reviews - Jewish Book Council

BOOKS OF NOTE
plans for the postwar period, in addition to
manuscript collections and interviews, Baram
reveals the internal structure and behind-thescenes
nuances, the subtleties and texture, of
Departmental decision-making.
THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN HEBREW
CREATIVITY IN BABYLON, 1735–1950
Lev Hakak
Purdue University Press, 2009. $39.95
ISBN: 978-1-57753-514-6
Begins with a brief history about the Jews
in Babylon (Iraq), their Hebrew creativity, and
the fact that this creativity was excluded from
the history of Modern Hebrew literature
because it was unknown to the scholars. Presents
the secular Hebrew poetry written at that
time, the folktales, journalistic articles, epistles,
research of Hebrew literature, and much more.
GERMANS INTO JEWS: REMAKING
THE JEWISH SOCIAL BODY IN THE
WEIMAR REPUBLIC
Sharon Gillerman
Stanford University Press, 2009. $50.00
ISBN: 978-0-8047-5711-9
Turns to an often overlooked and misunderstood
period of German and Jewish History—the
years between the world wars. Gillerman
demonstrates that Weimar Jews sought
to rejuvenate and reconfigure their community,
as a means to strengthen the German
nation and create an autonomous Jewish entity
within Germany.
JUDAISM OF THE SECOND TEMPLE
PERIOD: VOL. 2: THE JEWISH SAGES
AND THEIR LITERATURE
David Flusser
Wm. B. Eerdmans Co., 2009. $42.00
ISBN: 978-0-8028-2458-5
72 Jewish Book World Spring 5770/2010
This second volume of essays is devoted to
Jewish sages, their Wisdom literature, and the
impact that they have made on both contemporary
Judaism and early Christianity.
WERE THE JEWS A MEDITERRANEAN
SOCIETY? RECIPROCITY AND
SOLIDARITY IN ANCIENT JUDAISM
Seth Schwartz
Princeton University Press, 2009. $29.95
ISBN: 978-0-691-14054-4
How well integrated were Jews in the
Mediterranean society controlled by ancient
Rome? This book argues that Jewish social relations
in antiquity were animated by a core tension
between biblical solidarity and exchangebased
social values such as patronage, vassalage,
formal friendship, and debt slavery.
HOLOCAUST STUDIES
AFTER REPRESENTATION?
THE HOLOCAUST, LITERATURE,
AND CULTURE
R. Clifton Spargo and Robert M. Ehrenreich, eds.
Rutgers University Press, 2009. $49.95
ISBN: 978-0-8135-4589-9
Explores one of the major issues in Holocaust
studies—the intersection of memory
and ethics in artistic expression, particularly
within literature.
THE BUGS ARE BURNING: THE ROLE
OF EASTERN EUROPEANS IN THE
EXPLOITATION, SUBJUGATION AND
MURDER OF THEIR JEWISH NEIGHBORS
DURING THE HOLOCAUST
Sheldon Hersh and Rober Wolf
Devora Publishing, 2009. $21.95
ISBN: 978-1-934440-39-1
An enormous contingent of self-serving
Eastern European accomplices participated in
the extermination of Jews and helped assure
Germany’s goal of a “final solution.” Without
them, Hitler’s forces would unlikely have been
as successful in their homicidal campaign.
JEWISH RESPONSES TO PERSECUTION
1933–1946 VOLUME I, 1933–1938
Jurgen Matthaus and Mark Roseman
Altamira Press, 2009. $39.95
ISBN: 978-0-7591-1908-6
Offers a new perspective on Holocaust
history by presenting documentation that
describes the manifestations and meanings of
Nazi Germany’s “final solution” from the
Jewish perspective. This volume takes us from
Hitler’s rise to power through the to the aftermath
of Kristallnacht.
LIVING WITNESSES: FACES OF THE
HOLOCAUST
Sabrina Must, Monni Must
Naturally Photography by Monni, 2009. $54.00
ISBN: 978-0-615-30813-5
Monni and Sabrina Must, mother and
daughter, teamed up to create this book. A
book of portraits and experiences of Detroitarea
Holocaust survivors, it captures the survivors’
personalities and honors who they
were before the war, vividly depicting their
experiences during the war, and honoring
who they became afterward.
SOME MEASURE OF JUSTICE: THE
HOLOCAUST ERA RESTITUTION
CAMPAIGN OF THE 1990’S
Michael R. Marrus
University of Wisconsin Press, 2009. $29.95
ISBN: 978-0-299-23404-1
During the 1990’s—triggered by lawsuits
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