New Books Network

New Books in Jewish Studies
Karen E. H. Skinazi, “Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture” (Rutgers UP, 2018)
Karen E. H. Skinazi
Women of Valor
Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture
Rutgers University Press, 2018

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Gender StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Literary StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Popular CultureNew Books in Religion & Faith September 21, 2020 Schneur Zalman Newfield

Media portrayals of Orthodox Jewish women frequently depict powerless, silent individuals who are at best naive to live an Orthodox lifestyle, and who are at worst, coerced into it. In Women of Valor: Orthodox Jewish Troll Fighters, Crime Writers, and Rock Stars in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Rutgers University Press,... Read More
Kenneth Austin, “The Jews and the Reformation” (Yale UP, 2020)
Kenneth Austin
The Jews and the Reformation

Yale University Press, 2020

New Books in Christian StudiesNew Books in Eastern European StudiesNew Books in European StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network September 21, 2020 Crawford Gribben

Kenneth Austin, who teaches history at the University of Bristol, UK, is well-known for his work on Jews and Judaism in early modern Europe. His new book, The Jews and the Reformation (Yale University Press, 2020), offers the most thorough description and analysis of its subject to date. Austin describes... Read More
Aaron Koller, “Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought” (Jewish Publication Society, 2020)
Aaron Koller
Unbinding Isaac
The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought
Jewish Publication Society, 2020

New Books in Biblical StudiesNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network September 18, 2020 David Gottlieb

In Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought (Jewish Publication Society, 2020), Aaron Koller, professor of Near Eastern and Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, provides a compelling contemporary perspective on one of the Bible’s most famous and difficult texts, the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac. By plumbing the... Read More
Matthew Thiessen, “Jesus and the Forces of Death” (Baker Academic, 2020)
Matthew Thiessen
Jesus and the Forces of Death
The Gospels' Portrayal of Ritual Impurity within First-Century Judaism
Baker Academic, 2020

New Books in Biblical StudiesNew Books in Christian StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Religion & Faith September 18, 2020 Jonathan Wright

Although most people acknowledge that Jesus was a first-century Jew, interpreters of the Gospels often present him as opposed to Jewish law and customs—especially when considering his numerous encounters with the ritually impure. In Jesus and the Forces of Death: The Gospels’ Portrayal of Ritual Impurity within First-Century Judaism (Baker... Read More
Ezra Cappell and Jessica Lang, “Off the Derech: Leaving Orthodox Judaism” (SUNY Press, 2020)
Ezra Cappell and Jessica Lang
Off the Derech
Leaving Orthodox Judaism
SUNY Press, 2020

New Books in AnthropologyNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books in Sociology September 11, 2020 Schneur Zalman Newfield

Off the Derech: Leaving Orthodox Judaism (SUNY Press, 2020), edited by Ezra Cappell and Jessica Lang, combines powerful first-person accounts with incisive scholarly analysis to understand the phenomenon of ultra-Orthodox Jews who leave their insular communities and venture into the wider world. In recent years, many formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews have... Read More
Alexander Kaye, “The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel” (Oxford UP, 2020)
Alexander Kaye
The Invention of Jewish Theocracy
The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel
Oxford University Press, 2020

NBN Special SeriesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Intellectual HistoryNew Books in Israel StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in LawNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithVan Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel September 9, 2020 Renee Garfinkel

The tension between secular politics and religious fundamentalism is a problem shared by many modern states. This is certainly true of the State of Israel, where the religious-secular schism provokes conflict at every level of society. Driving this schism is the idea of the halakhic state, the demand by many... Read More
T. P. Kaplan and W. Gruner, “Resisting Persecution: Jews and Their Petitions during the Holocaust” (Berghahn, 2020)
T. P. Kaplan and W. Gruner (eds.)
Resisting Persecution
Jews and Their Petitions during the Holocaust
Berghahn Books, 2020

New 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 & Faith September 8, 2020 Kelly McFall

In 20 years of studying the Holocaust, it didn’t occur to me that German officials might, when petitioned by German Jews or by Germans advocating for German Jews, change their minds.  But it turns out that, sometimes, they did. And even when they didn’t, petitioning local, regional or national officials... Read More
Assaf Gavron, “The Hilltop” (Scribner, 2015)
Assaf Gavron
The Hilltop

Scribner, 2015

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Israel StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in LiteratureNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network September 7, 2020 Yakir Englander

Mordantly funny and deeply moving, The Hilltop about life in a West Bank settlement has been hailed as “brilliant” (The New York Times Book Review) and “The Great Israeli Novel [in which] Gavron stakes his claim to be Israel’s Jonathan Franzen” (Tablet). On a rocky hilltop stands Ma’aleh Hermesh C,... Read More
Yehoshua November, “Two Worlds Exist” (Orison Books, 2016)
Yehoshua November
Two Worlds Exist

Orison Books, 2016

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in LiteratureNew Books in PoetryNew Books in ReligionNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books in Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness September 4, 2020 Yakir Englander 

Yehoshua November’s second poetry collection, Two Worlds Exist (Orison Books), movingly examines the harmonies and dissonances involved in practicing an ancient religious tradition in contemporary America. November’s beautiful and profound meditations on work and family life, and the intersections of the sacred and the secular, invite the reader–regardless of background–to... Read More
Tamar Herzig, “A Convert’s Tale: Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy” (Harvard UP, 2019)
Tamar Herzig
A Convert’s Tale
Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy
Harvard University Press, 2019

New Books in ArtNew Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in BiographyNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Italian StudiesNew Books in Jewish StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Religion & FaithNew Books Network September 4, 2020 Jana Byars

On this episode of New Books in History, Jana Byars talks with Tamar Herzig, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University, the Director of Tel Aviv University’s Morris E Curiel Institute for European Studies, and as the Vice Chairperson of the Historical Society of Israel about her new book, A... Read More

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