Nearly 60 years ago, Meyer Levin invented the true crime genre with ‘Compulsion.’ Now, a new edition of Levin’s novel reminds us what compelled us to read about one of the 20th century’s most notorious — and most Jewish — crimes.
Many of us were taught to despise the Christian Scriptures. But one Jewish scholar turned the Gospels into a fascinating read that can teach us a lot about Judaism.
Not another biography of David Ben-Gurion, you might say. Think again: Anita Shapira’s new biography is compact but powerful and timely, Jerome A. Chanes explains.
You’d think that Israel’s genesis would be well-trodden terrain. But a new book is the first to explore not only the rift between Jews and Arabs, but also the conflicts within those groups.
The Orthodox world is a confusing place: terms like ‘modern,’ ‘Haredi’ and ‘Hasidic’ don’t mean what they once did. Jerome Chanes provides a surprising new taxonomy.
It may have been the second time around, but Yeshivat Maharat’s graduation ceremony for Orthodox women still felt surprising — and inspiring — to Jerome Chanes.
Israel’s sixth prime minister, Menachem Begin, came to power in 1977 in a political revolution. Biographer Daniel Gordis explores that history and its aftermath.
In Michael Walzer’s new book, the political philosopher asks a very basic question: How much room can there be for politics when God is the ultimate ruler?
Themes of family ties, Zionism and just plain Jewishness, which come to full flower in Philip Roth’s later masterpieces, are prefigured in ‘Portnoy’s Complaint.’
‘Out of Palestine’ is a truly fascinating discussion of a period that is still incompletely and insufficiently understood: the last years of the British Mandate in Palestine.