Jewish History Matters

For this episode, tune in to an important and timely panel discussion about the future of democracy in a global context. We’ll be looking at the erosion of democratic norms and the attacks on democratic

Laura Arnold Leibman joins us to talk about early American Jewish history and material culture, and the big lessons that we learn from looking at a handful of small objects which she studies in her recent book The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects. Listen in for our conversation about how material objects and material culture illuminate our understanding of American Jewish history, and why it matters.

Why do historical terms matter, like Ghetto, concentration camp, and fascism? Daniel B. Schwartz joins us to discuss his book Ghetto: The History of a Word, and about why historical terms and words matter—why it’s

In this episode, Marc Dollinger joins us for an important conversation about the history of Black-Jewish relations in the 1960s, and its ramifications and relevance for the continued struggle for civil rights and racial justice today.

Listen in for an important conversation with Michael Rothberg about how we understand violence—both in history and in our own present day—and our place within it.

Joshua Teplitsky joins us to discuss his book Prince of the Press and the broader issue of the history of Jewish books and book collecting. Prince of the Press is a fantastic book, and it opens up a great set of issues about the meaning of books and libraries in Jewish culture, the process of accumulating and transmitting Jewish learning over the generations, as well as how we understand Jewish life in early modern Europe in the widest terms.

Zev Eleff joins the podcast to discuss his recent book "Authentically Orthodox: A Tradition-Bound Faith in American Life" and the broader topic of the history of modern Orthodox Judaism and why it matters—both in terms of the developments in American Jewish life, and also American religion at large.

Mir Yarfitz joins the podcast to discuss his book Impure Migration: Jews and Sex Work in Golden Age Argentina, and the big-picture issues surrounding the history of migration, sex work and prostitution, and the morality tale of "white slavery."

Laura Robson and Arie Dubnov join us to talk about the history of partition and why it matters in a global context.

David Sorkin talks about the history of Jewish emancipation, the process of Jews gaining (and sometimes losing) civic and civil rights in modern times.

Lior Sternfeld joins the podcast to discuss his book Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran and the big-picture issues it raises about the history of Iran, the history of the Jews in the Middle East, and Jewish history as a whole.

What's in a name? For many American Jews who changed their names in the twentieth century so they would sound "less Jewish," clearly a lot. In this episode, guest host Geraldine Gudefin welcomes Kirsten Fermaglich to speak about her book A Rosenberg by Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America and the big issues it brings up.

Sarah Stein joins the podcast to talk about her recent book, Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey through the Twentieth Century.

Mira Sucharov and Aaron J. Hahn Tapper join us to talk about about their recent volume, Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational and Contemporary Debates.

Rachel Harris joins us to talk about her recent volume Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict