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DEBORAH, GOLDA, AND ME

BEING FEMALE AND JEWISH IN AMERICA

Expressly following the feminist dictum that ``the personal is political,'' Pogrebin (Among Friends, 1986; Family Politics, 1983, etc.), a founding editor of Ms. magazine, mixes memoir with reportage to chart her dual commitment to Judaism and feminism. In four closely interwoven sections, the author traces her development from childhood in a religiously observant family through adult rediscovery of spiritual identity and subsequent efforts to reconcile Judaism with feminism in both the religious and secular realms, and on to her present determination ``to live life with a feminist head and a Jewish heart.'' Finding herself ``frayed and frazzled as both a Jew in the women's movement and as a feminist in Judaism,'' Pogrebin lays claim to a ``middle ground.'' To her credit, she doesn't skirt the tough issues—how to blend an often explicitly patriarchal religion with feminist beliefs; the problem of anti-Semitism in the women's movement; the breakdown in black-Jewish relations; the seemingly intractable Palestinian question—but this very inclusiveness gives the book a choppy feel, too much like a pieced-together collection of magazine articles (which some of the chapters were). We get Jewish feminist efforts to make ritual more relevant; an analysis of movie stereotypes; accounts of attempts at black-Jewish and Palestinian- Jewish feminist dialogues. Then there's an intimate disclosure of family secrets, up through the author's college days, at which point Pogrebin abruptly clamps down on confession, confining her reports of soul-searching to the activist spheres. An odd hybrid in which the personal and political awkwardly jostle one another and tend to get hopelessly mixed up in the fray.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-517-57517-5

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1991

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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