Ethan Kanfer
By Ethan Kanfer
-
Culture Speakeasy Jews
In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture By Ted Merwin Rutgers University Press, 240 pages, $23.95 With its irresistible blend of innocence and envelope-pushing, the Jazz Age — an era of bootleggers, flappers and silent-movie stars — still holds a mythical fascination for today’s audiences. To this end, Ted Merwin,…
-
Culture Notes From the Edge
On Broadway, late summer is known as the off-season. But in the downtown theater world, life begins in August. Every year at this time, the kaleidoscopic burst of creativity known as the New York International Fringe Festival lights up Lower Manhattan. Now in its 10th year, North America’s largest multi-arts festival hosts hundreds of performances…
-
Culture The Man Who Brought the Melting Pot to the Stage
From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot: Israel Zangwill’s Jewish Plays By Israel Zangwill Edited by Edna Nahshon Wayne State University Press 363 pages, $34.95. * * *| Long before “diversity” became a cultural buzzword, playwright and novelist Israel Zangwill coined a phrase that would become an indelible part of America’s language of self-description. The…
-
Culture From the Stage To the Page
Nine Contemporary Jewish Plays Edited by Ellen Schiff and Michael Posnick Foreword by Theodore Bikel University of Texas Press, 587 pages, $24.95. * * *| Published plays — especially those in anthologies — tend to be dismissed by the casual browser as specialty items, of interest only to students of theater history or to actors…
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Was the viral Ta-Nehisi Coates interview a hit piece or fair play? A journalism ethics expert weighs in.
- 2
Culture How my odious cousin Roy Cohn was responsible for creating Donald Trump — and me
- 3
Culture New conspiracy theory just dropped — Jews are causing the hurricanes
- 4
Sports 5 Jewish things about the Mets — and why Jewish fans adore them
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion I’m a Jew of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates can’t apply U.S. lessons to Israel
-
Fast Forward ‘All options are on the table’ to keep Iran from going nuclear, Kamala Harris says in High Holiday call with Jewish voters
-
Opinion Forgiveness has its limits: a Yom Kippur reflection on justice
-
Opinion Atoning during a war feels impossible. Instead, resolve to do better
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism