Q&A
A 17th Century Book On The Stock Market Is Up For Big Money At Sotheby’s
Joseph Penso de la Vega, a Sephardic-Jewish immigrant to the Netherlands wrote a primer on the Amsterdam stock exchange in his native Spanish.
How A Jewish Kid From The Upper West Side Became The World’s Best Banjoist
“Why do I play the banjo? There’s no sense to it.”
6 Questions For Jonathan Lethem
In more than one way Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel “The Feral Detective” is a return to basics.
AUDIO: Gary Shteyngart, Are Jews White?
Ten years ago I interviewed Gary Shteyngart for a profile in Zeek.. At the time his hair was brown and mine covered my head. In the time since then he has continued to put out books at a steady rate of one every three or four years. His earlier novels (“Absurdistan” and “The Russian Debutante’s Handbook”) were about Americans’ crazy adventures in the disintegrating Soviet Empire. His most recent two novels have dealt with dystopian visions of America, especially related to the unhealthy distribution and importance of money and credit.
Eat, Drink + Think
In Park Slope, Shelsky’s Bagels Serves An Artisanal NYC Jewish Breakfast
Park Slope is no longer a bagel desert.
How A Runaway Trapeze Artist-Turned-Surgeon Saved The Big Apple Circus
“As a young boy in Baltimore, the only two things I had an interest in [were] being in the circus and being an orthopedic surgeon.”
On The Books: 5 Questions For Stephen Shepard, Author Of ‘A Literary Journey To Jewish Identity’
I kept wondering why I cared so much about these writers. Was there such a thing as a “Jewish-American Novel?” What did it mean to be a Jewish writer?
8 Questions For Mitch Albom
15 Years later the Detroit-based author has returned to the story of Eddie the theme park maintenance man and the little girl, Annie, he died saving.
Salman Rushdie Talks Philip Roth, Mel Brooks And Bagels
“Philip died with his reputation at a kind of pinnacle, and was widely accepted as being one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.”
Liana Finck On Peter Pan, Nabokov And The Rats Of Self-Doubt
I relate so much to Wendy in “Peter Pan,” because she has to grow up. She can’t be a kid forever.
Barbara Cassin: What Hannah Arendt Could Teach Israel
“We all knew Heidegger had a Nazi past, but thought it was not more than others. His “Black Notebooks” were a shock.
