. . . . Refugees of the Revolution is a groundbreaking book that should be read by all serious scholars of Palestinian studies and solidarity activists who can draw from its pages fresh thinking in how to support Palestinian rights." -- Elaine C. Hagopian * Race and Class *"Overall, Refugees of the Revolution is a compelling contribution to the fields of Palestine and refugee studies, and an exemplar for political-economic studies of subaltern groups." -- Rana B. Khoury * Journal of Refugee Studies *"Diana Allan, a British anthropologist and activist, has written an important, provocative, and compelling account . . . This is an honest and provocative book that demands close reading and clear understanding of what the author describes and writes about. Allan is a very careful and introspective writer, acutely aware of every word she writes. She understands how easily these words can be misconstrued and misinterpreted. A compassionate sympathizer with the Palestinian predicament, she nevertheless places her duty as an ethnographer and anthropologist above her personal commitments as an activist . . . [R]ichly researched, amply annotated, and theoretically grounded . . . This book should be read by anyone interested in the question of Palestine and the Palestinian people, especially by politicians and diplomats who debate and negotiate the future of the Palestinians as refugees, as a people, and as a nation." -- Bassam Abed * H-Net *"Anthropologist Allan's first major publication is a breakthrough study of life in Shatila, the Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut. The book provides powerful insight into notions of nation, exile, homeland, and return through a detailed and provoking study that forces readers to reassess notions about what it means to be a Palestinian refugee." -- The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs"In this intriguing study, anthropologist Allan provides a fascinating study of Palestinian identity in exile . . . Identity, Allan therefore argues, lies in the local, wherein emotions and cognitions of sociability mark felt experiences of embodied practices. Allan's methodology of 'ethnographies of the particular' underlines this everyday aspect of lived experiences and, in many ways, identifies the book's major contribution to anthropology and Middle Eastern studies . . . Highly recommended." -- B. Rahimi * CHOICE *"Diana Allan's ethnographic study provides insight into the day-to-day struggles of the residents of the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in southern Beirut. Through her direct experience in the camp and extensive interactions with the refugees, Allan applies a phenomenological lens to create a collection of narratives based on qualitative research. Refugees of the Revolution weaves stories of the pragmatic survival of Shatila's refugees, to highlight the wider implications of marginalization. Allan's work provides a well-grounded insight into the interdisciplinary effects of refugee life without imposing policy." -- Middle East Journal"This beautifully written ethnography provides a powerful account of the Palestinian refugee experience in Lebanon. Basing her analysis in the complexities of refugee lives, rather than on received frameworks, Diana Allan has produced a work whose ethnographic richness is matched by its theoretical acumen. Refugees of the Revolution should be read by anyone interested in structural poverty or long-term displacement." -- Ilana Feldman * George Washington University *"In an ethnography marked by analytical subtlety, empathy, and political courage, Diana Allan raises questions around the way that activists and researchers working in Palestinian refugee camps focus on the national past, neglecting everyday poverty, survival economies, hopes for the future, individual memories. Her careful attention to the words and lives of Shatila people has produced a study that makes us think again." -- Rosemary Sayigh * author of The Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries *"With intelligence and compassion, Diana Allan has captured the experience of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon today. An outstanding book, and an important reminder that there can be no just settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that overlooks the rights of refugees." -- Eugene Rogan * author of The Arabs: A History *"The presumed primacy of economic deprivation over nationalist ideology is among the hottest topics not only in contemporary Palestine studies but also in much of the anthropology of social suffering. For that, and for its excellent ethnographic quality, Allan's timely book has been among the most debated novel works in the field since its release." -- Leonardo Schiocchet * American Anthropologist *"By combining ethnographic observations with quotations from informal interactions and formal narrative interviews, [Allan] reveals that daily life in the camp constitutes a struggle that is economic and existential, as well as political." -- Helen Taylor * Refuge *

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Book SynopsisArguing that the Sephardic experience played a much more vital role in the development of modern nationalism and literary history than has been generally acknowledged, this book demonstrates how modern writers from Europe, the Americas, North Africa, Israel, and India have used Sephardic history to explore the role and status of minorities and dissidents.Trade Review"One might not have imagined that the fate of the Jews banished in 1492 from Spain (in Hebrew, Sepharad) could yield such abundant material for the artistic imagination, yet this volume [] is proof precisely to the contrary . . . Sephardism functions in the end as a symbol for the modern condition, and so this "Postscript" by Halevi-Wise brings us around full circle to the original aim of the study: to show that 'Sephardic history has played a key role in shaping our world'." -- Alejandro Medina * Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures *"A review such as this can only hint at the abundance of rewarding analysis that went into each of the articles presented here. Each of them can stand on its own merits as valid independent scholarship. Happily, the fact that they have been brought together here by the commonality of the Sephardic theme adds further weight to their perspectives." -- Ralph Taric * Sephardic Horizons *"This book offers a fresh and creative take on the ways that modern authors have imagined Sephardic Jews or employed the trope of Sepharad in order to advance various political, moral, or literary projects. Sephardism's geographical and thematic range and its unique approach will make the theme of Sepharad relevant to a wide-ranging group of scholars not otherwise engaged in Sephardic or even Jewish Studies—a true feat." -- Julia Phillips Cohen * Vanderbilt University *"Sephardism: Spanish Jewish History & the Modern Literary Imagination is a tour-de-force in the study of Jews as 'other' in the modern literary consciousness. So much time has been spent in the West studying the image of Ashkenaz in both Western Jewish and non-Jewish letters that the constant presence of Sepharad has been underestimated or ignored. The double Jewish other—Oriental, mysterious, more authentic, representing the utopian moment when Jews, Muslims and Christians lived symbiotically together—comes to be the gold standard by which Jews and non-Jews come to imagine both Jewish modernity and Jewish history, even today. An important addition to every library." -- Sander L. Gilman * Emory University *

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Book SynopsisYehuda Amichai (19242000) was the foremost Israeli poet of the twentieth century and an internationally influential literary figure whose poetry has been translated into some 40 languages. Hitherto, no comprehensive literary study of Amichai''s poetry has appeared in English. This long-awaited book seeks to fill the gap.Widely considered one of the greatest poets of our time and the most important Jewish poet since Paul Celan, Amichai is beloved by readers the world over. Beneath the carefully crafted and accessible surface of Amichai''s poetry lies a profound, complex, and often revolutionary poetic vision that deliberately disrupts traditional literary boundaries and distinctions. Chana Kronfeld focuses on the stylistic implications of Amichai''s poetic philosophy and on what she describes as his acerbic critique of ideology. She rescues Amichai''s poetry from complacent appropriations, showing in the process how his work obliges us to rethink major issues in literary studiTrade Review"I am not exaggerating when I say that this is a book a whole generation—on two continents—has been waiting for. It is the only study of its kind in English, and it resolves and transcends decades of controversy and misguided readings of Amichai's poetry in Israel and elsewhere." -- Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi * Hebrew University of Jerusalem *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: "Be an Other's, Be an Other": A Personal Perspective chapter abstractA biography of Yehuda Amichai and the arc of his life in poetry is interwoven with a discussion of autobiography and its role in lending Amichai's avant-garde lyric a deceptively simple impression. 1Beyond Appropriation: Reclaiming the Revolutionary Amichai chapter abstractThis chapter traces Amichai's reception and appropriation as a "national poet" of official celebrations in Israel and as a poet of simple religiosity in the Jewish American synagogue. Arguing that revolutionary poetry is too "dangerous" to be left alone to do its work, the chapter interrogates these misreadings not as mistakes that should be corrected but as informative expressions of hegemonic processes of canon formation. By contrast, the chapter illustrates the wrath with which early critics received his work, labeling it revolutionary and heretical – all this in an attempt to restore our ability to perceive these features in Amichai's poetry even today, despite its massive cooptation. The chapter also critiques the over-emphasis on thematics in literary studies, theorizing from Amichai's work a model for the politics of poetic form. 2"In the Narrow Between": Amichai's Poetic System chapter abstractSimplicity and accessibility are for Amichai serious ethical principles, guidelines for a poetic effect that are part of the fabric of everyday life, not just the mark of "a playful poet" writing "easy" verse who has "no worldview," as some scholars have argued, mistaking his egalitarian imperative for a lack of philosophical gravitas. Poetic philosophy is revealed in the process to be a feature of stylistics as of thematics. Chapter Two outlines the major principles that underlie Amichai's poetic philosophy, focusing on the state of "in-between-ness" as the privileged yet endangered site of the poetic subjects-cum-ordinary human beings. This sets the stage for an array of systematic correlations between liminality as the governing feature of Amichai's poetic worldview and many of his signature rhetorical practices discussed throughout the book, such as juxtaposition, intertextuality and metaphor, which map two domains together without ignoring their distinctness. 3"I Want to Mix Up the Bible": Intertextuality, Agency, and the Poetics of Radical Allusion chapter abstractFamous for his iconoclastic allusions to sacred texts, Amichai is able to subject these sources to irreverent rewritings without producing a hermetic poetry. His intertextual collage co-exists with lucidity and readerly accessibility. The chapter retheorizes intertextuality through Amichai's rhetorical practice to call into question contemporary Western theories in the field. Using Amichai's unique combination of Jewish and matrilineal notions of literary tradition and (inter)textual exegesis, the chapter engages critically with Harold Bloom's model of "the anxiety of influence," and its bourgeois-individualist, male-Oedipal struggle between "strong poets;" it also critiques the poststructuralist view of intertextuality as "an anonymous tissue of citations" through Amichai's insistence on a historically inflected human agent as central to any process of recycling a culture's texts. This agency, though censored and limited, offers a possibility of resisting interpellation by the act of changing the words of its subjugating command, in Judith Butler's terms. 4Celebrating Mediation: The Poet as Translator chapter abstractAmichai sees the work of translation as a model for the poet's own in-between-ness, as well as for the translator/poet's inescapable secondariness. That the poet, like the translator, plays an immanently mediational position is a source of comfort rather than anxiety. This view of the poet's role sheds new light on contemporary theories of translation as cultural negotiation and their focus on asymmetrical power relations between source and target language. Amichai's poems about translation are read as celebrating the imperfect "recycling of words," describing translation as the epitome of all intertextuality, and ultimately of the creative process itself. Through Amichai's ecology of language, the chapter interrogates the ideological blind spots behind the numerous mistranslations that Amichai has been subjected to, not in order to advocate some correct rendition, but rather to suggest the ways in which they express what Gayatri Spivak has termed "the politics of translation." 5Living on the Hyphen: The Necessary Metaphor chapter abstractMetaphor embodies Amichai's principle of "in-between-ness" and has a significance within his poetic system that far exceeds the rhetorical. Chapter Five focuses on metaphor as the central marker of liminality, the hyphen of survival and resistance: it must never erase that hyphen, the marker of the disparate domains which it brings together (hence his preference for simile), even while it strives to make the gap between these domains productive of meaning. The ways Amichai's metaphors resist the erasure of difference critiques the vestiges of poststructuralist views, and offer an alternative model based on a historicized, context-sensitive reworking of prototype semantics. Amichai's images, while as novel and surprising as those of any 17th-century metaphysical poet, nevertheless strike us as completely "right," as visually and experientially familiar, because of their perceptually primary basis and the extensive and rigorous mapping they provide for the distant source and target domains. 6Double Agency: Amichai and the Problematics of Generational Literary Historiography chapter abstractAmichai extols the poet's freedom to oscillate between generational trends and poetic styles, while cherishing his outsider role and calling into question the underlying assumptions behind the generational model itself. His self-description as an inter-generational "double-agent" has presented a real problem for normative Hebrew literary historiography, with its teleological, unidirectional notions of a literary lineage, and has occasioned an impassioned debate. This literally subversive statement also articulates Amichai's post-Marxist critique of teleological historicism, his aversion to chronological order; and his preference for a simultaneous representation of personal and collective temporalities either as a fragmentary "archeology of the self" or as a fault-line geology. The chapter explores Amichai's resistance to the normative historiographic narrative of Hebrew literature, as well his refusal to reject his literary predecessors, a rejection prescribed in the manifestos of the self-proclaimed leader of the Statehood Generation, Natan Zach.

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Book SynopsisThe book explores the drama of the Hebrew poetry coping with the violence of the Holocaust and the Israel-Arab war.Trade Review"An important work by a brilliant scholar, Suddenly, the Sight of War is an important contribution to understanding the poetic responses to World War II in Hebrew poetry." -- Vered K. Shemtov * Stanford University *"Suddenly, the Sight of War is an erudite research that proposes an original reading of Hebrew poetry at a time of deep cultural and political reshaping....Suddenly, the Sight of War takes the reader on a poetic voyage that deeply helps understanding the impact that the Second World War and 1948 had on the formation of Israeli culture and confirms Hannan Hever as one of the most authoritative and original scholars of modern Hebrew literature." -- Dario Miccoli * Quest. Issues in Contemporary Jewish History *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1Part I: Hebrew Symbolist Poetry During World War II chapter abstractThe first part focuses on the struggle of the poets of the Hebrew symbolist school in Eretz-Israel to represent the violence perpetrated against Jews in Europe at the beginning of World War II. The overruling aesthetic approach of Hebrew symbolism transforms during the war into a national commitment, favoring the national symbol of the living-dead as a discursive tool. Nathan Alterman's Joy of the Poor, the most important book of poetry of the period, established itself as an ideological and poetic source of influence for many Hebrew literary works of the literary generation of the 1940s. 2Part II: Historical Analogy and National Allegory During the Holocaust chapter abstractThis part focuses on the surprising manner in which Nathan Alterman dealt with the Holocaust in his book The Poems of the Plagues of Egypt (1944). The fact that Alterman fully internalized the annihilation of the Jewish people in Europe created a revolution in his patterns of poetic representation. By writing The Poems of the Plagues of Egypt Alterman changed his poetics dramatically—from one dominated by the symbol to one dominated by allegory. 3Part III: Symbols of Death in the National War for Independence chapter abstractDuring World War II and right after, there was a noticeable effort by some members of the symbolist school led by Avraham Shlonsky to return to what had been the dominant nationalist symbolism. Influenced by a labor-movement culture, these writers and other artists produced images of national sovereignty during the war and in its wake. This part of the book includes a detailed discussion of the political and literary relationships between war reportage and war poetry, as well as an analysis of women's war poetry and the way it uses representations of the human body to subvert the hegemonic literary representations of the war.

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Book SynopsisMemories of Absence explores the contemporary perceptions of Moroccan Jews in the minds of Moroccan Muslims.Trade Review"Memories of Absence makes a much-needed contribution to the scholarship on Middle Eastern and North African Jewries. Moreover, Boum writes his setting so vividly that the reader can picture herself sitting at the cafe in Akka fending off flies and listening to the Hajj Muhammad's tales along with him. Further, he skillfully employs his arguments while never letting it subsume them." -- Elizabeth Berk * Social Anthropology *"Groundbreaking . . . The book navigates truthfully and openly between the deception of nostalgia and the duty to confront reality, with complicated issues of identity, anti-Semitism, and a memory at play . . . At times, I felt like I was reading a novel; it seemed the only way to tell this story, counter to historical/archival accounts, which never serve biological memory, but rather disturb it." -- Sami Shalom Chetrit * Journal of Palestine Studies *"Aomar Boum's Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco contributes admirably to the growing scholarship on the enduring significance of Jewish historical presence in North Africa . . . The circumscribed ethnographic scope of the book provides a window onto a broadly conceived notion of memory and wide-angled attention to its carriers . . . Scholars interested in the current state of affairs in the ethnography and historiography of Jewish North Africa will find many of the major themes addressed in this book." -- Oren Kosansky * Review of Middle East Studies *"By focusing on memories and views of regular Moroccan Muslim men, whether they knew Jews or not, this book is an important contribution to the study of Jewish-Muslim relations from a Muslim point of view." -- Rachel Simon * Princeton University *"Based on fieldwork conducted in southern Morocco buttressed by extensive archival research that includes previously unknown documents, this work makes important contributions to several fields, including Moroccan history, legal anthropology, and Jewish studies. Scholars in the interdisciplinary collective memory field will find this an essential text, and those interrogating the development of racism and anti-Semitism will find Boum's conclusions sobering . . . In sum, this is a beautifully written book that contributes to multiple scholarly fields. It presents a society whose collective memory is fractured by generational divides. The absence of Jews in contemporary Morocco has led to a disconnect between the generations, the oldest of whom remember friends and neighbors and create museums in their memory, the youngest of whom have reduced Jews to caricatures stripped of any long-standing tie to Morocco. For these young Moroccans, the idea that Jews could be indigenous Moroccans is now an alien concept. Boum underscores the role of everyday interaction in preventing the propagation of long-standing animosity." -- Andrea Smith * H-SAE *"Nothing short of extraordinary, Memories of Absence is theoretically sophisticated, empirically rich, and infinitely sensitive to its subjects. A necessary and wonderful work for all invested in Muslim-Jewish relations, the cultures of North Africa, and the shaping of trans-generational memory in the contemporary world." -- Sarah Abrevaya Stein, University of California * Los Angeles *"Aomar Boum says something truly new about the Moroccan Jewish past. He does not shy away from asking—and answering—hard questions about what local, regional, and national identities actually consist of, who they encompass and why, their internal contradictions, and their changing meanings. This is a highly original and important contribution." -- Emily Gottreich, University of California * Berkeley *"In Memories of Absence, Aomar Boum empathetically traces the intimate—if often fraught—relations between Muslims and Jews across the southern oases of Morocco from the eighteenth century to the mass departure for Israel in the early 1960s. Boum assembles a unique archive of documents from threatened personal collections of letters and manuscripts to portray a lost social world of legal syncretism and community cohabitation. Masterfully weaving together fields of sociolinguistics, semiotics, ethnohistory, and anthropology into an eminently readable narrative, Boum reveals the various afterlives of Moroccan Jewish culture in ongoing museum projects, national festivals, and state-level politics. Memories of Absence thus makes a substantial contribution to study of the social life of memory." -- Paul Silverstein * Reed College *"Aomar Boum's impressive work not only fills a gap in the historical understanding of Jews in Morocco, but also challenges the traditional dominant perception of Jews; it restores their crucial historical role in building the Moroccan nation. This book helps transform the current ideas on Moroccan Jews and reorganizes existing knowledge in the study of the Jewish diaspora." -- Chouki El Hamel * American Historical Review *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The results of this analysis are truly extraordinary, and I do not hesitate to say that they have a potential for transforming our views of early modern (western) culture and the specific role played by literary texts and literary communication." -- Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht * Stanford University *

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Book SynopsisS.Y. Agnon was the greatest Hebrew writer of the twentieth century, and the only Hebrew writer to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. He devoted the last years of his life to writing a massive cycle of stories about Buczacz, the Galician town (now in Ukraine) in which he grew up. Yet when these stories were collected and published three years after Agnon''s death, few took notice. Years passed before the brilliance and audacity of Agnon''s late project could be appreciated. The Parable and Its Lesson is one of the major stories from this work. Set shortly after the massacres of hundreds of Jewish communities in the Ukraine in 1648, it tells the tale of a journey into the Netherworld taken by a rabbi and his young assistant. What the rabbi finds in his infernal journey is a series of troubling theological contradictions that bear on divine justice. Agnon''s story gives us a fascinating window onto a community in the throes of mourning its losses and reconstituting iTrade Review"James Diamond's fluid translation and helpful comments enable English speakers to enjoy and experience Agnon at his best. Alan Mints with his introduction and illuminating Essay on The Parable and Its Lesson explains many hidden details and a connection to the Holocaust. The Parable and Its Lesson is a most welcome addition to all literature lovers. It should be part of all academic libraries, as well as public libraries, and high school collections."—Nira G. Wolfe, Association of Jewish Libraries"Agnon is perhaps the greatest brooding presence in Israel's angst-filled literary stable, and richly deserves first-rate translation. The pairing of Mintz and Diamond is splendid, and they've managed to open up Agnon to a new generation of readers."—Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University"The time has finally come to introduce readers, scholars, and students to the work of 'late Agnon,' which is both unfamiliar and misunderstood. One could not hope for a better introduction than this volume. It will make one of Agnon's unknown masterpieces accessible to readers, and will expand our knowledge and understanding both of Agnon's writing and of literary responses to the Holocaust."—Shachar Pinsker, Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan"[A] must-have for those interested in Hebrew literature, Agnon, Holocaust literature, and Jewish cultural history. One wants now to read the other 149 stories. Mintz and Diamond accomplished their purpose."—Katherine Brown Downey, Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"James Diamond's fluid translation and helpful comments enable English speakers to enjoy and experience Agnon at his best. Alan Mints with his introduction and illuminating Essay on The Parable and Its Lesson explains many hidden details and a connection to the Holocaust. The Parable and Its Lesson is a most welcome addition to all literature lovers. It should be part of all academic libraries, as well as public libraries, and high school collections."—Nira G. Wolfe, Association of Jewish Libraries"Agnon is perhaps the greatest brooding presence in Israel's angst-filled literary stable, and richly deserves first-rate translation. The pairing of Mintz and Diamond is splendid, and they've managed to open up Agnon to a new generation of readers."—Steven Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University"The time has finally come to introduce readers, scholars, and students to the work of 'late Agnon,' which is both unfamiliar and misunderstood. One could not hope for a better introduction than this volume. It will make one of Agnon's unknown masterpieces accessible to readers, and will expand our knowledge and understanding both of Agnon's writing and of literary responses to the Holocaust."—Shachar Pinsker, Associate Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, University of Michigan"[A] must-have for those interested in Hebrew literature, Agnon, Holocaust literature, and Jewish cultural history. One wants now to read the other 149 stories. Mintz and Diamond accomplished their purpose."—Katherine Brown Downey, Religious Studies Review

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Rein's book is a brilliant illustration of how to approach ethnicity outside conventional historiography [...] by favoring a perspective that takes into account the interplay between minority formation and nation-building . . . His research on Jewish Argentines and sports as a space of acculturation and ethnic differentiation is a welcome contribution tot he cultural and social history of Argentina's so -called 'melting pot', but is also constitutes a methodological template for further inquiries into the development of majority-minority relations in Latin America." -- Victor Armony * Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies *"Rein's new book is an important contribution to both the study of ethnicity in Latin America and the growing research on sport . . . A fascinating first step in what, hopefully, will become a much larger historiography that touches on ethnicity, sport, and neighborhood/urban identities." -- M. L. Nouwen * Choice *"[This book] serves as an invitation to cultural and social historians, and to fans of football everywhere, to further explore the significance and representation of Club Atlético Atlanta in terms of a more complex understanding of Jewish integration into Latin America and of a Latin America integrally composed of Jews." -- Dalia Wassner * H-Judaic *"The book is path breaking in singular and plural ways, from redefining the approach to Latin American Jewish history to rethinking the nature of life in the barrios of Buenos Aires vis-à-vis popular culture, sports and ethnicity. It is a history that encompasses the Argentine pathway from immigration society to populism and beyond." -- Federico Finchelstein * New School for Social Research *"This innovative study brings together Rein's commanding knowledge of Jewish immigration with a passion for the history of football. The result is a well-researched and nuanced examination of the football Club Atlético Atlanta and the neighborhood from which it emerged, Villa Crespo. In the end, Rein transcends his focus on this civic association to illuminate the role of ethnicity, national identity, and popular culture in twentieth century Argentina." -- Brenda J. Elsey * Hofstra University *"Rein's book about the Jewish role in Argentinean football provides the reader with a detailed and multifaceted approach to the interrelation between culture, society, immigration, minorities and sports as it focuses on ethnicity and sports in immigrant societies." -- Moshe Zimmermann * Studies in Contemporary Jewry *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Focused on the Bosnian jihad and the wider world, both in that era and since, The Universal Enemy is original, authoritative, and broad in significance. This remarkable achievement is anchored in Darryl Li's unique combination of skills and sensibilities, which are at once ethnographic, lawyerly, and linguistic."—Brinkley Messick, Columbia University"In this deeply original book, Darryl Li paints a vivid portrait of jihadist universalism and its mobilization both for and against imperial power. Thought-provoking and beautifully written, The Universal Enemy raises important questions about the legalities, conduct, and effects of global violence in all its forms."—Lauren Benton, Vanderbilt University"A fascinating and highly readable account of jihad from the perspective of Islamic fighters. The Universal Enemy shows brilliantly that jihad is not a uniform terrorist movement but includes a wide variety of actors, motivations, and ideologies inspired by religion and the aspiration for universality, parallel to other ideologies such as human rights."—Sally Engle Merry, New York University"Darryl Li offers superb insight into a figure that shapes so much law and policy but is little understood—the 'universal enemy,' the foreign Muslim fighter. Telling the stories of these mujahids, their motivations and aspirations, with exceptional empathy and detail, he challenges much of what we think we know. The Universal Enemy offers a new and compelling way of understanding universalism and violence, empire and solidarity."—Anthony Anghie, National University of Singapore and University of Utah"[This book] stingingly criticizes the field of 'jihadism' as an academic discipline connected to the national security state....Li lets his subjects speak for themselves and casts few judgments. The picture that emerges is a morally complex one."—Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept"The Universal Enemy is extraordinary in combining many of the techniques of social science with a sophisticated knowledge of Islamic doctrines and controversies—except that, rather than assuming that religious texts are simply vectors for ideology, he focuses on how they are actually produced and used....[Li] seems to have read everything relevant to his topic and to anticipate many possible counter-arguments."—Jonathan Benthall, Times Literary Supplement"The Universal Enemy is a critical and welcome addition to our debates around radicalisation, Islamism and transnational politics."—Usman Butt, The New Arab"Li is a gifted writer and storyteller, and his research has amazing breadth....[He] should be commended for a finely crafted plunge into international jihad."—John Waterbury, Foreign Affairs"[Li] effectively confronts the demonization of jihadists in the aftermath of 9/11, particularly in the US....The author's linguistic skills and the depth of the interviews are impressive, and the case selection is intriguing. Recommended."—A. T. Kuru, CHOICE"[A] provocative and deeply researched new book....The Universal Enemy is the product of difficult and meticulous data collection. I expect that it will be cited as a standard-setting work of qualitative empirical research on political violence."—Mara Revkin, Lawfare"This important book offers many insights for scholars and students of political thought, anthropology, and law. Li's breadth and acumen in navigating these different fields of study is impressive....[The Universal Enemy] offers a vital contribution to the literature on jihad and universalism, and will undoubtedly furnish its readers with critical tools to approach both with fresh perspectives."—Pınar Kemerli, Political Theory"As an original study of transregional mobility and political belonging, Li's anthropological take on international law and history of empire upsets common assumptions about the politics of identity and solidarity in the context of contemporary warfare....[A] work of breathtaking reach and intrigue, The Universal Enemy explores how political identities form and collide through claims of belonging to a project larger than oneself."—Anna Simone Reumert, MERIP"The Universal Enemy is a timely intervention into political as well as scholarly debates....The story of the Bosnian Jihad continues to influence a wide range of seemingly incommensurable projects and seems to pre-figure aspects of current debates about the nature of rights and the limits of legitimate coercion. Li's ambition in trying to theorize these complexly interwoven threads together should be commended."—Geoff Hughes, Political Theology"[At] once a methodology, an ethics, and a praxis....[The Universal Enemy] presents a challenge not only to the scholarly and policy expertise produced about 'terrorism' and 'jihad,' but also to the very practice of academic and political 'theorizing' about them in the first place.."—C. Heike Schotten, Contemporary Political Theory"This is an important and singular book, one that can be recommended to anyone interested in jihad, Bosnia, the GWOT, race and difference in Europe, or universalism... The Universal Enemy succeeds in illuminating these lived projects and enmeshments and making clear why, and how, they matter for us all."—Nadia El-Shaarawi, International Journal of Middle East StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Migrations 2. Locations 3. Authorities 4. Groundings Interlude: Exchanging Arabs 5. Non-Alignment 6. Peacekeeping 7. The Global War on Terror

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Book SynopsisIraq was the first postcolonial state recognized as legally sovereign by the League of Nations amid the twentieth-century wave of decolonization movements. It also emerged as an early laboratory of development projects designed by Iraqi intellectuals, British colonial officials, American modernization theorists, and postwar international agencies. Familiar Futures considers how such projectsfrom the country''s creation under British mandate rule in 1920 through the 1958 revolution to the first Ba''th coup in 1963reshaped Iraqi everyday habits, desires, and familial relations in the name of a developed future.Sara Pursley investigates how Western and Iraqi policymakers promoted changes in schooling, land ownership, and family law to better differentiate Iraq''s citizens by class, sex, and age. Peasants were resettled on isolated family farms; rural boys received education limited to training in agricultural skills; girls were required to take home economics courses; andTrade Review"Familiar Futures is an extraordinary book, at once theoretically informed and empirically rich. Sara Pursley offers an original and compelling reading of the relationship between decolonization and modernity in Iraq that considers time, economic development, political sovereignty, psychology, education, and the importance of gender in the articulation of national identity. It is an example of critical history at its best." -- Joan W. Scott * Institute for Advanced Study *"Familiar Futures marks an important examination of the intellectual underpinnings of the development projects shaped by Iraqi nationalists, revolutionaries, and intellectuals. Sara Pursley offers an original reading of modern Iraqi history and a thoughtful meditation on time and selfhood." -- Dina Rizk Khoury * George Washington University *"Addressing the generative tension between modernity as a transformative promise of the future and as a repetition of the same, Familiar Futures explores sovereignty and subject formation in twentieth-century Iraq as inextricably linked to temporality, gender, and sexuality. In this brilliant work of imaginative scholarship and interdisciplinary theorization, Sara Pursley pushes us to rethink the history of the modern Middle East and the postcolonial predicament more broadly." -- Omnia El Shakry, University of California * Davis *"Familiar Futures seems destined to approach the hallmark of intellectual distinction to which so many historians aspire––to say something so interesting and important that it captures the attention of readers who might otherwise have no particular reason to care about the narratives and details so central to our own fields."––Kevin Jones, Arab Studies Journal"Sara Pursley's excellent book is full of insights and in-depth reflections....Familiar Futures will be highly influential as a critique of concepts of modernity in modern Middle Eastern societies." -- Peter Wien * Middle East Journal *"The first pages [of Familiar Futures] set the scene for the main questions of the book: the relationship between revolutionary time and gendered time, the intensified investment in girls' and women's lives, how economic development and the gendered social reform came to trump all other visions of the good life, and how the Iraqi territorial state came to infiltrate the intimate lives of Iraqi subjects and to mold their experience of citizenship. The answers to these questions, Pursley offers, have everything to do with particular modern temporal sensibilities that came to dictate Iraqi citizens' orientation to the future." -- Samera Esmeir * Modern Intellectual History *"Through an expert weaving of social theory and social history, including close readings of works by Iraqi intellectuals written in Arabic, Pursley demonstrates how family and gender reform initiatives served to institutionalize the 'disciplinary and biopolitical power' of the state over its national subjects." -- Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt * International Journal of Middle East Studies *"In a Koselleckian tradition, Pursley not only offers us a tantalizing critique of modernization and modernity, but also challenges us to rethink the boundaries between history, historiography and theory: an opportunity to reflect on the positioning of the history of Iraq within interdisciplinary theories." -- Sara Farhan * Review of Middle East Studies *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Iraqi Futures and the Age of Development chapter abstractThis chapter introduces the central concepts of the book. Modern Iraqi futures were familiar because they were produced through reforms of familial and other intimate practices, imagined to already be somebody else's past or present, and paradoxically reproductive of existing forms of unevenness. They were also disrupted by other imaginaries of the future, which might be familiar because they were drawn from Islamic discursive traditions or were near or close futures that might be realizable because they have some connection to the present. These last discourses stood outside, and sometimes against, the modern political and conjugal imaginary of reproductive futurism, in which the figure of the child embodies the nation's yearned-for but congenitally receding future. The chapter also looks at how Iraq was an overdetermined space for the coming together of three previously distinct conceptions of development in the interwar period: the economic, the national, and the psychobiological. 1Sovereignty, Violence, and the Dual Mandate chapter abstractThis chapter looks at British practices in governing Iraq in the occupation and mandate eras (1914<->32). While British officials often invoked discourses emphasizing the psychological underdevelopment and sexual nondifferentiation of Iraqi subjects, this did not lead to their support for the expansion of modern biopolitical or disciplinary institutions in Iraq. British governance was primarily necropolitical, relying on violent punitive techniques such as hanging, whipping, corvée labor, bombing or burning down villages, and cutting off water and food to rebellious towns. The chapter traces how these practices were implicated in the production of Iraq as a bounded territorial space over which post-Ottoman sovereignty could be asserted and economic development, as the extraction of resources, carried out. The use of corporeal violence in mandate Iraq, while hardly exceptional in the history of the British empire, was shaped by new technologies of rule and explained through emerging narratives of developmental psychology. 2Determining a Self chapter abstractIraqi nationalist elites in the 1920s and 1930s called for the expansion of disciplinary and biopolitical techniques, in opposition to British policy. This chapter explores education and the military as key domains in which these struggles played out, mainly in this period over the bodies and minds of male youth, and engages with the writings of the Arab nationalist and "father of Iraqi education" Sati al-Husri. In contrast to usual scholarly concerns with the (Arabist or Iraqist) content of nationalist narratives prevalent in Iraq's schools and military, the chapter explores these institutions as temporal-spatial regimes that worked to make a sovereign Iraqi future familiar even while temporally deferring it. An emerging Arabist and statist discourse envisioned precocious demands for Iraq's independence as symptoms of backwardness, not progress, and accused those making such demands of being both less modern and less Iraqi than those working toward a deferred sovereignty. 3The Gendering of School Time chapter abstractThis chapter explores how the curriculum and pedagogies implemented in the 1920s were challenged in the 1930s by a new generation of education officials, many of whom were educated in the United States. Influenced by American conceptual vocabularies of pragmatism and adapted education, the new educators criticized the unified school curriculum implemented by al-Husri's ministry, calling for a "differentiated curriculum" governed by the urban-rural difference and the male-female difference. From 1932 to 1958, often in response to the advice of US and global development organizations, the Iraqi school system was increasingly differentiated by sex, with more and more of the school time of female students devoted to mandatory home economics education. The chapter proposes that this peculiarity makes Iraq a productive context for examining pedagogies of domesticity in the late interwar and postwar periods. 4Generational Time and the Marriage Crisis chapter abstractIn the years around World War II, Iraqi officials were increasingly concerned that a crisis was brewing in the form of a generation of educated youth who were taking up leftist ideologies. This chapter explores how generational affiliations produced largely by the expansion of public schooling—often in combination with extended family ties along intragenerational lines, that is, between siblings and cousins—worked to foster political mobilization within the underground but hugely popular Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). The widespread sense of generational crisis was expressed in three more specific crises prominent in public discourse during these years: the crisis of adolescence, the crisis of girls' education, and the marriage crisis. Efforts to intervene in and stabilize the stage of adolescence drew on new, globally circulating psychological theories as well as on specific forms of postwar economic development expertise. Conceptions of modern sexual difference and desire were central to these interventions. 5The Family Farm and the Peculiar Futurist Perspective of Development chapter abstractThe chapter examines efforts to reform rural families on the Dujayla Land Settlement Project, one of the world's first programs attracting the new international organizations founded after 1945 to launch the global "age of development." The idea was to create a class of small "family" farmers by distributing land to some of the landless poor. Yet the isolated family farm model used to design the settlement, which was based on US Cold War modernization and agrarian reform theory, contributed to ecological and social catastrophe. The nuclear family type, while failing to take hold as a widespread social reality in rural Iraq, had significant effects on rural lives. By working as a standardized grid for development operations, this model altered agricultural practices and thus the land, while making certain kinds of "family" relationships legible so that they could be worked on by techniques of governmentality and development. 6Revolutionary Time and Wasted Time chapter abstractAfter the 1958 revolution, state officials and political party leaders stressed the need to combat "stagnation" in the economy and the bodies of laborers. The word used for this condition was jumud, "a frozen state." Many agreed on the need to "suspend" or "to freeze" various kinds of political mobilization in the present. Sexual difference was crucial to both parts of this process: the conquering of economic stagnation or jumud and the enforcement of political stagnation or tajmid. The chapter focuses on a controversy over a communist women's rural literacy project, which critics saw as violating the tacit terms of the alliance between the state and middle-class feminists. The project was not believed to propagate techniques for the policing of families in the name of the child's and the nation's future, but to be a symptom of social promiscuity threatening the political order. 7Law and the Post-Revolutionary Self chapter abstractThis chapter examines the 1959 Personal Status Law, Iraq's first unified national family code under the control of the state. It argues that the law's drive to make marriage more stable, while simultaneously making the conjugal home less permeable to strangers, discloses the use of a reproductive-futurist reasoning to create a properly modern and timeless domestic sphere. The chapter explores responses to the law from communists, Bathists, liberals, and Sunni and Shii ulama'. It considers a Shii juristic critique by the mujtahid Muhammad Bahr al-Ulum, who argued that the law only appeared to promote progressive change, while actually replacing the temporally and spatially dynamic Islamic systems of jurisprudence with legal stasis. This critique suggests a key difference between the modern state's tendency to produce a static space and earlier Islamic understandings of "the state," or al-dawla, as cyclical and thus ever-changing. Epilogue: Postcolonial Heterotemporalitiess chapter abstractThe epilogue explores a famous work by the artist Jawad Salim, Nusb al-Hurriyya, or the Monument to Freedom, which still stands in Baghdad's Liberation Square. The work has usually been read as a linear-historical narrative of the Iraqi nationalist movement and the 1958 revolution it produced. Engaging with a rich tradition of Arabic language art criticism on the monument, the chapter shows how this work also evokes multiple and heterogeneous conceptions of time, often drawn from the Islamic discursive tradition, that can be read as subversive of contemporary developmentalist reasoning. For example, Islamic cyclical imaginaries of time do not work against promises of radical historical change in the monument but on the contrary give such promises more imaginative purchase than they typically achieve in linear modernization narratives, with their tendency to open onto a singular and static future.

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Book SynopsisMemories of Absence explores the contemporary perceptions of Moroccan Jews in the minds of Moroccan Muslims.Trade Review"Memories of Absence makes a much-needed contribution to the scholarship on Middle Eastern and North African Jewries. Moreover, Boum writes his setting so vividly that the reader can picture herself sitting at the cafe in Akka fending off flies and listening to the Hajj Muhammad's tales along with him. Further, he skillfully employs his arguments while never letting it subsume them." -- Elizabeth Berk * Social Anthropology *"Groundbreaking . . . The book navigates truthfully and openly between the deception of nostalgia and the duty to confront reality, with complicated issues of identity, anti-Semitism, and a memory at play . . . At times, I felt like I was reading a novel; it seemed the only way to tell this story, counter to historical/archival accounts, which never serve biological memory, but rather disturb it." -- Sami Shalom Chetrit * Journal of Palestine Studies *"Aomar Boum's Memories of Absence: How Muslims Remember Jews in Morocco contributes admirably to the growing scholarship on the enduring significance of Jewish historical presence in North Africa . . . The circumscribed ethnographic scope of the book provides a window onto a broadly conceived notion of memory and wide-angled attention to its carriers . . . Scholars interested in the current state of affairs in the ethnography and historiography of Jewish North Africa will find many of the major themes addressed in this book." -- Oren Kosansky * Review of Middle East Studies *"By focusing on memories and views of regular Moroccan Muslim men, whether they knew Jews or not, this book is an important contribution to the study of Jewish-Muslim relations from a Muslim point of view." -- Rachel Simon * Princeton University *"Based on fieldwork conducted in southern Morocco buttressed by extensive archival research that includes previously unknown documents, this work makes important contributions to several fields, including Moroccan history, legal anthropology, and Jewish studies. Scholars in the interdisciplinary collective memory field will find this an essential text, and those interrogating the development of racism and anti-Semitism will find Boum's conclusions sobering . . . In sum, this is a beautifully written book that contributes to multiple scholarly fields. It presents a society whose collective memory is fractured by generational divides. The absence of Jews in contemporary Morocco has led to a disconnect between the generations, the oldest of whom remember friends and neighbors and create museums in their memory, the youngest of whom have reduced Jews to caricatures stripped of any long-standing tie to Morocco. For these young Moroccans, the idea that Jews could be indigenous Moroccans is now an alien concept. Boum underscores the role of everyday interaction in preventing the propagation of long-standing animosity." -- Andrea Smith * H-SAE *"Nothing short of extraordinary, Memories of Absence is theoretically sophisticated, empirically rich, and infinitely sensitive to its subjects. A necessary and wonderful work for all invested in Muslim-Jewish relations, the cultures of North Africa, and the shaping of trans-generational memory in the contemporary world." -- Sarah Abrevaya Stein, University of California * Los Angeles *"Aomar Boum says something truly new about the Moroccan Jewish past. He does not shy away from asking—and answering—hard questions about what local, regional, and national identities actually consist of, who they encompass and why, their internal contradictions, and their changing meanings. This is a highly original and important contribution." -- Emily Gottreich, University of California * Berkeley *"In Memories of Absence, Aomar Boum empathetically traces the intimate—if often fraught—relations between Muslims and Jews across the southern oases of Morocco from the eighteenth century to the mass departure for Israel in the early 1960s. Boum assembles a unique archive of documents from threatened personal collections of letters and manuscripts to portray a lost social world of legal syncretism and community cohabitation. Masterfully weaving together fields of sociolinguistics, semiotics, ethnohistory, and anthropology into an eminently readable narrative, Boum reveals the various afterlives of Moroccan Jewish culture in ongoing museum projects, national festivals, and state-level politics. Memories of Absence thus makes a substantial contribution to study of the social life of memory." -- Paul Silverstein * Reed College *"Aomar Boum's impressive work not only fills a gap in the historical understanding of Jews in Morocco, but also challenges the traditional dominant perception of Jews; it restores their crucial historical role in building the Moroccan nation. This book helps transform the current ideas on Moroccan Jews and reorganizes existing knowledge in the study of the Jewish diaspora." -- Chouki El Hamel * American Historical Review *

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