21 Authors • 19 Events December 3, 2020 through March 30, 2021
A message from your Book Festival Co-Chairs
W
e are excited to bring you the 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival! While COVID-19 certainly impacted our planning, it also resulted in some new opportunities. This year, as with Book Festivals throughout the country, our Festival will be held virtually. The good news is that with virtual presentations, we will not have to be concerned about delayed flights, travel schedules, or even the cost of airfare! We were even able to invite authors from other countries. So rather than focusing on what we might not be able to do, we considered this Festival as an opportunity to try new things. As a result, we will bring you an even more impressive array of authors than ever before. Several authors will be revealing surprising stories about
little-known historical events that up to now seem to have been best-kept secrets. Whether you are an avid reader or just enjoy a fascinating speaker, this Festival provides something for everyone. From December through March, the Jewish Book Festival, brought to you through the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples in cooperation with the Jewish Book Council, will continue to be a key contributor to the cultural life of our community. The Festival would not be possible without our Patrons, our Sponsors and, of course, YOU – all the community members who have attended. Your generosity and overwhelming support are a testament to our amazing community – a community that understands the value of cultural arts.
We are also most appreciative of the dedicated members of our Book Festival Committee and of Reneé Bialek, the Federation’s Program Director. We are all working hard to ensure that you have a wide array of opportunities to be educated, inspired and entertained. If you missed the Book Festival Preview Event, during which Committee members introduced us to each of the twenty-one books that will be presented during the Book Festival, you may watch the recording on the Festival webpage at www.JewishBookFestival.org. As you read through this Jewish Book Festival section of the paper, you will find a complete schedule of events, registration information, book overviews and information about becoming a Patron. You will
also find a thank-you to both our Patrons and Sponsors, without whom this Festival would not be possible. (For questions or general information, please contact Reneé Bialek at rbialek@jewishnaples.org) The 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival will kick off on Thursday, December 3 at 7:00 pm with Lori Gottlieb, psychotherapist and author of the bestselling book Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. So put a “reserved sign” on your favorite chair and be ready to join us as we Zoom along together through our Festival. We don’t want you to miss a word!
Susan & Robin
Susan Pittelman and Robin Mintz Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival Co-Chairs
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Federation Star
November 2020
It’s not too late to become a Patron of the Jewish Book Festival! Being a Patron of the Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival is certainly a winwin! The financial contributions from Patrons provide support and funding to bring you an outstanding array of authors each year. (Over the five festivals, 108 authors have spoken to our Greater Naples community.) At the same time, Patrons gain the personal satisfaction of knowing that their dollars and attendance at the JBF events are instrumental in the Festival’s ability to continue to offer these quality cultural programs. As of October 12, 157 community members have become Patrons of the Jewish Book Festival – a strong affirmation that our community considers the Festival a highly-valued component of our Federation’s cultural programming. Patron support of the Jewish Book Festival enables the Federation to bring our community together and keeps us engaged with exemplary literary programming that celebrates authors and their
significant contributions to cultural and Jewish life. There are three Patron levels: Platinum at $500, Silver at $225 and Bronze at $118. The Bronze level was added this year due to the unusual circumstances caused by the pandemic, providing a significant discount on registration. If purchased separately, the events would total $212, while the cost of being a Bronze Patron is $118. The generosity of our Patrons helps to underwrite expenses of our Jewish Book Festival. In addition, money raised helps our Federation to fulfill its mission of building a vibrant Jewish community in Greater Naples and supporting the social service needs of the Jewish people in our community, in North America, in Israel and around the world.
Benefits to being a Book Festival Patron In addition to knowing that your support
Platinum and Silver Patrons receive three additional benefits
is integral to the success of the Jewish Book Festival, you receive several other benefits to being a Patron. You will be preregistered for each event; you simply sign up once. Unlike non-Patrons, you won’t have to individually register for each event. • Patrons will have an opportunity to greet each other in an informal chat following the conclusion of one or two of the presentations. • Patrons will be acknowledged in the Federation Star as well as on the Jewish Book Festival webpage. • Patrons receive advance notification (prior to the announcement in the Federation Star) of the authors who will participate in the Festival.
• The heartwarming feeling that you are helping financially support the Jewish Book Festival above and beyond the cost of your tickets to the events • Invitations to two exclusive (virtual) Patron gatherings with Book Festival authors, following their presentations • A copy of Lori Gottlieb’s bestselling book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
How do you become a Patron? Simply check the appropriate box on the JBF Registration Form on the webpage: www.JewishBookFestival.org. A link to the Registration Form is also in the Federation’s Monday e-blasts. It’s that easy. Please consider being a Patron for the 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival. It’s going to be Zoom-tastic!
Question: How do I register for a Book Festival event? Answer: To register for an event, visit the Book Festival website: www.JewishBookFestival.org. Fine print • You will receive a confirmation email after you register. The Zoom link will be emailed one to two hours prior to each event and is good for your entire household. • Event reservations are not transferable. Please do not forward the Zoom link. • Payments are not tax-deductible. • If a start time or author needs to be changed, you will be notified via email. • If an author cancels, an attempt will be made to reschedule the author; your original reservation will be good for the rescheduled event. (No refunds unless the entire event is canceled.) • Books may be purchased at Barnes & Noble at Waterside Shops and online at barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com. If you have any questions, please email Reneé, Program Director, at rbialek@jewishnaples.org.
s r u o Y ly aples Virtual Greater N
Meet the 2020-21 Jewish Book Festival Committee!
Book 0-21 Jewishva 202 eFesti l
While you won’t see members of the 2020-21 Book Festival Committee this season greeting and checking in guests, ushering Patrons to their seats and selling books, please be aware that they are having a strong impact on the 2020-21 Festival. Committee members have been instrumental in reviewing the books, offering guidance in selecting the authors and providing invaluable input on other key decisions. Please be sure to thank them when you “see” them!
Book Festival Co-Chairs Robin Mintz and Susan Pittelman Carole Greene, Author Review Team • Phil Jason, Jewish Book Festival Co-Chair Emeritus Patti Boochever Steve Brazina Gayle Dorio
Judith Finer Freedman Susie Goldsmith Lenore Greenstein
Jewish Federation
OF GREATER NAPLES
Lee Henson Carol Hirsch Bobbie Katz
Ellen Katz Ida Margolis Irene Pomerantz
Reneé Bialek, Program Director
Dina Shein Iris Shur Elaine Soffer
November 2020
Federation Star
A Special “Thank You� to Our Patrons*
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We would not be able to host the Jewish Book Festival without your generous support. P L AT I N U M Karen Deutsch
Merrylee Kandel
Jane Schiff
Shelley Einhorn
Robin Mintz
Arlene Shapiro
Jeremy Freedman
Susan Pittelman
Donald Shapiro
Judith Finer Freedman
Estelle Price
Gail Smith
Norman Foster Family
Stuart Price
Phyllis Strome
Rosie Hyman
Ellaine Rosen
Irene Thompson
Larry Israelite
Judy Roth
Deborah Waranch
Wendy Israelite
Samuel A. Roth
Ellen Wollman
Nancy Kahn
Joan Saperstein
S I LV E R Phyllis Barolsky Jill Binder Terri David Barbara Druckman Geraldine Feldman Arnan Finkelstein Marlene Finkelstein Louise Forman Spencer Forman Myra Friedman Priscilla Gerber Jan Goldman Susie & Ron Goldsmith Carole Greene
Sherry Greenfield Lenore Greenstein Linda Grusin Ronna Hain Linda Hamburger Carol Hirsch Judy Isserlis Pamela Karll Bobbie Katz Deborah Kohler Toby Kosloff Fran Kroll Gracia Kuller Debbie Laites
Dana Lefkowitz Marci Margolis Bob Mensch Iris Podolsky Steve Podolsky Irene Pomerantz Susan Rabin Mae Riefberg Barbara Ross Adrienne Russ Mark Shiffman Bernie Lashinsky & Iris Shur Arlene Sobol Elaine Soffer
Harriet Spirer Fritzi Thorner Heidi Thorner Allison Tucker Linda Wainick Laurie Weinberger Joan Werhane Barbara Winthrop Leona Wreschner Susan Yale Judy Zahn Deborah Zvibleman
BRONZE Belle Agronin Alvin Becker Lea Bendes Harriet Berneman Rose Bernstein Penni Blaskey Sonya Bloom Patti Boochever Rosalee Bogo Steve Brazina Cipora Brown Melissa Chalfin Jacqueline Chizever Nan Ciralsky Susan Dean Gayle Dorio Benjamin Dubin Eloyse Fisher Gerald Flagel Darryl Garfinkel
Barbara Goldenziel Fran Goldman Diane Goldstein Donna Goldstein Hannah Goodman Elaine Griver Jean Haven Howard Herman Mona Herman Susan Horowitz Rolly Jacob Arline Kaplan Bunny Kaufman Melissa Keel Sayde Ladov Barb Lefkowitz Bettye Leibowitz Hilda Levine Arlene Litow Dorothy Litt
Leda Lubin Marcia Maloni Ida Margolis Stephen McCloskey Audrey Meyer Marsha Moranz Karen Mullins Sara Newman Judi Palay John Reiches Sue Reiver Deedee Remenick JoEllen Rubenstein Diane Schwartz Harriet Schweitzer Millie Sernovitz Linda Shapess Dina Shein Linda Simon Merrill Solan
*As of October 12, 2020. Updated lists will be published in several issues of the Federation Star.
Gail Solomon Tracey Sosnik Barbara Suden Ann Swartz Ann Varsano Joan Vazakas Lisa Vogel Gail Volk Leslie Wasserman Sydelle Weinberger Linda Wertheim Jack Wiadro Nancy Wiadro Phyllis Winski Beth Wolff Suzann Yussen Cathy Zacks Joni Zalasky
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Federation Star
November 2020
M E M O I R
A candid and remarkably relatable account of what it means to be a therapist who also goes to therapy, and what this can teach us about the universality of our questions and anxieties. —Thrive Global
2021 Book Festival Kicks Off with Lori Gottlieb, December 3, 2020 at 7 p.m. Registration fee is $18 (per household). Go to www.JewishBookFestival.org
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In development for a TV series with Eva Longoria at ABC An O, The Oprah Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2019
Sponsored by
P O P U L A R
C U L T U R E
Andrew Blauner
The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & The Gang, and the Meaning of Life The Peanuts comic strip, by the brilliant Charles Schultz, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. Blauner pays tribute by gathering a star-studded roster of 33 writers to dig into the personal truths revealed in Peanuts as well as its impact on their lives and the broader culture. He asked graphic artists to share their deep admiration for the strip and how it inspired their own art. The result will blanket you in warm-puppy happiness. Featuring essays, memoirs, poems and two original comic strips, it is the ultimate companion for every Peanuts fan. Andrew Blauner’s other anthologies include Central Park, Our Boston and In Their Lives: Great Writers on Great Beatles Songs. He lives in New York City.
Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. • $10 Sponsored by Vi at Bentley Village
C O N T E M P O R A R Y
F I C T I O N
TWO-AUTHOR EVENT
Nessa Rapaport Evening
Evening, Rapaport’s newest novel exposes complicated family dynamics among three generations of women. The story unfolds day by day as a griefstricken family sits shiva. Full of lush language, Evening describes women’s sexuality, lost love and family secrets. The revelations illuminate the past, shape the present and affect the future. While Rapaport does not provide an easy answer, she, nevertheless, points to the clarity that being with family can bring even in grief. Nessa Rapoport is a novelist, poet and editor. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and many Jewish publications. She lives in New York with her husband, artist Tobi Kahn.
H O L O C A U S T
Debbie Cenziper Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler’s Hidden Soldiers in America
In Prague, in 1990, two American historians found a document that helped unravel the details behind the most lethal killing operation in World War II. A story spanning seven decades, Citizen 865 chronicles the harrowing wartime journeys of two Jewish orphans who outran the men of Trawniki and settled in the United States, only to learn that some of their captors had followed. A tenacious team of Nazi hunters pursued these men against the forces of time and political opposition. Debbie Cenziper is the director of investigative journalism at Northwestern University. A reporter for The Washington Post, she has won many major awards, including the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.
Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 3 p.m. • $10
Elayne Klasson
Love is a Rebellious Bird
Klasson’s debut novel, a fictional account of a 60-year love affair, examines the perennial question of why we love the people we do. Judith and Elliot grow up together in Chicago’s northside neighborhoods, attending Jewish youth groups and summer camps. Although she adores him, they both marry others, but remain bound throughout their lives by tragedy and friendship. Only in old age, do they come to realize how their relationship has been a mix of rivalry and loyalty, resentment and passion. Elayne Klasson was born in Chicago and now lives in California. In her 70s, she published this novel—winning and being short-listed for several prizes for contemporary and debut fiction.
Friday, Dec. 11 at 10:30 a.m. • $10
Sponsored by Collier/Lee Chapter of Hadassah
Federation Star
November 2020
S E L F
H E L P
Lor in co i will be with nversati the lo Cary Bar on Thing cal host obor, s f and a Consider All ed r for W eporter GC U.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
W
ith startling wisdom and humor, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone takes readers into both Lori Gottlieb’s therapy office, where she sees patients, and into her own therapist’s office, where she lands after a crisis. But really, the book is about the universal human condition. Gottlieb writes about topics that make people think differently about themselves and the world around them: love and loss, meaning and mortality, gender and culture, parents and children, female appearance, regret and redemption, hope and change. Readers join Gottlieb on her intimate journey and into her practice,
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for a deeply personal and revelatory tour of hearts and minds from both sides of the couch—to quite possibly life-changing effects. Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author who writes The Atlantic’s weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column. She also writes for The New York Times, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN and NPR. But Gottlieb tells us that her most significant credential is not her license or rigorous training, but the fact that she’s “a card-carrying member of the human race.”
Ginsberg Eye
W W I I
H I S T O R Y
Lew Paper
In the Cauldron: Terror, Tension, and the American Ambassador’s Struggle to Avoid Pearl Harbor
J E W I S H
I D E N T I T Y
Corrine Copnick
A Rabbi at Sea: A Uniquely Spiritual Journey
In this never-before-told story, Lew Paper recounts the unrelenting efforts of the American ambassador to Japan to negotiate an agreement between Japan and the U.S. Weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt was warned that Japan was prepared to launch a “suicidal” war with the United States and that armed conflict could come with “dangerous and dramatic suddenness.” This nonfiction account is filled with hope and heartache, complex and fascinating characters, and a drama befitting the momentous decisions at stake. Lew Paper has published five books, including John F. Kennedy: The Promise and the Performance and Brandeis: An Intimate Biography. His articles have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
While most people were enjoying well-deserved retirement, at age 73 Corinne Copnick began her six-year course of study and was ordained as a rabbi at the age of 79. She assumed an unconventional “pulpit” by becoming a guest rabbi on cruise ships. As she explores Jewish life in the ship’s ports, Copnick develops insights about the culture and the people she encountered in what she calls this “love letter to the gift of being alive.” Rabbi Corinne Copnick is a former radio actress and an art gallery owner and has been an award-winning writer throughout. She is the founder of Beit Kulam, an adult education group in Los Angeles.
Thursday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. • $10
Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 1 p.m. • $10 • Sponsored
Sponsored by Men’s Cultural Alliance
C O N T E M P O R A R Y
F I C T I O N
Susan Jane Gilman
Donna Has Left the Building
by Temple Shalom Sisterhood and Casual Connection M E M O I R
Alexandra Silber White Hot Grief Parade
Gilman captivated us during our first Book Festival with her bestseller The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street. Her newest book, Donna Has Left the Building, is an “edgy” novel about 45-year-old Donna, a former Jewish “bad girl.” A mix of comedy and tragedy, Gilman takes us on a road trip through friendships, passionate love and Tikkun Olam. This unforgettable tale reveals what it means to love in today’s broken, but beautiful, world. Come prepared to toast the Jewish Book Festival as Gilman will share a special drink recipe with us. Susan Jane Gilman has written several bestsellers. She has provided commentary for NPR and written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Ms. Magazine.
“Al” Silber seems to have everything: brilliance, beauty and talent. But when her father dies after a long battle with cancer when she is just a teenager, it feels like the end of everything. Lost in grief, Al and her mother hardly know where to begin. Told with raw passion, candor and wit, White Hot Grief Parade is an ode to the restorative power of family and friendship—and the unbreakable bond, even in death, between father and daughter. Alexandra Silber is an actress and singer. Among her many credits are starring as Tzeitel in Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof and as Hodel in London’s West End production. She presented her first book, After Anatevka, at our 2017-18 Book Festival.
Monday, Jan. 11 at 4 p.m. • $10
Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. • $10
Sponsored by Daymaker Hair Salon
Sponsored by TheatreZone
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Federation Star W O M E N ’ S
November 2020 S T U D I E S
TWO-AUTHOR EVENT H I S T O R Y
Janice Kaplan
The Genius of Women: From Overlooked to Changing the World
We tell girls that they can be anything, so why do 90% of Americans believe that geniuses are almost always men? Kaplan’s book explores the powerful forces that have rigged the system—and celebrates women geniuses, past and present, who have triumphed anyway. Using her unique mix of memoir, narrative and inspiration, she shares surprising discoveries about women geniuses now and throughout history in fields from music to robotics. She proves that genius isn’t just about talent. It’s about having that talent recognized, nurtured and celebrated. Janice Kaplan enjoyed success as a television producer, writer and journalist. The former editor-in-chief of Parade magazine, she is the author or coauthor of 14 books.
M E M O I R
Jill Wine-Banks
The Watergate Girl: My Fight for Truth and Justice Against a Criminal President
H I S T O R I C A L
F I C T I O N
Meg Waite Clayton The Last Train to London
When the Nazis take control, a member of the Dutch resistance risks her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied Austria—a mission that becomes even more dangerous as borders close to refugees. “Tante Truus” dares to approach Adolf Eichmann, the man who would later help devise the “Final Solution,” in a race against time to rescue children. This richly detailed novel about the Kindertransport operation allows readers to identify with heroes and survivors instead of victims. Meg Waite Clayton is the author of seven novels. The Last Train to London, an international bestseller, is being published in 19 languages. Her screenplay for the novel was chosen for the prestigious Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidmansponsored The Writers Lab.
Monday, Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. • $10 • Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center H I S T O R Y / I S R A E L
Steven E. Zipperstein Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Trials of Palestine
Jill Wine Volner (as known then) was barely 30 years old when she served as the only woman on the team that prosecuted the highest-ranking White House officials. Called “the mini-skirted lawyer,” she fought to receive the respect accorded to her male counterparts and prevailed. Both a cautionary tale and an inspiration for those who believe in the power of justice, The Watergate Girl is a revelation about our country, our politics and who we are as a society. Jill Wine-Banks is an MSNBC legal analyst. She was one of three assistant Watergate special prosecutors and the first woman to hold numerous legal positions, including general counsel of the U.S. Army and EVP/COO of the American Bar Association.
In the late 1920s and 1930s, the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine had become as much a battle fought in the courtroom as in the streets. It played out in three separate, little-known trials that primarily focused on two issues: the legality of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate for Palestine; and the parties’ rights and claims to the Wailing Wall. Zipperstein paints a brilliant portrait of how the arguments made in those three trials continue to resonate today, nearly 100 years later. Steven E. Zipperstein, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA’s Global Studies program and School of Public Affairs.
Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 10:30 a.m. • $10
Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. • $10
Sponsored by Senior Housing Solutions and WCA
Sponsored by Wollman Gehrke & Associates
H I S T O R Y
M E M O I R / H O L O C A U S T
Neal Bascomb
Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best As Nazi Germany launched its campaign of racial terror and pushed the world toward war, three misfits banded together to challenge Hitler’s dominance at the apex of motorsport—The Grand Prix. Their quest for redemption culminated in a remarkable race that is still talked about in racing circles to this day. Bringing to life this glamorous era and the sport that defined it, Faster chronicles one of the most inspiring, death-defying upsets of all time: a symbolic blow against the Nazis during history’s darkest hour. Neal Bascomb is the award-winning and New York Times best-selling author of The Winter Fortress, Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile.
PEOPL E OF THE BO O K
Wednesday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. • $18 Sponsored by Temple Shalom Men’s Club
Arianna Neumann When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father’s War and What Remains
This true story reads like fiction—and may seem difficult to believe. Of 34 Neumann family members, 25 were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was the author’s father, who built an industrial empire in Venezuela, but could never talk about the unspeakable experiences of the Holocaust. After he died, Ariana found a trove of letters, diary entries and other items, launching her on a world-wide search to discover more about how a family finds meaning and manages to survive amid the worst that can be imagined. Ariana Neumann grew up in Venezuela. She taught at New York University before moving to the UK. When Time Stopped is her first book.
Thursday, March 11 at 1 p.m. • $10 • Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education
Federation Star
November 2020 H I S T O R Y
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M E M O I R
Raffi Berg
Alan Zweibel
Red Sea Spies: The True Story of Mossad’s Fake Diving Resort
Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier
In the 1980s, on a remote part of the Sudanese coast, a new luxury diving resort opened, attracting guests from around the world. Little did they know that the staff were undercover Mossad agents—the Israeli secret service. What began with one cryptic message pleading for help, turned into the secret evacuation of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. This true story inspired the recent Netflix drama, The Red Sea Diving Resort. Raffi Berg, the Middle East editor of the BBC News website, has extensive experience reporting on Israel and the wider region. The article that precipitated this book was the most-read original feature in the site’s history, with more than 5.5 million readers.
Alan Zweibel will again regale us with his humor when he makes his third appearance at our Book Festival. Starting his comedy career selling jokes for $7 apiece to Borscht Belt standups, Zweibel became one of the first writers at Saturday Night Live. His new book, Laugh Lines: My Life Helping Funny People Be Funnier, weaves his own stories with interviews of his famous friends and contemporaries, and has become a humorous and warmhearted memoir of American comedy. Alan Zweibel has won multiple Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards for his work in television. He collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award–winning Broadway play 700 Sundays, and won the Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel The Other Shulman.
Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 10:30 a.m. • $10
Monday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. • $18
Sponsored by Jewish National Fund H I S T O R Y
Sponsored by MCA
W O R L D
H I S T O R Y
Howard Blum
Jonathan Kaufman
Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler’s Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin
The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China
At a top-secret conference in Tehran in 1943, President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin meet to discuss further prosecution of the war, which, for the Nazis, was sliding toward defeat. Hitler saw it as his last chance to turn the tide and devised a plan to assassinate the Allied leaders. A hand-picked team of Nazi commandos are given six days to accomplish their daring assignment. Pitted against them are the head of FDR’s Secret Service detail and a Soviet agent. Howard Blum is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including American Lightning. While at The New York Times, he was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.
The Sassoons and the Kadoories, two Jewish families originally from Baghdad, greatly influenced Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years. They profited from the Opium Wars, survived Japanese occupation, and lost nearly everything as the Communists swept into power. During World War II, they joined together to rescue and protect 18,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. This book relays the remarkable history of how these families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world and their exceptional foresight, success and generosity. Jonathan Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has written and reported on China for 30 years. He is the director of the School of Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.
Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 1 p.m. • $10
Sunday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. • $10
Sponsored by Beth Tikvah
Sponsored by TOP Jewish Foundation and WCA
M E M O I R
AMERICAN JEWISH STUDIES/WOMEN’S STUDIES
Bess Kalb Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A True (as Told to Me) Story
Pamela S. Nadell America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today
Bess Kalb saved every voicemail her grandmother Bobby ever left her. Bobby was a force—irrepressible, glamorous and unapologetically opinionated. She was the light of Bess’s childhood and her fiercest supporter, giving Bess unequivocal love, even if sometimes of the toughest kind. Then, at 90, Bobby died. In this debut memoir, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more in a voice as passionate as it ever was in life. Recounting both family lore and family secrets, Bobby brings us four generations of indomitable women and the men who loved them. Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits include “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” This best-selling memoir is currently slated to be an upcoming feature film.
What does it mean to be a Jewish woman in America? In a gripping historical narrative, Pamela S. Nadell weaves together the stories of a diverse group of extraordinary people—from the Colonial-era matriarch Grace Nathan, and her great-granddaughter poet Emma Lazarus, to labor organizer Bessie Hillman, and the great Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to scores of other activists, workers, wives and mothers, who helped carve out a Jewish American identity. Nadell recounts how Jewish women have been at the forefront of causes for centuries, fighting for suffrage, trade unions, civil rights and feminism, and hoisting banners for Jewish rights around the world. Pamela S. Nadell is a renown, award-winning scholar and professor as well as an author and lecturer who focuses on Jewish history.
Monday, March 15 at 1 p.m. • $10
Tuesday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. • $18
Sponsored by Naples Senior Center
Sponsored by Women’s Cultural Alliance
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Federation Star
November 2020
Fill your calendar with these Zoom-tastic events! 2020-2021 Jewish Book Festival • Visit JewishBookFestival.org for info and tickets THURSDAY, DEC. 3 AT 7:30 P.M.
MONDAY, JAN. 25 AT 1 P.M.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb $18 Sponsored by Ginsberg Eye
The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton $10 Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9 AT 7:30 P.M.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 3 AT 10:30 A.M.
The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Gang, and the Meaning of Life by Andrew Michael Blauner $10 Sponsored by Vi at Bentley Village
Red Sea Spies by Raffi Berg $10 Sponsored by Jewish National Fund MONDAY, FEB. 8 AT 7:30 P.M.
Laugh Lines by Alan Zweibel $18 Sponsored by Men’s Cultural Alliance
FRIDAY, DEC. 11 AT 10:30 A.M.
Love is a Rebellious Bird by Elayne Klasson Evening by Nessa Rapoport $10 Sponsored by Collier/Lee Chapter of Hadassah
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 10 AT 1 P.M.
Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Steven E. Zipperstein $10 Sponsored by Wollman Gehrke & Associates
THURSDAY, DEC. 17 AT 1 P.M.
In the Cauldron by Lew Paper (no charge) Sponsored by Men’s Cultural Alliance
MONDAY, FEB. 15 AT 1 P.M.
Night of the Assassins by Howard Blum $10 Sponsored by Beth Tikvah
TUESDAY, DEC. 22 AT 1 P.M.
A Rabbi at Sea by Rabbi Corinne Copnick $10 Sponsored by Temple Shalom Sisterhood and Casual Connection
SUNDAY, FEB. 21 AT 7:30 P.M.
The Last Kings of Shanghai by Jonathan Reed Kaufman $10 Sponsored by TOP Jewish Foundation and Women’s Cultural Alliance
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6 AT 3 P.M.
Citizen 865: Hunt for Hitler’s Soldiers by Debbie Cenziper $10
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3 AT 7:30 P.M.
MONDAY, JAN. 11 AT 4 P.M.
Faster by Neal Bascomb $18 • People of the Book Event Sponsored by Temple Shalom Men’s Club
Donna Has Left the Building by Susan Jane Gilman $10 Sponsored by Daymaker Hair Salon
THURSDAY, MARCH 11 AT 1 P.M.
When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann $10 Sponsored by Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center
THURSDAY, JAN. 14 AT 7:30 P.M.
White Hot Grief Parade by Alexandra Silber $10 Sponsored by TheatreZone
MONDAY, MARCH 15 AT 1 P.M.
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb $10 Sponsored by Naples Senior Center
TUESDAY, JAN. 19 AT 10:30 A.M.
The Genius of Women by Janice Kaplan The Watergate Girl by Jill Wine-Banks $10 Sponsored by Senior Housing Solutions and Women’s Cultural Alliance
TUESDAY, MARCH 30 AT 7:30 P.M.
America’s Jewish Women by Pamela S. Nadell $18 Sponsored by Women’s Cultural Alliance
Virtually Yours
Greater Naples Jewish Book eFestival 2020-21
Thank You to Our Sponsors*
W omen’s Cultural A lliance
*As of October 13th
Daymaker Hair Salon
Greater Naples Jewish Book Festival is presented by:
