Raw, vibrant, and full of love.
Jewish teens share their experiences, loves, hopes, and fears in this anthology of essays, poems, and artwork from the online publication jGirls Magazine.
Split into six chapters, the works trace the young people’s experiences through triumphs and tragedies. “We Always Seem To Return” brings meditations on memory and inheritance, highlighting how Jewish joy and sorrow often walk hand in hand. “When We Were Small” tells stories of childhood and growing up, interrogating such themes as gender identity, substance abuse, and antisemitism. “A Healthy Collection of Blessings and Hardships” tells of the body and the mind, exploring the sacred nature of the self while making space for struggles in mental health. “Traditions, Interpretations, and Imperfections” dives into spirituality and tradition, celebrating the rich variety of the Jewish community. “Where Is the Peace?” confronts ignorance, including experiences of racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and sexist violence. Finally, in “Carving Our Own Footsteps,” the artists of a new generation set out to continue the battle for justice and freedom. The offerings in this book are emphatically and unapologetically Jewish, but the stories they tell will resonate broadly. Contributors include Jews who are Black and Asian, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, and who reflect diversity in gender identity, sexuality, and ability. The young artists and writers featured here bring an appetite for life as well as the teeth necessary to enjoy the meal.
Raw, vibrant, and full of love. (artist statements, reader’s guide, resources, about jGirls Magazine, about the contributors) (Anthology. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68115-077-2
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Behrman House Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
Electoral politics and the military events of the Civil War are the main threads of Asimov's narrative and he moves briskly through a tortuously complex era. But though Asimov strives for neutrality throughout, his choice of subject matter gives this history an establishment cast—the Seminole War, for example, becomes merely an incident in Spanish-American relations, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is hardly more than a footnote to military victory. And there is certainly little indication here that this was the age of canals and railroads. Cultural history, though it slips in sideways now and then, is barely covered. Asimov does appreciate the ironies of foreign policy—during these years the United States often considered itself the standard bearer for world revolution while Russia defended traditional regimes. And the unfussy outline of presidential policies and the solidification of our two-party tradition (which clarifies the importance of one-issue parties like the Anti-Masons) makes this a useful overview and a good point of departure for more specialized studies.
Pub Date: April 25, 1975
ISBN: 0395202833
Page Count: -
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975
An introduction to Islam as evocative as it is provocative.
A lively and accessible introduction to Islam.
If it accomplished nothing else, Aslan’s first book would be worthwhile for its clear expositions of the basics of Islamic history and Muslim thought. Aslan, a professor (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies/Univ. of Iowa) and New York Times Middle East consultant, walks through the life of the Prophet, the redaction of the Qur’an, and the Five Pillars that are fundamental to Muslim life and practice. But these helpful expositions are just the starting point for making two arguments. First, Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations—the theory most pundits have gravitated toward since 9/11—is an inadequate description of the current world scene. What we really have, Aslan says, is a clash of monotheisms, competing particularistic, and often exclusive, claims about the nature of God, revelation, and prophecy. Second, there is real possibility for democracy in the Middle East. Aslan paints the Prophet’s teachings in a compelling light: not unlike Jesus (Aslan does make explicit comparisons between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity), Aslan’s Muhammad was fiercely concerned with the rights of the oppressed and marginalized; but many Muslim scholars who came after Muhammad were just as fiercely concerned to evade the egalitarian implications of the Prophet’s teaching. (Muhammad emerges here almost as a proto-feminist. It’s the centuries of men who came after him who seem bent on backlash.) Aslan argues that Islam can—indeed must—“be used to establish a genuinely liberal democracy in the Middle East.” But the democracy he envisions is not a colonial democracy, imported from Europe or America. It is an indigenous democracy, with a distinctly Islamic flavor. Readers will gravitate toward No God But God not only because of its stimulating arguments, but also because it’s so well put together as a literary work. Aslan isn’t just a mere scholar and reporter; he also attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and it shows.
An introduction to Islam as evocative as it is provocative.Pub Date: March 22, 2005
ISBN: 1-4000-6213-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2005
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