Jewish Books: Dr. Steve Recommends…

A new BJV column about Jewish books and authors

By Dr. Steve Rubin / Special to the BJV

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the inaugural edition of “Dr. Steve recommends.” Each month I will list three (or four) books dealing with issues of interest to the Jewish community. I hope you will find these recommendations useful, and I encourage you to share your comments and suggestions.

This month I am recommending two works of fiction: one published this year, one more than twenty years ago but very relevant to contemporary America; and a work of nonfiction that I think you will find most interesting.

Long Island Compromise (2024) is the second novel by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, the author of Fleishman is in Trouble and one that goes far beyond her first attempt both in scope and depth. It is the fictionalized account of the real story of the kidnapping of a wealthy Long Island businessman and how the different generations of the Fletcher family deal with the trauma of that incident. It is a big, sprawling novel—by turns funny, sexy, touching, exciting, and sad. And beyond that: it’s a terrific read!

Although Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004) was published twenty years ago, now seems like a good time to revisit Roth’s alternate history of America in the 1940s where Charles Lindbergh defeats Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in the 1940 election. Once in office, Lindbergh negotiates an agreement with Hitler, and anti-Semitism becomes a de-facto government policy. It’s a frighteningly prescient imagining of history and a stern warning to those who believe in the dictum “it can’t happen here.”

The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WW II and Shape Modern America (2023) by Christopher C. Gorham. Anna Maria Rosenberg, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, was one of FDR’s closest advisors, an Assistant Secretary of the Defense, and the force behind many of Roosevelt’s (and Truman’s) important initiatives including the integration of the armed forces and the passing of the GI Bill. Little known today, she was dubbed by Life Magazine in 1952 “far and away the most important woman in American government.” I think you’ll appreciate Gorham’s account of this mostly forgotten but consequential figure.

I hope you enjoy these suggestions and please, tell us what you’re reading.

 

Steven J. Rubin, Ph.D. has written and lectured extensively both here and abroad on issues relating to Jewish culture and literature. He is the editor of, among other volumes, Telling and Remembering: A Century of American Jewish Poetry and Celebrating the Jewish Holidays: Poems, Stories, Essays. He is professor emeritus and former dean at Adelphi University, Garden City, NY. He can be reached at sjr@adelphi.edu.