Academically detailed yet esoterically fun.
The detailed story of Jewish prayers before Congress.
C-SPAN communications director Mortman offers an exhaustive examination of the many rabbis who have provided invocations as guest chaplains to Congress since the Civil War era. The author is to be commended for his thorough scouring of the Congressional Record as well as a wide array of biographical sources about the many rabbis he profiles. Mortman begins in 1860 with a prayer by Morris Raphall, the first of 441 rabbis who have given an invocation before the House or Senate (as of February 2020). Throughout the text, the author explores these prayers from seemingly every imaginable angle: the personalities of the rabbis giving them, the topics they discussed, the political context in which they were given, and much more. This is a work of extensive scholarship, but refreshingly, Mortman doesn’t take it too seriously, injecting the narrative with pithy statements and punny humor. In reference to rabbis as candidates for public office, he invokes John Updike: “Rabbi, Run.” While describing rebukes of partisan rabbinical messages, he notes, “Congressional leadership includes whips, but there’s no miracle whip.” The author also provides an impressive compilation of statistics about rabbinical speeches, and his analyses of the invocations and the clergy behind them are solid and diligent. Not only does Mortman point out that Isaiah is the book of the Bible most quoted by rabbis to Congress, but he also notes which verse of Isaiah is most quoted before exploring the many ways in which Isaiah is approached in these blessings. The prophet, notes the author wryly, “might have embraced all this official attention.” Given the book’s specialized topic and scholarly heft, the readership will be limited, but armchair historians intrigued by Jewish studies will find a trove of interesting material, much of which is ripe for further study.
Academically detailed yet esoterically fun.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64469-344-5
Page Count: 410
Publisher: Cherry Orchard Books/Academic Studies Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2020
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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