Book Reviews

Other People’s Pets

By
R. L. Maizes
Review by
Helene Cohen Bludman
La La Fine quits veterinary school to rob houses, but it’s for a good reason: to keep her father Zev from going to jail. Not exactly a typical scenario, but in R. L. Maizes’ debut novel, Other People’s Pets (Celadon Books, 2020), there is a family tradition of burglary, and

The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940-44

By
Jacques Semelin (translated by Cynthia Schoch and Natasha Lehrer)
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
In his new book The Survival of the Jews in France, 1940-44 (Oxford Press), Jacques Semelin, professor emeritus of history and political science at the Paris Institute of Political Science, focuses on a frequently overlooked statistic: 240,000 of the 320,000 Jews living in France in 1940 survived the war within that nation’s borders.

Embracing Auschwitz

By
Joshua Hammerman
Review by
Rabbi Jack Riemer
Joshua Hammerman’s Embracing Auschwitz color:black"> (Ben Yehuda Press) deserves our attention because it is by far the most original book on this subject that has come along in a great many years.

Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living

By
Danny Siegel
Review by
Rabbi Jack Riemer
In his introduction to Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, Rabbi Neal Gold writes that Danny Siegel’s teachings have profoundly shaped American Jewry – and he’s right.

Exile Music

By
Jennifer Steil
Review by
Marcia R. Rudin
The story is narrated by Orly Zingel, who, at age 11, journeys with her parents from Vienna to Genoa to Chile and finally to La Paz, leaving behind her older brother, Willi.

Married to the Rabbi: Sixty Spouses of Retired Reform Rabbis in their Own Words

By
Naomi Patz and Judith Maslin
Review by
Marcia R. Rudin
In 60 essays collected throughout a five-year period by the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis, rabbis’ spouses share memories and insights about their lives. The pieces vary in length, tone, and writing style, even including poetry – but all add to the fascinating discussion.

Stan Lee: A Life in Comics

By
Liel Leibovitz
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
Stan Lee: A Life in Comics (Yale Press) examines Lee’s work from a Jewish perspective.

Hitler’s True Believers: How Ordinary People Became Nazis

By
Robert Gellately
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
A widely believed myth is that Adolf Hitler was a unique personal aberration in history and his Nazi movement with its reign of terror was a one and done occurrence that lacked any real foundational ideology. Such a belief is not only false, but is dangerous thinking argues Robert Gellately

Houdini: The Elusive American

By
Adam Begley
Review by
Rabbi A. James Rudin
In Houdini: The Elusive American, Adam Begley, tells the remarkable story of how a Hungarian-born rabbi’s son achieved global fame as the world’s greatest magician and the master of “self-liberation.”