jewish studies 2009

RANDOM HOUSE, INC.

Books for

JEWISHSTUDIESReligion • History • Literature

Selected Titles from Random House, Inc.

Books for

JEWISHSTUDIESReligion • History • Literature

Selected Titles from Random House, Inc.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Rabbi David AaronAUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Rabbi David Aaron

LIVING A JOYOUS LIFEThe True Spirit of Jewish Practiceby Rabbi David Aaron

Rabbi David Aaron is one of the most dynamic and accessible teachers of Kabbalahand 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 ofpoignant and telling anecdotes, Rabbi Aaron presents a Jewish vision that canguide 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 INCelebrating the Soul-Meaning of the Jewish Holy Daysby Rabbi David Aaron

Using biblical references, anecdotes, and teaching tales, Rabbi David Aarondiscusses the significance of each holiday in the Jewish calendar year.

“Aaron’s accessible explanations make difficult mystical concepts easy tounderstand, especially when he offers clever, offbeat analogies. . . . Aaron’sbook will provide sincere guidance toward recovering a tender, untarnishedmeaning of the Jewish holidays.”

—Publishers Weekly


THE SECRET LIFE OF GODDiscovering the Divine within Youby Rabbi David Aaron“The Secret Life of God is the most brilliant and profound exploration of theKabbalistic teachings and philosophy about our transcendent and immanentrelationship with the Divine that I have read in twenty-six years of Kabbalahstudy. Rabbi David Aaron has revealed and clarified deep Kabbalistic insightsin 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

Now in paperback

For more titles visit our website: www.randomhouse.com/academic

THE JOURNEYA Novelby H. G. Adler; Translated by Peter Filkins

The first-ever English translation of a lost masterpiece of Holocaust literature byacclaimed author and survivor H. G. Adler.

Avoiding specific mention of country or camps—even of Nazis and Jews—TheJourney is a lyrical nightmare of a family’s ordeal and one member’s survival. Ledby the doctor patriarch Leopold, the Lustig family finds itself uprooted into asurreal and incomprehensible circumstance of deprivation and death.

Linked by its innovative style to the work of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, TheJourney is as much a revelation as other recent discoveries on the subject as theworks of W. G. Sebald and Irène Némirovsky. It is a book proving that art can por-tray the unimaginable and expand people’s perceptions of it, a work anyone inter-ested 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

AND YOU SHALL KNOW USBY THE TRAIL OF OUR VINYLThe Jewish Past as Told by the RecordsWe Have Loved and Lostby Roger Bennett and Josh Kun

And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl is a celebration of themusical aspect of Jewish-American culture and history, from the foundersof the non-profit record label Reboot Stereophonic. Their goal was tomake some forgotten gems from the Jewish musical canon available tothe public for the first time in decades, and to introduce an ignoredpart of the Jewish musical heritage to a new generation.

Each section includes reproductions of album art, insightful commentaryon the music itself and interviews with musicians and fans. The book isultimately an exploration of the role of Jews in the music industry from the1940s-1980s, and how this represents the Jewish-American experiencein microcosm.

Crown • HC • 978-0-307-39467-5 • 240 pp$24.95/$27.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50

JERUSALEMOne City, Three Faithsby Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong shows how Jerusalem has become that defining place foradherents of the three religions of Abraham. In her view, the city has been notonly 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 spiritualmeaning from its beginnings during the third millennium BC to its politically troubledand violent present. She explores the underlying currents that have played a partin Jerusalem’s long and turbulent past, and she considers as well its archaeologyand ever-changing topography. Throughout, she helps us understand the profoundmythic 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 MiddleEastern politics.

Ballantine • TR • 978-0-345-39168-1 • 512 pp • $18.00/$21.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00For more books by Karen Armstrong, visit our website:www.randomhouse.com/acmart

GENTLEMEN OF THE ROADA Tale of Adventureby Michael Chabon

Gentlemen of the Road is the story of a pair of wandering adventurers—swordsfor hire, horsethieves, flimflam artists, unlikely soul mates—who stumble into andget caught up in the schemes and battles that follow a bloody coup in the greatmedieval Jewish empire of the Khazars. Hired as escorts for a fugitive prince, theysoon find themselves the half-willing generals of a mad rebellion as they attempt torestore the prince’s family to the throne. Along the way they encounter a wondrouselephant, wily Rhadanite tradesmen, whores, thieves, soldiers, an emperor, andthe truth about their young charge, the prince, whose slender frame conceals astartling 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 EVILHitler’s Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islamby David G. Dalin and John F. Rothmann

Icon of Evil is a fascinating account of a major historical figure that links thefascism of the last century with the terrorism of the present time.

In 1921, the beneficiary of a British appointment, Haj Amin al-Husseini became themufti 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 theMiddle East and his postwar relationships with such influential Islamic figures asthe radical theoretician Sayyid Qutb and his mentoring of the young Yasser Arafat.

Written with extraordinary access to primary sources in several languages, Iconof Evil is the definitive account of a man who may have been the inspiration toleaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations.

Random House • HC • 978-1-4000-6653-7 • 240 pp • $26.00/$30.00Can. • Exam Copy: $13.00

THE BOOK OF EXODUSInscribed and Illustrated by Sam Fink

The Book of Exodus details the Jews’ enslavement in Egypt, theirjourney out of Egypt, and the formation of the new laws by theirGod. With forty-five original watercolor paintings illustrating thehand-lettered text, Sam Fink’s art brings one of history’s mostmeaningful documents to life.

Welcome Books • HC • 978-1-59962-035-0 • 88 pp$40.00/$50.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $20.00

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR:THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESSWelcome Books • HC • 978-1-59962-038-188 pp • $29.95/$37.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $15.00

THE CONSTITUTION OF THEUNITED STATES OF AMERICAWelcome Books • HC • 978-0-941807-99-9136 pp • $34.95/$44.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $17.50

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRLThe Definitive Editionby 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’sremarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of thehorrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In her diary, AnneFrank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during the Nazi occupation inHolland. In turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinatingcommentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of asensitive 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 JEWSA Christian Defense of Jews and Judaismby Paula Fredriksen

This provocative book traces the social and intellectual forces that led to thedevelopment of Christian anti-Judaism and shows how and why Augustinechallenged 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 newunderstanding of Paul and to his great classic, The Confessions, Fredriksen showshow 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 butalso 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 ofthe 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 RUZYAHow My Grandmothers Survived Hitler’s War and Stalin’s Peaceby Masha Gessen

In this deeply moving family memoir, journalist Masha Gessen tells the story ofher two beloved grandmothers. One, a Polish-born woman from Bialystok, wherevirtually the entire Jewish community would soon be sent to the ghetto and fromthere to Hitler’s concentration camps, was determined not only to live but to livewith pride and defiance. The other, a Russian-born intellectual and introvert, wouldeventually become a high-level censor under Stalin’s regime. With meticulousresearch, Gessen peels back the layers of secrecy surrounding her grandmothers’lives. As she follows them through this remarkable period in history she describeshow each of her grandmothers, and before them her great-grandfather, tried tonavigate 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 FATEby Vasily Grossman

Introduction by Robert Chandler

An epic tale of World War II that interweaves a transfixing account of the battleof 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



THE BOOK OF THE UNKNOWNTales of the Thirty-sixby Jonathon Keats

The Book of the Unknown comprises marvelous and mystical stories of the thirty-six anonymous saints whose decency sustains the world—modern-day fairy talesfor grown-ups, reimagined from Jewish folklore.

“These charming stories—told with authority yet oddly delicate and whollydelightful—are enchanting. To read them is to become transfixed with thatlong-forgotten childhood wonder. One feels oneself in the hands of a master-ful and magical storyteller.”

—Elizabeth Strout, author of Olive Kitteridge

Advanced reader’s copy available while supplies last. Email [email protected] the subject line “The Book of the Unknown giveaway” and be sure to include your fullschool 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: $3.00Do not order before 2/10/2009

Forthcoming February 2009

THE ALCHEMY OF AIRA Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the ScientificDiscovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitlerby Thomas Hager

At the dawn of the twentieth century, humanity was facing global disaster. Massstarvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become areality. 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 ofair, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives.However, the Haber-Bosch process was also used to make the gunpowder andhigh explosives that killed millions during the two world wars.

The Alchemy of Air is the extraordinary, previously untold story of two masterscientists of the unforseen results of a discovery that continues to shape our livesin 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

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICJEWISH HERITAGE TRAVELA Guide to Eastern Europeby Ruth Ellen Gruber

Journalist, author, and travel expert Ruth Ellen Gruber presents a new edition ofher acclaimed 1992 guide to Jewish heritage sites in Eastern Europe. Widelyacknowledged as the best and most comprehensive book of its kind, this is theonly Jewish travel guidebook that takes visitors to hundreds of fascinating sitesin small villages and remote hamlets as well as major cities.

From exploring the massive 16th-century synagogue in the historic Polish town ofPincrow to strolling among the 12,000 headstones crowded into the old Jewishcemetery in Prague, to meeting resident Jews proudly embracing their ancient culturein 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

SEARCHING FOR SCHINDLERA Memoirby Thomas Keneally

This is the captivating story behind Schindler’s List, the Booker Prize-winningbook and the Academy Award-winning Spielberg film. Keneally tells the taleof the unlikely encounter that propelled him to write about Oskar Schindlerand 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 writethe book, interviewed people who had known Schindler and uncovered theirindelible memories of the Holocaust. Keneally’s powerful narrative ultimatelyrose quickly to the top of bestseller lists, and Steven Spielberg’s magnificentfilm 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 lookat Keneally’s growth as a writer and the enormous success of his portrait ofOskar Schindler.

Nan A Talese • HC • 978-0-385-52617-3 • 288 pp$25.00/$28.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $12.50

THE WISDOM OF MAIMONIDESThe Life and Writings of the Jewish Sageby 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 thatincludes a biographical profile, a thematically organized compilation of teachingsfrom his major philosophical works, anecdotes about his colorful life, andcommentary on his influential works.

“For many Jews today, Maimonides is known by reputation but little else. Inthis splendid and lucid book, his life and teachings are made accessible tothe contemporary reader. I strongly recommend it for all interested in Jewishhistory, philosophy, ethics, and inspirational psychology.”

—Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, author ofJewish with Feeling and Credo of a Modern Kabbalist


TWO FASCINATING BIOGRAPHIES ONMAIMONIDES—rabbi, physician, andpreeminent medieval Jewish philosopher

TWO FASCINATING BIOGRAPHIES ONMAIMONIDES—rabbi, physician, andpreeminent medieval Jewish philosopher

MAIMONIDESThe Life and World of One of Civilization’s Greatest Mindsby Joel L. Kraemer

This is the authoritative biography of Moses Maimonides, one of the most influentialminds in all of human history. As author of the Mishneh Torah, the basis of allsubsequent Jewish legal codes, and the Guide of the Perplexed, a masterful inter-weaving of religious tradition, scientific, and philosophic thought, he influencedgenerations of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish thinkers.

“…[T]he 75-year-old professor emeritus at the University of Chicago hasproduced his magnum opus, a definitive biography of medieval Judaism’s chiefintellectual sage. To prepare himself, Kraemer mastered many languages,traveled throughout the world and studied innumerable documents, includingthose found in the Genizah, the storeroom of Cairo’s Ben Ezra synagogue.The impressive results of Kraemer’s diligent research are set forth in thislearned book, supported by 90 pages of footnotes.”


Doubleday • HC • 978-0-385-51199-5 • 848 pp • $39.95/$45.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $20.00

A JEWISH WOMAN’S PRAYER BOOKby Aliza Lavie

This inspiring volume includes special prayers for the Sabbath and holidaysand important dates of the Jewish year; prayers to mark celebratory milestones,such as bat mitzvah, marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth; and prayers for com-fort and understanding in times of tragedy and loss. Each prayer is presentedin Hebrew and in an English translation, along with fascinating commentaryon its origins and allusions.

Culled from a wide range of sources, both geographically and historically, thiscollection testifies that women’s prayers were—and continue to be—aninspired 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

A MYSTICAL HAGGADAHPassover Meditations, Teachings, and Talesby Eliahu Klein

A Mystical Haggadah takes readers through the Passover ritual withKabbalistic meditations and affirmations in a friendly, accessible format.This Haggadah also includes many Hassidic teachings and stories thathave never been presented to the English reading audience. The book isespecially valuable for its transliterations of all the major prayers andrituals, and is refreshing in its creative and spiritually-based adaptationand 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 CREATIONThe Mysticism of Isaac Luria, Founder of Modern KabbalahTranslated 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 anintegrity that few have attained. Klein’s writing provides the English readerwith a rare window into the Kabbalah as it really is.”

—Pinchas Giller, Professor of Jewish Thought, Unviversity of Judaism


JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEANHow a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out anEmpire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure,Religious Freedom—and Revengeby Edward Kritzler

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to fleethe country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheelingoutlaws, who attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming allianceswith other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean ultimately captures a gritty and glorious era ofhistory from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.

Doubleday • HC • 978-0-385-51398-2 • 336 pp • $26.00/$30.00Can. • Exam Copy: $13.00

BEAUFORTA Novelby Ron Leshem; Translated by Evan Fallenberg

To the handful of Israeli soldiers occupying the ancient crusader fortress, Beaufortis a little slice of hell—a forbidding, fear-soaked enclave perched atop two acresof land in southern Lebanon, surrounded by an enemy they cannot see. And to thethirteen 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 thatcome 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-of-age story and a novel for our times—one of the most powerful, visceral portraitsof 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

THE RABBI’S DAUGHTERA Memoirby Reva Mann

Reva Mann paints a portrait of herself as a young woman on the edge—of eitherrevelation 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 shereached adolescence. But as a young woman, Reva had a startling mystical epiphanythat led her to a women’s yeshiva in Israel, and eventually to marriage to thedevoutly religious Torah scholar.

An eye-opening glimpse into the world of the ultra-Orthodox and their elaboratelycoded rituals for eating, sleeping, bathing, and lovemaking, as well as a deeply personalrumination on identity, faith, and self-acceptance, The Rabbi’s Daughter is at itsheart 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 JEWSA Novelby Adam Mansbach

From the author of Angry Black White Boy, this is an ambitious and affectingfamily drama elevated by Mansbach’s imaginative storytelling techniques anddeep empathy for his characters. Boldly reworking the story of Jewish assimila-tion around the tale of a family of fierce individuals, this is the story of anyonewilling 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: $3.00Paperback forthcoming March 2009. Do not order before 3/17/2009

ALSO AVAILABLE:ANGRY BLACK WHITE BOYThree Rivers Press • TR • 978-1-4000-5487-9 • 352 pp • $12.95/$17.95 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00

Now in paperback



THE MUCH TOO PROMISED LANDAmerica’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peaceby Aaron David Miller

Having participated in every peace negotiation between Israel and the Arabs fromBush 41 to Clinton to Bush 43, and having served as a key advisor to six secretariesof state, Miller has a unique and incomparable understanding of the Arab-Israelipeace process and America’s place in it. Now, using his own experience and newexclusive interviews with world leaders, he reflects on America’s role in thehistoric peace process and offers practical solutions for the future.

“Insightful…. [Including] a nuanced meditation on the interface betweenU.S. domestic politics and the situation in the middle East…. A spirited andintimate account.”

—Foreign Affairs

Bantam • TR • 978-0-553-38414-7 • 416 pp • $16.00/$19.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00

CLIMBING JACOB’S LADDEROne Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Traditionby Alan Morinis

Though he explored Buddhism and Hinduism as a young man, Alan Morinis turnedto his Jewish heritage for guidance later in a personal crisis. This book tells thestory of Morinis’s journey to meet his Mussar teacher, revealing the centralteachings and practices that are the spiritual treasury and legacy of Mussar.

“Climbing Jacob's Ladder is a compelling portrait of the relationship between astudent and a teacher, and Morinis’s journey—as an assimilated Jew enteringthe Orthodox world of yeshiva—raises important questions about the mean-ing of Judaism and the search for spirituality in this world.”

—The Los Angeles Times


EVERYDAY HOLINESSThe Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussarby Alan Morinis

An accessible and inspiring introduction to the Jewish spiritual tradition knownas Mussar. Well known in the Orthodox Jewish world, Mussar is an illuminating,approachable, and highly practical set of teachings for cultivating personal growthand spiritual realization in the midst of day-to-day life.

Everyday Holiness features short chapters on eighteen key character traits thatthe Mussar masters emphasize, including humility, generosity, gratitude, trust,patience, and enthusiasm.


Now in paperback

COUNTERFEITERHow a Norwegian Jew survived the Holocaustby Moritz Nachtstern

In 1940, the Nazis set a secret project in motion, Operation Bernhard. Chosen from therows of men on their way to the gas chambers were typographers and printers. The142 men selected were transferred to the strictly isolated block 19 in Sachsenhausenconcentration camp. The prisoners were presented with an enormous task: producingcounterfeit British bank notes to the value of hundreds of millions of pounds. Thenotes, considered some of the most perfect counterfeits ever produced, were to bedropped 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

THE ROAD TO RESCUEThe Untold Story of Schindler’s Listby Mietek Pemper

Translated by David Dollenmayer

Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film Schindler’s List popularized the true storyof a German businessman who manipulated his Nazi connections and spent hispersonal fortune to save some 1,200 Jewish prisoners from certain death duringthe Holocaust. But few know that those lists were made possible by a secretstrategy designed by a young Polish Jew at the Plaszów concentration camp.Mietek Pemper’s compelling and moving memoir tells the less-known story ofhow 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 DAVIDProminent Jews Talk About Being Jewishby Abigail Pogrebin

Intimate and news-making interviews with personalities ranging from DustinHoffman to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Neil Simon to Ed Koch, Mike Wallace to SarahJessica Parker, and dozens more reveal the role that Judaism and Jewish identityplay in the private lives of many of America’s most public figures.

“Consistently engaging, these 60 interviews conducted by journalist Pogrebinexplore the thoughts of well-known artists, politicians and others in the publiceye on the complexities of Jewish identity—and the emotions they engender.”


Broadway • TR • 978-0-7679-1613-4 • 400 pp • $14.95/$21.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00

THE BOOK OF GETTING EVENA Novelby Benjamin Taylor

Son of a rabbi, budding astronomer Gabriel Geismar is on his way from youth tomanhood in the 1970s when he falls in love with the esteemed and beguilingHundert family, different in every way from his own. Over the course of a decade-long drama unfolding in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and theWisconsin countryside, Gabriel enters more and more passionately and intimatelyinto the world of his elective clan, discovering at the inmost center that he alonemust 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: $12.00Paperback forthcoming May 2009

THE FAMILY MASHBERby Der NisterTranslated 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 kabbalisticallegory, an innovative fusion of modernist art and traditional storytelling, a tale ofweird humor and mounting tragic power, embellished with a host of uncanny andfantastical figures drawn from daily life and the depths of the unconscious. Aboveall, 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, theindividual conscience, and an elusive God.

NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-279-7 • 704 pp • $22.95/$25.95Can. • Exam Copy: $11.50

TALES OUT OF SCHOOLA Novelby Benjamin Taylor

Winner of the Harold Ribalow Prize

The strange hothouse world of Galveston Island, Texas, has been good to theMehmels, German Jewish immigrants who prosper there in the late nineteenthcentury, and whose second generation is still flush as the century turns. Butdestruction—moral and natural, including the great hurricane that nearlydestroyed the city—is not far off, and for bookish, fourteen-year-old grandsonFelix, last of the line, salvation lies in self-discovery.

“Taylor’s language is lush, exotic, at times peculiar, as befits a novel set inGalveston Island, Texas…. Catholic, Jew, redneck, homosexual—these mix,marry, exchange vocabularies and dialects…. It’s a setting where Taylor feelsconfident 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-SEMITEA Novel in Five Storiesby Gregor von Rezzori

Translated by Joachim Neugroschel

Introduction by Deborah Eisenberg

Called “a rich, disquietingly good book” by The New York Times, the five inter-connected stories in Memoirs of an Anti-Semite provide a panoramic yet intimateview of the deterioration of the European aristocracy in the years precedingWorld War II and the difficult decades that followed.

“[A] devastatingly beautiful chronicle of personal metamorphosis… daringand revelatory.”

—Chicago Sun Times

NYRB Classics • TR • 978-1-59017-246-9 • 320 pp • $15.95/$20.00 Can. • Exam Copy: $3.00

FAREWELL, SHANGHAIA Novelby Angel Wagenstein

Translated by Elizabeth Frank and Deliana Simeonova

Selected as a runner-up in the 2007 National Jewish Book Awardcategory for fiction

The unforgettable novel of nearly forgotten refugees who fled Nazi Germany anddiscovered the glamour and excess of Shanghai.

“This is a narrative filled with barbarity and inhumanity leavened with fortitudeand bravery. The fictional format chosen by the author provides an excellentvehicle for him to describe a relatively unfamiliar aspect of what happened toJews during World War II. What he so ably sets forth has the true air ofcredibility, 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

Now in paperback

ISAAC’S TORAHA Novelby 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-HungarianEmpire, 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’sAtheists’ Club, Shmuel Ben-David, sustain Isaac through two world wars, threeconcentration 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 AMERICANSThree Centuries of Jewish Voices in Americaby Beth Wenger

This magnificently illustrated book, companion to the major PBS televisiondocumentary produced by David Grubin, tells the history of Jews in Americain a captivating and accessible collection of first-person accounts, interviews,distinguished scholarly writings, and profiles of prominent Jews as well asordinary Jewish immigrants.

The text and images trace more than three hundred years of AmericanJewish history—from the first arrival of Jews in colonial America in 1654to 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 ORDINARYRecovering the Shamanic in Judaismby Gershon Winkler

Foreword by David Carson and Gabriel Cousens“Winkler’s picture of archaic Judaism diverges sharply from the contemporaryimage of the ‘Judeo-Christian tradition’…. By bringing to light the long-hiddenteachings of Jewish shamanism, Winkler has opened a way for Jews to lookwithin their own spiritual heritage for the shamanic teachings that previouslyseemed to be available only within other traditions.… Moreover, becauseMagic of the Ordinary serves to redefine the contemporary picture of aboriginalJudaism, this book may appeal to a more general readership, and it should beof interest to many students of religion and cross-cultural shamanism.”

—Roberta Lous, Shaman’s Drum




AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Stefan ZweigAUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Stefan Zweig

BEWARE OF PITYby Stefan Zweig

Translated by Phyllis and Trevor Blewitt

Introduction by Joan Acocella

The great Austrian writer Stefan Zweig was a master anatomist of the deceitfulheart, and Beware of Pity, the only novel he published during his lifetime, uncoversthe 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 thedreary 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 blunderthat will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaningbut tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health.


CHESS STORYby Stefan Zweig

Introduction by Peter Gay

Translated by Joel Rotenberg

Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’sfinal achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American pub-lisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looksat 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 isthe world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come togetherto try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passengersteps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possesshis extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart ofZweig’s story.


THE POST-OFFICE GIRLby Stefan Zweig

Translated by Joel Rotenberg

Zweig’s posthumously discovered novel, about the rise and fall of a provincialAustrian girl invited to the Swiss Alps by her wealthy American aunt, is availablein English for the first time.

“Stefan Zweig was a late and magnificent bloom from the hothouse of fin desiècle Vienna… The posthumous publication of a Zweig novel affords anopportunity to revisit this gifted writer… The Post-Office Girl is captivating.

—The Wall Street Journal


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