New Books Network

New Books in Jewish Studies
Adam Brown, “Judging ‘Privileged’ Jews: Holocaust Ethics, Representation, and the ‘Grey Zone'” (Berghahn, 2015)
Adam Brown
Judging 'Privileged' Jews
Holocaust Ethics, Representation, and the 'Grey Zone'
Berghahn Books, 2015

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in FilmNew Books in Genocide StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Literary StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network July 2, 2020 Yakir Englander 

The Nazis’ persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust included the creation of prisoner hierarchies that forced victims to cooperate with their persecutors. Many in the camps and ghettos came to hold so-called “privileged” positions, and their behavior has often been judged as self-serving and harmful to fellow inmates. Such... Read More
Yitzhak Lewis, “Permanent Beginning: R. Nachman of Braslav and Jewish Literary Modernity” (SUNY Press, 2020)
Yitzhak Lewis
Permanent Beginning
R. Nachman of Braslav and Jewish Literary Modernity
SUNY Press, 2020

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in BiographyNew Books in Eastern European StudiesNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Literary StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & Faith June 29, 2020 Yakir Englander

The Hasidic leader R. Nachman of Braslav (1772–1810) has held a place in the Jewish popular imagination for more than two centuries. Some see him as the (self-proclaimed) Messiah, others as the forerunner of modern Jewish literature. Existing studies struggle between these dueling readings, largely ignoring questions of aesthetics and... Read More
Mara Benjamin, “The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought” (Indiana UP, 2018)
Mara Benjamin
The Obligated Self
Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought
Indian University Press, 2018

New Books in Gender StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & Faith June 25, 2020 Rachel Adelman

In this talk, Rachel Adelman engages Mara Benjamin in a conversation about her most recent book, The Obligated Self—Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought (Indiana University Press, 2018). Benjamin contends that the physical and psychological work of caring for children presents theologically fruitful but largely unexplored terrain for feminists. Attending to... Read More
David Slucki et al., “Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust” (Wayne State UP, 2020)
David Slucki et al.
Laughter After
Humor and the Holocaust
Wayne State University Press, 2020

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in FilmNew Books in Genocide StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Literary StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Popular CultureNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network June 22, 2020 Max Kaiser

In Laughter After: Humor and the Holocaust  (Wayne State University Press, 2020), Co-editors David Slucki,  Loti Smorgon Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and Culture at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University, Gabriel N. Finder, professor in the department of German Languages and Literatures and former director of the... Read More
Gabriel Finder, “Justice behind the Iron Curtain: Nazis on Trial in Communist Poland” (U Toronto Press, 2018)
Gabriel Finder
Justice behind the Iron Curtain
Nazis on Trial in Communist Poland
University of Toronto Press, 2018

New Books in Eastern European StudiesNew Books in Genocide StudiesNew Books in German StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network June 22, 2020 Kelly McFall

When Americans think about trials of Holocaust perpetrators, they generally think of the Nuremberg Trials or the trial of Adolf Eichmann or perhaps of the Frankfort trials of perpetrators from Auschwitz. If they think of Polish trials at all, they likely assume these were show trials driven by political goals rather... Read More
John K. Roth, “Sources of Holocaust Insight: Learning and Teaching about the Genocide” (Cascade Books, 2020)
John K. Roth
Sources of Holocaust Insight
Learning and Teaching about the Genocide
Cascade Books, 2020

New Books in European StudiesNew Books in Genocide StudiesNew Books in German StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network June 15, 2020 Kelly McFall

At Newman I co-teach a class titled “The Holocaust and its Legacies.”  I teach the course with a Professor of Theology and it’s designed to help students understand the ways in which the Holocaust shaped the world they live in. It is, in a sense, designed to help students gain... Read More
James A. Diamond, “Jewish Theology Unbound” (Oxford UP, 2018)
James A. Diamond
Jewish Theology Unbound

Oxford University Press, 2018

New Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network June 11, 2020 Rachel Adelman

James A. Diamond discusses his new book, Jewish Theology Unbound (Oxford University Press, 2018), with Rachel Adelman. This book challenges the widespread caricature of Judaism as a religion of law as opposed to theology. Broad swaths of rabbinic literature involve not just law but what could be best described as... Read More
Alexander Gendler, “Khurbm 1914-1922: Prelude to the Holocaust” (Varda Books, 2019)
Alexander Gendler
Khurbm 1914-1922
Prelude to the Holocaust
Varda Books, 2019

New Books in Eastern European StudiesNew Books in Genocide StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books in Russian and Eurasian StudiesNew Books Network June 8, 2020 Robin Buller

The murder of two-thirds of European Jews, referred to by many as the Holocaust, did not begin June 22, 1941, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, or September 1, 1939, with the beginning of WWII, or with 1938 Kristallnacht, or even with the 1933 rise of Hitler. According... Read More
Deborah Dash Moore, “Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People” (NYU Press, 2017)
Deborah Dash Moore
Jewish New York
The Remarkable Story of a City and a People
NYU Press, 2017

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network June 2, 2020 Gotham Center

Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People (NYU Press, 2017) reveals the multifaceted world of one of the city’s most important ethnic and religious groups. Jewish immigrants changed New York. They built its clothing industry and constructed huge swaths of apartment buildings. New York Jews... Read More

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