Books for
JEWISH STUDIES Religion • History • Literature
Selected Titles from Random House, Inc.
RANDOM HOUSE, INC.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Rabbi David Aaron Now in paperback
LIVING A JOYOUS LIFE The True Spirit of Jewish Practice by Rabbi David Aaron Rabbi David Aaron is one of the most dynamic and accessible teachers of Kabbalah and Jewish wisdom today. In this book, he looks at key, and often misunderstood, aspects of Jewish practice—Torah study, prayer, living the Commandments, celebrating the Sabbath, and more. With his trademark common sense and extraordinary range of “ poignant and telling anecdotes, Rabbi Aaron presents a Jewish vision that can guide one to a life of holiness and joy.” —Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of A Code of Jewish Ethics and Jewish Literacy
Trumpeter • TR • 978-1-59030-611-6 • 176 pp • $14.95/$16.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
INVITING GOD IN Celebrating the Soul-Meaning of the Jewish Holy Days by Rabbi David Aaron Using biblical references, anecdotes, and teaching tales, Rabbi David Aaron discusses the significance of each holiday in the Jewish calendar year. “Aaron’s accessible explanations make difficult mystical concepts easy to understand, especially when he offers clever, offbeat analogies. . . . Aaron’s book will provide sincere guidance toward recovering a tender, untarnished meaning of the Jewish holidays.” —Publishers Weekly
Trumpeter • TR • 978-1-59030-458-7 • 208 pp • $14.00/$18.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
THE SECRET LIFE OF GOD Discovering the Divine within You by Rabbi David Aaron “The Secret Life of God is the most brilliant and profound exploration of the Kabbalistic teachings and philosophy about our transcendent and immanent relationship with the Divine that I have read in twenty-six years of Kabbalah study. Rabbi David Aaron has revealed and clarified deep Kabbalistic insights in a way that makes them accessible to every level of spiritual seeker.” —Gabriel Cousens, M.D., director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, Patagonia, Arizona
Shambhala • TR • 978-1-59030-239-2 • 208 pp • $14.00/$21.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
For more titles visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/academic
THE JOURNEY A Novel by H. G. Adler; Translated by Peter Filkins The first-ever English translation of a lost masterpiece of Holocaust literature by acclaimed author and survivor H. G. Adler. Avoiding specific mention of country or camps—even of Nazis and Jews—The Journey is a lyrical nightmare of a family’s ordeal and one member’s survival. Led by the doctor patriarch Leopold, the Lustig family finds itself uprooted into a surreal and incomprehensible circumstance of deprivation and death. Linked by its innovative style to the work of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, The Journey is as much a revelation as other recent discoveries on the subject as the works of W. G. Sebald and Irène Némirovsky. It is a book proving that art can portray the unimaginable and expand people’s perceptions of it, a work anyone interested in recent history and modern literature must read. Random House • HC • 978-1-4000-6673-5 • 320 pp $26.00/$30.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $13.00
JERUSALEM One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong shows how Jerusalem has become that defining place for adherents of the three religions of Abraham. In her view, the city has been not only a symbol of God on earth, but is also a deeply rooted part of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim identity. She traces Jerusalem’s physical history and spiritual meaning from its beginnings during the third millennium BC to its politically troubled and violent present. She explores the underlying currents that have played a part in Jerusalem’s long and turbulent past, and she considers as well its archaeology and ever-changing topography. Throughout, she helps us understand the profound mythic sources of Jerusalem’s holiness, its continuing power to arouse passions, and why the primal ideal of sacred space is once again a vital issue in Middle Eastern politics. Ballantine • TR • 978-0-345-39168-1 • 512 pp • $18.00/$21.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00 For more books by Karen Armstrong, visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/acmart
AND YOU SHALL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF OUR VINYL The Jewish Past as Told by the Records We Have Loved and Lost by Roger Bennett and Josh Kun And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl is a celebration of the musical aspect of Jewish-American culture and history, from the founders of the non-profit record label Reboot Stereophonic. Their goal was to make some forgotten gems from the Jewish musical canon available to the public for the first time in decades, and to introduce an ignored part of the Jewish musical heritage to a new generation. Each section includes reproductions of album art, insightful commentary on the music itself and interviews with musicians and fans. The book is ultimately an exploration of the role of Jews in the music industry from the 1940s-1980s, and how this represents the Jewish-American experience in microcosm. Crown • HC • 978-0-307-39467-5 • 240 pp $24.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50
GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon Gentlemen of the Road is the story of a pair of wandering adventurers—swords for hire, horsethieves, flimflam artists, unlikely soul mates—who stumble into and get caught up in the schemes and battles that follow a bloody coup in the great medieval Jewish empire of the Khazars. Hired as escorts for a fugitive prince, they soon find themselves the half-willing generals of a mad rebellion as they attempt to restore the prince’s family to the throne. Along the way they encounter a wondrous elephant, wily Rhadanite tradesmen, whores, thieves, soldiers, an emperor, and the truth about their young charge, the prince, whose slender frame conceals a startling secret and a warrior’s heart. Del Rey • TR • 978-0-345-50207-0 • 224 pp • $14.00/NCR • Exam Copy: $3.00
ICON OF EVIL Hitler’s Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam by David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann Icon of Evil is a fascinating account of a major historical figure that links the fascism of the last century with the terrorism of the present time. In 1921, the beneficiary of a British appointment, Haj Amin al-Husseini became the mufti of Jerusalem, the most eminent Islamic leader in the Middle East. David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann chronicle al-Husseini’s rise to power, his forced deposal, and association with Nazi Germany. The book details al-Husseini’s return to the Middle East and his postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures as the radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and his mentoring of the young Yasser Arafat. Written with extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Icon of Evil is the definitive account of a man who may have been the inspiration to leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations. Random House • HC • 978-1-4000-6653-7 • 240 pp • $26.00/$30.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $13.00
THE BOOK OF EXODUS Inscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink The Book of Exodus details the Jews’ enslavement in Egypt, their journey out of Egypt, and the formation of the new laws by their God. With forty-five original watercolor paintings illustrating the hand-lettered text, Sam Fink’s art brings one of history’s most meaningful documents to life. Welcome Books • HC • 978-1-59962-035-0 • 88 pp $40.00/$50.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $20.00
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Welcome Books • HC • 978-1-59962-038-1 88 pp • $29.95/$37.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $15.00
Welcome Books • HC • 978-0-941807-99-9 136 pp • $34.95/$44.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $17.50
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR:
THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL The Definitive Edition by Anne Frank; Translated by Susan Massotty Edited by Otto M. Frank Mirjam Pressler Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In her diary, Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during the Nazi occupation in Holland. In turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short. Bantam • MM • 978-0-553-57712-9 • 352 pp • $6.99/$9.99 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
AUGUSTINE AND THE JEWS A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism by Paula Fredriksen This provocative book traces the social and intellectual forces that led to the development of Christian anti-Judaism and shows how and why Augustine challenged this toxic tradition. Paula Fredriksen draws us into the life, times, and thought of Augustine of Hippo (396–430). Focusing on the period of astounding creativity that led to his new understanding of Paul and to his great classic, The Confessions, Fredriksen shows how Augustine’s struggle to read the Bible led him to a new theological vision, one that countered the anti-Judaism not only of his Manichaean opponents but also of his own church. Augustine and the Jews sheds new light on the origins of anti-Semitism and, through Augustine, opens a path toward better understanding between two of the world’s great religions. Doubleday Religion • HC • 978-0-385-50270-2 • 528 pp $35.00/$40.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $17.50
ESTER AND RUZYA How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler’s War and Stalin’s Peace by Masha Gessen In this deeply moving family memoir, journalist Masha Gessen tells the story of her two beloved grandmothers. One, a Polish-born woman from Bialystok, where virtually the entire Jewish community would soon be sent to the ghetto and from there to Hitler’s concentration camps, was determined not only to live but to live with pride and defiance. The other, a Russian-born intellectual and introvert, would eventually become a high-level censor under Stalin’s regime. With meticulous research, Gessen peels back the layers of secrecy surrounding her grandmothers’ lives. As she follows them through this remarkable period in history she describes how each of her grandmothers, and before them her great-grandfather, tried to navigate a dangerous line between conscience and compromise. Dial Press • TR • 978-0-385-33605-5 • 384 pp • $13.00/$18.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
LIFE AND FATE by Vasily Grossman Introduction by Robert Chandler An epic tale of World War II that interweaves a transfixing account of the battle of Stalingrad with the story of a single middle-class family, the Shaposhnikovs, scattered by fortune from Germany to Siberia. “Arguably the greatest Russian novel of the 20th century.” —Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times
“[An] extraordinarily dark portrait of Soviet society.” — David Remnick, The Washington Post
NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-201-8 • 896 pp • $22.95/NCR • Exam Copy: $3.00
For more titles visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/academic
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC JEWISH HERITAGE TRAVEL A Guide to Eastern Europe by Ruth Ellen Gruber Journalist, author, and travel expert Ruth Ellen Gruber presents a new edition of her acclaimed 1992 guide to Jewish heritage sites in Eastern Europe. Widely acknowledged as the best and most comprehensive book of its kind, this is the only Jewish travel guidebook that takes visitors to hundreds of fascinating sites in small villages and remote hamlets as well as major cities. From exploring the massive 16th-century synagogue in the historic Polish town of Pincrow to strolling among the 12,000 headstones crowded into the old Jewish cemetery in Prague, to meeting resident Jews proudly embracing their ancient culture in Slovenia, this volume will take students on a very special and memorable tour. National Geographic • TR • 978-1-4262-0046-5 • 352pp. $18.95/$24.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
THE ALCHEMY OF AIR A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler by Thomas Hager At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the world’s scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives. However, the Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder and high explosives that killed millions during the two world wars. The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of two master scientists of the unforseen results of a discovery that continues to shape our lives in the most fundamental and dramatic of ways. Harmony • HC • 978-0-307-35178-4 • 336 pp • $24.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50
Forthcoming February 2009
THE BOOK OF THE UNKNOWN Tales of the Thirty-six by Jonathon Keats The Book of the Unknown comprises marvelous and mystical stories of the thirtysix anonymous saints whose decency sustains the world—modern-day fairy tales for grown-ups, reimagined from Jewish folklore. “These charming stories—told with authority yet oddly delicate and wholly delightful—are enchanting. To read them is to become transfixed with that long-forgotten childhood wonder. One feels oneself in the hands of a masterful and magical storyteller.” —Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge
Advanced reader’s copy available while supplies last. Email rhacademic@randomhouse.com with the subject line “The Book of the Unknown giveaway” and be sure to include your full school mailing address in the body of the email.
Random House • TR • 978-0-8129-7897-1 • 240 pp $13.00/$15.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00 Do not order before 2/10/2009
For more titles visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/academic
TWO FASCINATING BIOGRAPHIES ON MAIMONIDES—rabbi, physician, and preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher THE WISDOM OF MAIMONIDES The Life and Writings of the Jewish Sage by Edward Hoffman A critical study of the life and work of the renowned Jewish rabbi, philosopher, and physician offers an accessible introduction to Maimonides’s writings that includes a biographical profile, a thematically organized compilation of teachings from his major philosophical works, anecdotes about his colorful life, and commentary on his influential works. “For many Jews today, Maimonides is known by reputation but little else. In this splendid and lucid book, his life and teachings are made accessible to the contemporary reader. I strongly recommend it for all interested in Jewish history, philosophy, ethics, and inspirational psychology.” —Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, author of Jewish with Feeling and Credo of a Modern Kabbalist
Trumpeter • TR • 978-1-59030-517-1 • 224 pp • $15.95/$18.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
MAIMONIDES The Life and World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Minds by Joel L. Kraemer This is the authoritative biography of Moses Maimonides, one of the most influential minds in all of human history. As author of the Mishneh Torah, the basis of all subsequent Jewish legal codes, and the Guide of the Perplexed, a masterful interweaving of religious tradition, scientific, and philosophic thought, he influenced generations of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers. “…[T]he 75-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Chicago has produced his magnum opus, a definitive biography of medieval Judaism’s chief intellectual sage. To prepare himself, Kraemer mastered many languages, traveled throughout the world and studied innumerable documents, including those found in the Genizah, the storeroom of Cairo’s Ben Ezra synagogue. The impressive results of Kraemer’s diligent research are set forth in this learned book, supported by 90 pages of footnotes.” —Publishers Weekly
Doubleday • HC • 978-0-385-51199-5 • 848 pp • $39.95/$45.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $20.00
SEARCHING FOR SCHINDLER A Memoir by Thomas Keneally This is the captivating story behind Schindler’s List, the Booker Prize-winning book and the Academy Award-winning Spielberg film. Keneally tells the tale of the unlikely encounter that propelled him to write about Oskar Schindler and of the impact of his extraordinary account on people around the world. Traveling throughout the United States, Germany, Israel, Poland, and Austria, Keneally and Leopold “Poldek” Pfefferberg, who inspired Keneally to write the book, interviewed people who had known Schindler and uncovered their indelible memories of the Holocaust. Keneally’s powerful narrative ultimately rose quickly to the top of bestseller lists, and Steven Spielberg’s magnificent film adaptation went on to fulfill Poldek’s dream of winning “an Oscar for Oskar.” Written with candor and humor, Searching for Schindler is an intimate look at Keneally’s growth as a writer and the enormous success of his portrait of Oskar Schindler. Nan A Talese • HC • 978-0-385-52617-3 • 288 pp $25.00/$28.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50
A MYSTICAL HAGGADAH Passover Meditations, Teachings, and Tales by Eliahu Klein A Mystical Haggadah takes readers through the Passover ritual with Kabbalistic meditations and affirmations in a friendly, accessible format. This Haggadah also includes many Hassidic teachings and stories that have never been presented to the English reading audience. The book is especially valuable for its transliterations of all the major prayers and rituals, and is refreshing in its creative and spiritually-based adaptation and translation of the primary Haggadah text. North Atlantic Books • TR • 978-1-55643-649-9 • 200 pp $16.95/$20.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
KABBALAH OF CREATION The Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern Kabbalah Translated and with commentary by Eliahu Klein Kabbalah of Creation is a new translation of the early Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac Luria, founder of the most influential Jewish mystical school of the last 400 years. “Eliahu Klein’s translations of the Lurianic canon are faithful and yet poetic. His understanding of Isaac Luria’s relationship to World Spirituality has an integrity that few have attained. Klein’s writing provides the English reader with a rare window into the Kabbalah as it really is.” —Pinchas Giller, Professor of Jewish Thought, Unviversity of Judaism
North Atlantic Books • TR • 978-1-55643-542-3 • 320 pp $18.95/$23.50 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom—and Revenge by Edward Kritzler At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws, who attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding. Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean ultimately captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective. Doubleday • HC • 978-0-385-51398-2 • 336 pp • $26.00/$30.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $13.00
A JEWISH WOMAN’S PRAYER BOOK by Aliza Lavie This inspiring volume includes special prayers for the Sabbath and holidays and important dates of the Jewish year; prayers to mark celebratory milestones, such as bat mitzvah, marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth; and prayers for comfort and understanding in times of tragedy and loss. Each prayer is presented in Hebrew and in an English translation, along with fascinating commentary on its origins and allusions. Culled from a wide range of sources, both geographically and historically, this collection testifies that women’s prayers were—and continue to be—an inspired expression of personal supplication and desire. Spiegel & Grau • HC • 978-0-385-52274-8 • 448 pp $35.00/$40.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $17.50
BEAUFORT A Novel by Ron Leshem; Translated by Evan Fallenberg To the handful of Israeli soldiers occupying the ancient crusader fortress, Beaufort is a little slice of hell—a forbidding, fear-soaked enclave perched atop two acres of land in southern Lebanon, surrounded by an enemy they cannot see. And to the thirteen young men in his command, twenty-one-year-old Lieutenant Liraz “Erez” Liberti is a taskmaster, confessor, and the only hope in the face of attacks that come out of nowhere and missions seemingly designed to get them all killed. Winner of Israel’s top award for literature, Beaufort is at once a searing coming-ofage story and a novel for our times—one of the most powerful, visceral portraits of the horror, camaraderie, and absurdity of war in modern fiction. Delacorte Press • HC • 978-0-553-80682-3 • 368 pp $24.00/$30.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.00
Now in paperback
THE RABBI’S DAUGHTER A Memoir by Reva Mann Reva Mann paints a portrait of herself as a young woman on the edge—of either revelation or self-destruction. The daughter of a highly respected London rabbi, Reva was a wild child, spiraling into a whirlwind of sex and drugs by the time she reached adolescence. But as a young woman, Reva had a startling mystical epiphany that led her to a women’s yeshiva in Israel, and eventually to marriage to the devoutly religious Torah scholar. An eye-opening glimpse into the world of the ultra-Orthodox and their elaborately coded rituals for eating, sleeping, bathing, and lovemaking, as well as a deeply personal rumination on identity, faith, and self-acceptance, The Rabbi’s Daughter is at its heart a universal story, a journey toward redemption that is an unforgettable read. Dial Press • TR • 978-0-385-34143-1 • 368 pp • $14.00/NCR • Exam Copy: $3.00
THE END OF THE JEWS A Novel by Adam Mansbach From the author of Angry Black White Boy, this is an ambitious and affecting family drama elevated by Mansbach’s imaginative storytelling techniques and deep empathy for his characters. Boldly reworking the story of Jewish assimilation around the tale of a family of fierce individuals, this is the story of anyone willing to fight for love, art, and a place in the world. Spiegel & Grau • HC • 978-0-385-52044-7 • 320 pp $23.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.00 Spiegel & Grau • TR • 978-0-385-52042-3 • 320 pp $14.00/$16.50 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00 Paperback forthcoming March 2009. Do not order before 3/17/2009
ALSO AVAILABLE:
ANGRY BLACK WHITE BOY Three Rivers Press • TR • 978-1-4000-5487-9 • 352 pp • $12.95/$17.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
For more titles visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/academic
Now in paperback
THE MUCH TOO PROMISED LAND America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace by Aaron David Miller Having participated in every peace negotiation between Israel and the Arabs from Bush 41 to Clinton to Bush 43, and having served as a key advisor to six secretaries of state, Miller has a unique and incomparable understanding of the Arab-Israeli peace process and America’s place in it. Now, using his own experience and new exclusive interviews with world leaders, he reflects on America’s role in the historic peace process and offers practical solutions for the future. “Insightful…. [Including] a nuanced meditation on the interface between U.S. domestic politics and the situation in the middle East…. A spirited and intimate account.” —Foreign Affairs
Bantam • TR • 978-0-553-38414-7 • 416 pp • $16.00/$19.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDER One Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition by Alan Morinis Though he explored Buddhism and Hinduism as a young man, Alan Morinis turned to his Jewish heritage for guidance later in a personal crisis. This book tells the story of Morinis’s journey to meet his Mussar teacher, revealing the central teachings and practices that are the spiritual treasury and legacy of Mussar. “Climbing Jacob's Ladder is a compelling portrait of the relationship between a student and a teacher, and Morinis’s journey—as an assimilated Jew entering the Orthodox world of yeshiva—raises important questions about the meaning of Judaism and the search for spirituality in this world.” —The Los Angeles Times
Trumpeter • TR • 978-1-59030-366-5 • 240 pp • $14.95/$19.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
EVERYDAY HOLINESS The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis An accessible and inspiring introduction to the Jewish spiritual tradition known as Mussar. Well known in the Orthodox Jewish world, Mussar is an illuminating, approachable, and highly practical set of teachings for cultivating personal growth and spiritual realization in the midst of day-to-day life. Everyday Holiness features short chapters on eighteen key character traits that the Mussar masters emphasize, including humility, generosity, gratitude, trust, patience, and enthusiasm. Trumpeter • TR • 978-1-59030-609-3 • 352 pp • $16.95/$20.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
COUNTERFEITER How a Norwegian Jew survived the Holocaust by Moritz Nachtstern In 1940, the Nazis set a secret project in motion, Operation Bernhard. Chosen from the rows of men on their way to the gas chambers were typographers and printers. The 142 men selected were transferred to the strictly isolated block 19 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The prisoners were presented with an enormous task: producing counterfeit British bank notes to the value of hundreds of millions of pounds. The notes, considered some of the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, were to be dropped from planes over London, with the aim of destabilizing the British economy. One of the typographers was a young Jewish boy from Oslo, Moritz Nachtstern. Osprey • HC • 978-1-84603-289-9 • 288 pp • $24.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50
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THE FAMILY MASHBER by Der Nister Translated by Leonard Wolf; Introduction by David Malouf The Family Mashber is a protean work: a tale of a divided family and divided souls, a panoramic picture of an Eastern European town, a social satire, a kabbalistic allegory, an innovative fusion of modernist art and traditional storytelling, a tale of weird humor and mounting tragic power, embellished with a host of uncanny and fantastical figures drawn from daily life and the depths of the unconscious. Above all, the book is an account of a world in crisis (in Hebrew, mashber means crisis), torn between the competing claims of family, community, business, politics, the individual conscience, and an elusive God. NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-279-7 • 704 pp • $22.95/$25.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $11.50
THE ROAD TO RESCUE The Untold Story of Schindler’s List by Mietek Pemper Translated by David Dollenmayer Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Schindler’s List popularized the true story of a German businessman who manipulated his Nazi connections and spent his personal fortune to save some 1,200 Jewish prisoners from certain death during the Holocaust. But few know that those lists were made possible by a secret strategy designed by a young Polish Jew at the Plaszów concentration camp. Mietek Pemper’s compelling and moving memoir tells the less-known story of how Schindler’s list really came to pass. Other Press • HC • 978-1-59051-286-9 • 272 pp • $24.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50
STARS OF DAVID Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish by Abigail Pogrebin Intimate and news-making interviews with personalities ranging from Dustin Hoffman to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Neil Simon to Ed Koch, Mike Wallace to Sarah Jessica Parker, and dozens more reveal the role that Judaism and Jewish identity play in the private lives of many of America’s most public figures. “Consistently engaging, these 60 interviews conducted by journalist Pogrebin explore the thoughts of well-known artists, politicians and others in the public eye on the complexities of Jewish identity—and the emotions they engender.” —Publishers Weekly
Broadway • TR • 978-0-7679-1613-4 • 400 pp • $14.95/$21.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
THE BOOK OF GETTING EVEN A Novel by Benjamin Taylor Son of a rabbi, budding astronomer Gabriel Geismar is on his way from youth to manhood in the 1970s when he falls in love with the esteemed and beguiling Hundert family, different in every way from his own. Over the course of a decadelong drama unfolding in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and the Wisconsin countryside, Gabriel enters more and more passionately and intimately into the world of his elective clan, discovering at the inmost center that he alone must bear the full weight of their tragedies, past and present. Steerforth • HC • 978-1-58642-143-4 • 176 pp • $23.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.00 Paperback forthcoming May 2009
TALES OUT OF SCHOOL A Novel by Benjamin Taylor Winner of the Harold Ribalow Prize The strange hothouse world of Galveston Island, Texas, has been good to the Mehmels, German Jewish immigrants who prosper there in the late nineteenth century, and whose second generation is still flush as the century turns. But destruction—moral and natural, including the great hurricane that nearly destroyed the city—is not far off, and for bookish, fourteen-year-old grandson Felix, last of the line, salvation lies in self-discovery. “Taylor’s language is lush, exotic, at times peculiar, as befits a novel set in Galveston Island, Texas…. Catholic, Jew, redneck, homosexual—these mix, marry, exchange vocabularies and dialects…. It’s a setting where Taylor feels confident to fit rare words to a rare locale.” —The Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
Zoland Books • TR • 978-1-58195-227-8 • 304 pp • $14.95/$16.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
MEMOIRS OF AN ANTI-SEMITE A Novel in Five Stories by Gregor von Rezzori Translated by Joachim Neugroschel Introduction by Deborah Eisenberg Called “a rich, disquietingly good book” by The New York Times, the five interconnected stories in Memoirs of an Anti-Semite provide a panoramic yet intimate view of the deterioration of the European aristocracy in the years preceding World War II and the difficult decades that followed. “[A] devastatingly beautiful chronicle of personal metamorphosis… daring and revelatory.” —Chicago Sun Times
NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-246-9 • 320 pp • $15.95/$20.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
Now in paperback
FAREWELL, SHANGHAI A Novel by Angel Wagenstein Translated by Elizabeth Frank and Deliana Simeonova Selected as a runner-up in the 2007 National Jewish Book Award category for fiction The unforgettable novel of nearly forgotten refugees who fled Nazi Germany and discovered the glamour and excess of Shanghai. “This is a narrative filled with barbarity and inhumanity leavened with fortitude and bravery. The fictional format chosen by the author provides an excellent vehicle for him to describe a relatively unfamiliar aspect of what happened to Jews during World War II. What he so ably sets forth has the true air of credibility, adding significantly to our knowledge about the Holocaust.” —National Jewish Post & Opinion
Other Press • TR • 978-1-59051-308-8 • 400 pp • $13.95/$15.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
ISAAC’S TORAH A Novel by Angel Wagenstein Translated by Elizabeth Frank and Deliana Simeonova This novel is the saga in five parts of Isaac Blumenfeld, who grows up in Kolodetz, a small town near Lvov, which, when he is a boy, is part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but which subsequently belongs to Poland, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and then the Soviets again. Inseparable from Isaac’s life and story are the Yiddish jokes and fables of Kolodetz. These and the counsel of his dear friend, the rabbi and the chairman of the town’s Atheists’ Club, Shmuel Ben-David, sustain Isaac through two world wars, three concentration camps, and five motherlands. Other Press • HC • 978-1-59051-245-6 • 320 pp • $23.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.00
THE JEWISH AMERICANS Three Centuries of Jewish Voices in America by Beth Wenger This magnificently illustrated book, companion to the major PBS television documentary produced by David Grubin, tells the history of Jews in America in a captivating and accessible collection of first-person accounts, interviews, distinguished scholarly writings, and profiles of prominent Jews as well as ordinary Jewish immigrants. The text and images trace more than three hundred years of American Jewish history—from the first arrival of Jews in colonial America in 1654 to the social movements of today—and everything in between. Doubleday • HC • 978-0-385-52139-0 • 400 pp $40.00/$50.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $20.00
MAGIC OF THE ORDINARY Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism by Gershon Winkler Foreword by David Carson and Gabriel Cousens “Winkler’s picture of archaic Judaism diverges sharply from the contemporary image of the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’…. By bringing to light the long-hidden teachings of Jewish shamanism, Winkler has opened a way for Jews to look within their own spiritual heritage for the shamanic teachings that previously seemed to be available only within other traditions.… Moreover, because Magic of the Ordinary serves to redefine the contemporary picture of aboriginal Judaism, this book may appeal to a more general readership, and it should be of interest to many students of religion and cross-cultural shamanism.” —Roberta Lous, Shaman’s Drum
North Atlantic Books • TR • 978-1-55643-444-0 • 250 pp $15.95/$19.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Stefan Zweig BEWARE OF PITY by Stefan Zweig Translated by Phyllis and Trevor Blewitt Introduction by Joan Acocella The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was a master anatomist of the deceitful heart, and Beware of Pity, the only novel he published during his lifetime, uncovers the seed of selfishness within even the finest of feelings. Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host’s lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health. NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-200-1 • 368 pp • $16.95/$22.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
CHESS STORY by Stefan Zweig Introduction by Peter Gay Translated by Joel Rotenberg Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story. NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-169-1 • 104 pp • $12.95/$16.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
THE POST-OFFICE GIRL by Stefan Zweig Translated by Joel Rotenberg Zweig’s posthumously discovered novel, about the rise and fall of a provincial Austrian girl invited to the Swiss Alps by her wealthy American aunt, is available in English for the first time. “Stefan Zweig was a late and magnificent bloom from the hothouse of fin de siècle Vienna… The posthumous publication of a Zweig novel affords an opportunity to revisit this gifted writer… The Post-Office Girl is captivating. —The Wall Street Journal
NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-262-9 • 224 pp • $14.00/$16.50 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00
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Books for Jewish Studies
Selected Titles from Random House, Inc.