This is the Forward’s coverage of books and literature, including both non-fictional and fictional works.
Books
The Latest
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Books How David Laskin Discovered Family’s Past
A family rumor was the genesis of David Laskin’s extraordinary new book, “The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the 20th Century.” Laskin heard from his mother who heard it from her cousin Barbara who heard it from her parents: that they were related to Lazar Kaganovich, henchman of Joseph Stalin and a perpetrator…
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Books 10 Ways to Celebrate Jewish Book Month
The Holy Days are barely behind us, and we’re already preparing for Hanukkah (the first day of which, as some have realized, coincides with American Thanksgiving this year). But between these events comes something else that should be on your calendar: Jewish Book Month. Running this year from October 26 to November 26, Jewish Book…
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Books Bipartisan Charge To Return Iraqi Jewish Artifacts to Community, Not Government
Some Congress members are working to ensure that Iraqi Jewish artifacts now on display in Washington are returned directly to the Iraqi Jewish community and not the government. Reps. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) are leading the bipartisan effort to return the thousands of books, photos, texts and other materials that were found…
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Books A Uniquely Israeli Vision of the Afterlife
The World of the End By Ofir Touché Gafla Translated by Mitch Ginsburg Tor Books, 368 pages, $16.98 A recent cartoon published in the New Yorker shows a group of people standing by a grave. A woman is speaking, and the caption reads, “Wherever he is, I know he’ll be upgraded.” Might the afterworld —…
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Books Portrait of the Publisher as a Young Renegade
Samuel Roth: Infamous Modernist By Jay A. Gertzman University Press of Florida, 416 pages, $74.95 Biographies of book publishers are scarce, though the possibility of one or another is frequently announced, never to appear. Their lives, I once conjectured, had too many uncomfortable secrets that couldn’t be revealed, even after they’ve died. Consider that no…
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Books She Was a Novelist, Chicago-Born
‘Yudl’: And Selected Short Stories By Layle Silbert Seven Stories Press, 240 pages, $17.95 Layle Silbert’s “Yudl” opens with the protagonist, an immigrant Jew with a thick accent and heavy socialist leanings, inspecting a building that appears incomplete. “With its empty unglassed windows,” the three-story-high, red brick building “could be a new building not yet…
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Books Will We Ever Be Forgiven for the Holocaust?
The question is rhetorical. When will Jews be forgiven the Holocaust? Never. The shocking psychological truth is that man rejects the burden of guilt by turning the tables on those we have wronged and portraying ourselves as the victims of their suffering. The Roman historian Tacitus spells it out. “It is part of human life,”…
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Books How I Learned Not To Be J.D. Salinger
Back in high school, I was friends with the Salinger boys, but I wasn’t really one of them. As I recall it now, there were three: John, Thom and Barnaby (I’ve changed two of their names and I’ve left one the same, for reasons you’ll probably figure out later). You could recognize the Salinger boys…
Most Popular
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News An Israeli restaurant chain said it closed due to boycotts. Protesters are celebrating.
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Opinion Jews are worried about Zohran Mamdani. Here’s why they shouldn’t be
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News Many U.S. synagogues display the Israeli flag on their bimahs. After the hostages were released, one NYC shul decided to move theirs.
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Film & TV What the new season of ‘Nobody Wants This’ gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism
In Case You Missed It
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News Mamdani opposes Zionism, but wants New York public schools to teach about it
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Sports It’s so cool that Sandy Koufax was there for that
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Opinion In the Mamdani-Cuomo race, why should I choose safety as a Jew over safety as a woman?
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Film & TV In HBO’s new Stephen King series, the Holocaust is fuel for jump scares
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