Book Reviews

The Guest Book

By
Sarah Blake
Review by
Marcia R. Rudin
Sarah Blake’s The Guest Book (Flatiron Books) spans three generations of an old-line Protestant family, the Miltons, whose manners and way of life represent what they believe to be the established and correct way of doing things.

Hitler

By
Peter Longerich (Translated by Jeremy Noakes and Lesley Sharpe)
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
Hitler (Oxford University Press) is the definitive biography of Adolf Hitler. Despite its length, Longerich’s book is no ornamental “door stopper;” it is, rather, an “eye opener” that sets this book apart from those of many other Hitler biographers.

Shadow Strike

By
Yaakov Katz
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
The U.S. and Israel, allies for more than 70 years, are sometimes at odds on specific policies and actions. Yaakov Katz’s new book Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power (St. Martin’s Press) details one such disagreement involving a high-stakes threat to Israel in 2007.

Ben Hecht: Fighting Words, Moving Pictures

By
Adina Hoffman
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
In her new book, Ben Hecht: Fighting Words, Moving Pictures (Yale University Press), essayist and biographer Adina Hoffman captures the turbulent life of one of America’s most talented and prolific screenwriters. Hecht also wrote novels, magazine articles, multi-media historical pageants, and hard-hitting political commentaries. Though he never spent more than

America's Jewish Women: A History From Colonial Times to Today

By
Pamela S. Nadell
Review by
Marcia R. Rudin
What does it mean to be a Jewish woman in America? What did it mean to be a Jewish woman throughout American history? These are questions Dr. Pamela Nadell, Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History and director of Jewish Studies at American University, asks in her important new book, America’s Jewish Women: A History From Colonial Times to Today.

The Art of Leaving: A Memoir

By
Ayelet Tsabari
Review by
Marcia R. Rudin
Ayelet Tsabari’s beloved father died suddenly shortly before her tenth birthday. She cites this traumatic event as the reason for her quest to find a permanent home and to find herself – the life journey she describes in this compelling memoir.

...And Often the First Jew

By
Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
Rabbi Stephen Fuchs and his wife, Victoria, had a choice to make, a choice that would transform their lives. Should they cut all ties with Germany, where their parents were born and survived the Holocaust, or should they begin a positive dialogue with Germans?

Pirkei Avot: A Social Justice Commentary

By
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
Review by
Rabbi David Ellenson
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Ancestors) stands out among the 63 tractates of the Mishnah as a treatise devoted to ethical exhortation and guidance. Some scholars claim it was originally a manual directed at rabbi-judges. However, there is no question that its words have gained widespread popular currency. Traditional rabbinic