A robust collection that sheds light on multiple aspects of Jewish history.
This fifth book in a series about Jewish history and culture, edited by Kaplan, covers the years 1500 to 1750.
The “early modern period” discussed here was a time of many upheavals in Jewish history. Expulsions from various European locales (Vienna in 1670, for example) and communities in the New World and outbreaks of the plague are just a few of the occurrences that shaped Jewish life. This was a time of great thinkers, like Baruch Spinoza, and men who claimed to be the messiah, like the Portuguese-born Solomon Molkho (while the former was exiled for his controversial views, the latter was executed in 1532). Such is the wealth of information the reader encounters in the writings, visual arts, and miscellanea referenced here. The Chantilly Haggadah, from an unknown artist in the 1500s, includes the rules for a Passover seder as practiced by “Greek-speaking Jewish communities of the eastern Mediterranean.” Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, a rabbi born in 1578, writes of his experience being arrested for blasphemy against Christianity. Visual material includes images of a Torah ark from a synagogue in Urbino, Italy, and of ceremonies such as a wedding at a synagogue in Germany in 1705. With over 1,000 pages of content, even a cursory glance requires commitment, which pays off in unexpected ways. The reader may be surprised at just how contemporary many of these early modern period writers may seem. A brief guide written in Yiddish for traveling to Jerusalem includes the practical advice to “buy Turkish-style travel garments” during the journey. Other entries surprise in different ways: Excerpts from confessions from the Spanish Inquisition include statements from some who were enticed into “serving the Law of Moses” at the behest of a girl who was eventually burned at the stake. Though the length of the book may be daunting, it is filled with enticing subject matter.
A robust collection that sheds light on multiple aspects of Jewish history.Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0300135510
Page Count: 1392
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
HISTORY | MODERN | JEWISH | GENERAL HISTORY
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 Yorkerstaff 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
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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