Between the Lines: Postwar Stories

Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American

Part of Between the Lines: Author Conversations from The Library of JTS

Tuesday, February 27, 2024
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Online

Dr. Rachel Gordan joins us to discuss her book Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American. The period immediately following World War II was an era of dramatic transformation for Jews in America. At the start of the 1940s, President Roosevelt had to all but promise that if Americans entered the war, it would not be to save the Jews. But by the end of the decade, antisemitism was in decline and Jews were moving toward general acceptance in American society. Drawing on several archives, magazine articles, and nearly forgotten bestsellers, Postwar Stories examines how Jewish middlebrow literature helped to shape post-Holocaust American Jewish identity. 

About the Author

Rachel Gordan is an assistant professor of religion and Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, where she is Shorstein Professor of American Jewish Culture and Society. She received her PhD at Harvard and her BA at Yale.

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