Description
Book SynopsisThe evocative and riveting stories of four brothersGershom the Zionist, Werner the Communist, Reinhold the nationalist, and Erich the liberalweave together in The Scholems, a biography of an eminent middle-class Jewish Berlin family and a social history of the Jews in Germany in the decades leading up to World War II.
Across four generations, Jay Howard Geller illuminates the transformation of traditional Jews into modern German citizens, the challenges they faced, and the ways that they shaped the German-Jewish century, beginning with Prussia''s emancipation of the Jews in 1812 and ending with exclusion and disenfranchisement under the Nazis. Focusing on the renowned philosopher and Kabbalah scholar Gershom Scholem and his family, their story beautifully draws out the rise and fall of bourgeois life in the unique subculture that was Jewish Berlin. Geller portrays the family within a much larger context of economic advancement, the adoption of German culture and d
Trade Review
Excellent.... Well-researched and engagingly written, this is a fine contribution to German-Jewish biography and history.
* Publishers Weekly *
Geller sets out a compelling tale of a diverse group of German Jews in the early 20th century who were broadly representative of the culture and class of a long-lost era.
* Kirkus Reviews *
Compelling.... In writing the biography of the Scholem family, Geller has consulted a breathtaking array of sources on several continents and in several languages.
* Times Higher Education *
One of the most compelling aspects of Geller's fascinating book is the ease and competence with which he summons historical information
* EuropeNow *
Jay Howard Geller's book is superb...Geller's narrative comprises the heart and soul of The Scholems.
-- Sheldon Kirshner * Sheldonkirshner.com *
By relating the history of the Scholems in all its complex dimensions—its drama, achievements, and tragedies—Jay Howard Geller has provided us with a nuanced account of a nevertheless very special, albeit typical, German Jewish family as it faced and responded to the tempestuous challenges of its times.
* American Historical Review *
Through studying the biographies of the entire [Scholem] family, Geller has presented us with a fascinating, personalized image of the German-Jewish bourgeoisie before and after World War I, both among those who were totally committed to its values and among those, fewer in number, who in revolutionary fashion abandoned their peers either for a hopeful but problematic Jewish nationalism or for a dubious communist future.
* Journal of Modern History *
