Gordon Haber writes about religion and culture in addition to editing the CANVAS Compendium, a newsletter on Jewish arts and culture. He does not live in Brooklyn.
Gordon Haber
By Gordon Haber
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Culture Adam Michnik Strains for Solidarity Between Poles and Jews
In Search of Lost Meaning: The New Eastern Europe By Adam Michnik Translated by Roman S. Czarny Edited by Irina Grudzinska Gross University of California Press, 248 pages, $29.95 Even as a young Communist in postwar Poland, Adam Michnik demonstrated the courage of his convictions. He was first arrested in 1964, at age 18, for…
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The Schmooze Monday Music: Jewish, Japanese and Mexican Tunes Mix in LA
If you know where to look, there’s a lot of culture in Los Angeles: music, literature, visual art, food. And much of it is gratis. Grand Performances, a concert series that focuses on the cultural diversity of LA, often provides free shows — like “A Night at the Phillips Music Company,” on August 27, which…
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News Neal Pollack’s New Normal, a ‘Two-Fisted’ Noir Novel
As Neal Pollack tells it, the idea for his new book came to him while chatting “in the shvitz.” More often he uses himself for inspiration. In his 2000 debut novel, “The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature” (Harper Perennial, 2002), Pollack portrayed himself as a parody of the self-aggrandizing authors of previous generations, the…
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Culture Hot, Sweet and Gay in D.C.
Sweet Like Sugar By Wayne Hoffman Kensington Books, 352 pages, $15 Benjamin “Benji” Steiner, protagonist of Wayne Hoffman’s “Sweet Like Sugar,” is a bundle of contradictions. He’s a proud Jew, but he’s alienated from Judaism. He can’t live without the city — in this case, Washington, D.C. — but he’s content to live and work…
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Culture Full of Sound and Fury
The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture By David Mamet Sentinel, 256 pages, $27.95 Since this is about David Mamet, let’s get right to the point. Mamet the dramatist, the prolific playwright, screenwriter and director, is now taking on the Big American Questions — religion and politics — in prose. Mamet’s 2006 “The…
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The Schmooze Magic as a Jewish Family Business
Perhaps it’s time to stop being surprised by the disproportionate number of successful Jews in any random profession. That’s one of the lessons to take from “Masters of Illusion: Jewish Magicians of the Golden Age,” an entertaining exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on view until September 4. The exhibit runs concurrently…
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Culture Crazy Is as Crazy Does
THE PSYCHOPATH TEST: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE MADNESS INDUSTRY By Jon Ronson Riverhead Books, 275 pages, $25.95 British journalist Jon Ronson has forged an estimable career out of one fascinating topic: the belief systems of kooks. His 2001 book, “Them: Adventures with Extremists,” looked at conspiracy theorists — jihadists, neo-Nazis and the like — and…
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News Simon Rutberg — He’s a Soul Man
On a recent Sunday morning at Canter’s, the legendary Los Angeles deli, business was brisk. As usual, the customers were an eclectic mix: hipsters, rockers, senior citizens. And, at a table near the front sat Simon Rutberg, a slim, graying man in glasses and a black T-shirt. Rutberg himself is something of a legend. The…
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