books

Paul Morgan-Bentley, author of 'The Equal Parent,' left, with son Solly and husband Robin. (Courtesy)

Pride month

These Jewish gay dads show how parenting benefits from a shifting division of labor

In ‘The Equal Parent,’ UK author Paul Morgan-Bentley argues that parents are already sharing the load in rearing kids, which is great for families – now society needs to adapt, too

June 26, 2023, 3:02 am

These Jewish gay dads show how parenting benefits from a shifting division of labor

In ‘The Equal Parent,’ UK author Paul Morgan-Bentley argues that parents are already sharing the load in rearing kids, which is great for families – now society needs to adapt, too

By Robert Philpot

Visitors at the National Library of Israel for Epilogue on June 21, 2023, an event to bid goodbye to the library's Hebrew University Givat Ram campus prior to its move to a new building near the Knesset (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

June 22, 2023, 6:04 am

Closing chapter, National Library holds last hurrah in Hebrew U jewel it called home

Epilogue event sees tours, talks, concerts, and more fill stacks and reading rooms throughout building that marked major architectural milestone when it opened in 1960

By Jessica Steinberg

Pick-Goslar survived to have three children, 11 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren. (Eric Sultan/The Lonka Project via JTA)

June 19, 2023, 2:28 am

In new memoir, Anne Frank’s best friend tells incredible story of Holocaust survival

In ‘My Best Friend Anne Frank,’ the late Hannah Pick-Goslar talks about how she grew up with the future icon and their brief reunion at Bergen-Belsen during Frank’s last days

By Shira Li Bartov

Woman hands burning white sage. (iStock photo/ ninelutsk)

May 30, 2023, 2:10 am

Check yourself before you hex yourself: An expert’s guide to the evil eye

In his new book ‘The Evil Eye: The History, Mystery, and Magic of the Quiet Curse,’ Antonio Pagliarulo gives a practical overview of one of history’s most durable forces

By Rich Tenorio

Arnold Horween, right, and Ralph Horween, left, in 1919. (Wikimedia Commons via JTA)

May 29, 2023, 3:50 am

How Arnold Horween, an unsung Jewish Harvard hero, changed American sports

In his new book ‘Dyed in Crimson,’ Zev Eleff shows how years before Koufax or Greenberg hit the scene, one tenacious athlete jumped racial hurdles to achieve national acclaim

By jacob gurvis

Author Aaron Hamburger's grandmother in Key West in 1922, on the local rabbi's balcony. (Courtesy)

May 28, 2023, 2:09 am

No ‘Fiddler’: Fun-loving bubbie goes from shtetl to Cuba to NYC in grandson’s novel

Aaron Hamburger paints an unconventional but true-to-life picture of Old Country Jewish immigrants discovering a new world in his new historical novel, ‘Hotel Cuba’

By Avner Landes

The 12th century Crusader fortress Belvoir, at Israel's Kochav HaYarden National Park in the Jordan Valley (Shmuel Bar-Am)

May 27, 2023, 10:05 am

Between bloodbaths, Jerusalem’s Crusader-era Christians, Muslims coexisted in peace

In ‘Jerusalem Falls,’ Prof. John Hosler analyzes what happened in the Holy City between the battles of the Middle Ages – and finds unexpected religious tolerance

By Rich Tenorio

Illustrative: 'Jewish Wedding' by Marco Marcuola of Venice, painted around 1780. (Wikimedia commons/ CC SA 4.0/ Moise Nedjar)

May 26, 2023, 9:44 am

Massive history book charts how the Jewish Diaspora reached all corners of the globe

In the 1,200-page fifth installment of the Posen Library series, Prof. Yosef Kaplan gives a thorough and colorful look at Jews’ cultural and geographical expansion from 1500-1750

By Rich Tenorio

People take a knee as an organizer reads a prayer to the crowd of several hundred gathered during a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 2020 (Maranie R. STAAB / AFP)

May 21, 2023, 8:50 pm

A scholar sees a common root for antisemitism and racism: ‘Christian supremacy’

Polish-born academic Magda Teter’s new book, ‘Christian Supremacy,’ traces how a history of exclusion and dominance trickles down from Paul the Apostle to today’s Proud Boys

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

Edwin A. Walker under the custody of marshals on campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi, October 1, 1962. (AP Photo)

May 21, 2023, 1:53 am

How an ADL spy operation helped bring down the far-right John Birch Society

Researching his new book ‘Birchers,’ Matthew Dallek discovers paperwork documenting a successful espionage effort to thwart an anti-Civil Rights group deemed a threat by some Jews

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

Author and journalist Isabel Kershner and her new book, 'A Land of Hope and Fear.' (Rina Castelnuovo)

May 16, 2023, 11:18 pm

A house divided: New book explores roots of the rifts between Israel’s many ‘tribes’

In ‘The Land of Hope and Fear,’ veteran New York Times correspondent Isabel Kershner crisscrosses ‘a country on the precipice’ and comes away with ‘great faith in the people’

By Amy Spiro

British author Salman Rushdie in a selfie he posted on social media, February 7, 2023 (Twitter)

May 16, 2023, 2:35 pm

In rare appearance after attack, Salman Rushdie warns free expression under threat

Writer, who was blinded in one eye and suffered hand nerve damage, cites ‘extraordinary attack on libraries, and books for children in schools’ in US, as well as book rewrites

By AP

Judy Blume seen in the documentary 'Judy Blume Forever.' (Courtesy of Prime Video via JTA)

May 13, 2023, 3:00 am

Judy Blume is having a moment. Here’s why Jewish women love her work

The author of ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ – newly adapted for the screen – crafts protagonists who deal with a range of teen issues as well as issues of Jewish identity

By Sarah Rosen

The 2010s was the decade of Netanyahu’s mastery of the black arts of political manipulation and manoeuvring. Despite charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, despite weekly demonstrations in Jerusalem, despite his wife’s loose understanding of the difference between state responsibility and domestic aggrandizement, Netanyahu saw off one opponent after another. (Yonatan Wachsmann, Calcalist December 3, 2020/Courtesy of Colin Shindler)

May 3, 2023, 1:48 pm

From pre-state to present, political cartoons paint picture of a dynamic Israel

New book uses the work of Israel’s leading editorial cartoonists, who hold the country’s leadership accountable through clever imagery and biting satire

By Renee Ghert-Zand

FILE - In this June 29, 1956 file photo, actress Marilyn Monroe, left, and playwright Arthur Miller embrace on the lawn of Miller's home in Roxbury, Conn., several hours before they were married in White Plains, New York. (AP Photo, File)

April 22, 2023, 2:40 am

The rags-to-riches story of Arthur Miller, Pulitzer-winning son of Jewish immigrants

A new biography by John Lahr in Yale’s Jewish Lives Series tracks the successes (and many failures) of a beloved American writer whose tragic characters were inspired by his life

By JP O’ Malley