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"A powerful set of profiles concerning Jews who were active on both sides of the American Civil War. From August Bondi, a German-Jewish immigrant who took up arms and fought for the abolition of chattel slavery alongside freedom fighters like John Brown, to Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederacy’s Secretary of War who was derided as Jefferson Davis’ “pet Jew” and came from an established Sephardic community in the South, this book will certainly complicate the reader’s understanding of political perspectives held by American Jewry in the mid-19th century."
Samuel Sherman
Non-Fiction Specialist
The Familiar
$29.99
"This book transports you back in time to the Spanish Inquisition when Jews were looked at as magical people. Luzia uses her magic to help with the day to day life as a poor maid as she has Jewish blood. She must practice in secret so her master can’t find out. Can someone poor and Jewish find love? Yes she can!"
Jackie Churgin
Fiction Specialist
My Michael
$17.95
"A bittersweet love story that takes place in Jerusalem in the 1950s."
David Petluck
Book Inventory Specialist
Women Holding Things
$35.00
"Kalman’s poetic prose is accompanied by vividly whimsical paintings, an artistic record of the gifts and burdens carried and pass down from mother to daughter, sister to friend, woman to woman. “Women Holding Things” maps the experiences of Judaism in an unbroken matrilineal line."
Sarah F.
Book Specialist
"Dara explains in each chapter a different time and place where Jews have lived, flourished, and then exiled. She continues to explain what the people who currently live in the area think about the history of the Jews. You will be shocked to hear how history and present day are not cohesive in their storytelling."
Jackie Churgin
Fiction Specialist
"A fascinating tome of local history detailing the development of Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidim. This book goes in depth as to how the Satmar managed to reject assimilation while Americanizing in other unique ways, navigating what could at times be contentious relationships with both secular Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors amid periods of decline and gentrification in 20th century New York City."
Samuel Sherman
Non-Fiction Specialist
Where the Sidewalk Ends
$22.99
"Shel Silverstein’s illustrated poems range from funny to fantastical to heartbreaking. The interwoven words and pictures create a portrait of humor, drama, absurdism, and the raw humanity between the intense and the mundane. The new edition includes 12 previously unpublished poems."
Sarah F.
Book Specialist
Citizens of the Whole World
$29.95
"A necessary interruption into the “respectability politics” of the Jewish mainstream. Whether or not you agree with its content, this book is a long-overdue, erudite excavation regarding pathways of Jewishness typically reduced to historical footnotes by many (or perhaps, deliberately omitted by some), but has nonetheless played an essential role in the development of Jewish political identities in the United States and is seeing a significant resurgence among a growing number of Jewish youth today."
Samuel Sherman
Non-Fiction Specialist
Number the Stars
$9.99
"Annemarie and Ellen are best friends. When the Nazis come to Denmark, it will take all their courage to set an escape plan in motion. “Number the Stars” is searing yet accessible, taking young readers on a journey of strength and Jewish resilience in Nazi-occupied Europe."
Sarah F.
Book Specialist
From our exhibition
Step into the world of Anne Frank
A Blessed Time Lazy Susan
Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook
The Seder Plate
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Ruth’s Bookstore supports the Center for Jewish History’s mission of preserving and promoting Jewish scholarship, culture and heritage.
