The first openly transgender employee of an Orthodox Jewish institution, Joy Ladin endured media glare and controversy when she made the transition from male to female. In this... Read More

Stories have tremendous power to provide a sense of belonging to a people, a culture, and a place; narrative provides a context in which a strong sense of personal and community... Read More

“Race,” writes the author, “complicates the issue of classical reception more than any other ideological prism, including class, nationalism, or gender and sexuality.”... Read More

Of the author’s celebrated modernist novel, Nightwood, T.S. Eliot wrote that it possessed “the great achievement of a style, the beauty of phrasing, the brilliance of wit... Read More

In the past, when I’ve talked to audiences like this, I’ve often started off with a lawyer joke, a complete caricature of a lawyer who’s been nasty, greedy and unethical.... Read More

Popular culture—fact or fiction, highbrow or lowbrow—imprints indelible images in the minds and psyches of most individuals about life, society and, equally important,... Read More

Everyone is talking about Jane Austen and thats the problem, according to the author. The greater the “Jane” sensation, the less we know about the real Jane Austen. Auerbach... Read More

Yi-Fu Tuan is known for his ability to take on big issues and make them accessible, a skill which has served him well in his career as a professor and author of more than two... Read More

Given the abundance of quality children’s literature available today, and given the strong presence of women in the American workforce, it’s sometimes difficult to believe... Read More

During the last week of May 1939, the Cuban government refused to grant entry to 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler’s Germany. They were passengers aboard the... Read More

“True love, by definition, is unrequited,” claims the narrator of this polished debut novel, recounting her love affair with the troubled Louis. The first-person protagonist... Read More

“I do not remember much more, except the pushcarts laden with emaciated, naked corpses, their limbs often hanging over the side of the cart. Once in a while some would fall... Read More