Description
Book SynopsisIn this beautifully written memoir, Nissim Rejwan recalls the lost Jewish community of Baghdad, in which he was a child and young man from the 1920s through 1951.
Trade ReviewThe Last Jews in Baghdad is a brilliantly written précis of interlinked miniatures that serves as a metonymy of life in the Middle East in the twentieth century. It tells the tale of a young man who struggled along with his family to survive materially and developed socially into a luminous intellectual homme de lettres in a world that was being shaken to its very core. * Sephardic Heritage Update *
This is a book to be enjoyed by the general reader interested in a productive Jewish community that has completely disappeared, and by scholars, who will consider it a valuable source for their studies. * Jerusalem Post *
Table of Contents
- Foreword. Jews as Native Iraqis: An Introduction by Joel Beinin
- Preface. On Taking Stock
- 1. In Old Baghdad
- 2. The Rejwan Tribe
- 3. Mother and the Placebo Effect
- 4. Na`ima
- 5. Early Initiations
- 6. Schooling
- 7. The Great Crash and Us
- 8. Hesqail Abul `Alwa Hires a Helper
- 9. Living in Sexual Deprivation
- 10. Idle Days
- 11. Distorted Visions
- 12. Rashid `Ali's Coup and its Aftermath
- 13. Bookshop Days
- 14. A Deepening Friendship
- 15. The Start: Movies, Book Reviews
- 16. Out in the Cold
- 17. Disposing of a Library
- 18. End of a Community
- 19. Farewells and Reunions
- Appendix A. The Jews of Iraq: A Brief Historical Sketch
- Appendix B. A Selection of Book Reviews from the Iraq Times
- Index of Names of Persons
