Scholar Jordan D. Rosenblum’s fascinating text "Forbidden" is a history of how the pig became the litmus test for Jewish identity. In accordance with biblical dietary laws, the pig is only one non-kosher animal out of many. Still, it... Read More

A startling examination of eight influential Supreme Court cases, "The Supreme Court Footnote" describes the increasing importance of footnotes in signaling the justices’ thinking and direction. This astute book covers Peter Charles... Read More

During the final decades of the Soviet Union, the country’s Jewish population was stuck in an impossible situation, unable to practice their religion and also forbidden to leave. Shaul Kelner’s "A Cold War Exodus" shows how a... Read More

The essays collected in "Good Eats" explore people’s relationships to food through personal stories of love, connection, and emotional literacy. Food is not just food, the book argues. To discuss food is to dig into the foundations of... Read More

Sociologist Casey Stockstill’s "False Starts" exposes how racial inequality in the US begins in preschool. Stockstill spent two years observing the daycare provided by two top-ranked preschools in Madison, Wisconsin: a public Head... Read More

Jeffrey S. Gurock’s "Marty Glickman" is an encompassing biography of the athlete, sportscaster, and mentor. Born in 1917, Glickman grew up in New York’s Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods. A star high school athlete, he was recruited... Read More

Laura Yares’s "Jewish Sunday Schools" is a complex survey of Jewish immigrant religious education that notes its influence on society. The book details the concerns of early nineteenth-century Jewish American communities regarding the... Read More

Aaron Sachs’s "Stay Cool" proposes a lighthearted means of tackling the serious subject of climate change. Declaring that the sanctimonious tones of environmentalists have a demotivating impact, this book muses on how humor might be... Read More