La Negra y Blanca is the crowning achievement of Deena Metzger's lifetime as a novelist, poet, and playwright. On the surface, it is a meditation on memory as the narrator pieces together the bright flashes of images of her life recalled, piecing them together with the intention of creating a healing matrix that reflects a life lived in search of meaning. On a deeper level, it weaves in the history and tragedy of the Conquest's ongoing political and environmental effects on Latin America through the narrator s relationship with Victor Perera, a Guatemalan-American writer and journalist who documented the destruction of the native Lacandon tribe of Guatemala by imperialistic forces. We become acquainted with La Negra, a mysterious woman who is pregnant, but who will not give birth to her child until the world is safe enough for its continued existence, and who is the centerpiece character of a natural world struggling to survive and maintain its integrity in the midst of industrialization and the decimation of the sacred forests. Metzger has created a complex novel that weaves the personal, political, global and spiritual threads of her life into a tapestry of beauty, sorrow, transcendence, and ultimately, the assurance of a world renewed by the unwavering examination of all of its component parts to create a path into a future that promises reverence for all life.

“Jewish stories,” writes Adam Biro, “resemble every people’s stories.” Yet at the same time there is no better way to understand the soul, history, millennial suffering, or, crucially, the joys of the Jewish people than through such tales—“There’s nothing,” writes Biro, “more revelatory of the Jewish being.” With Is It Good for the Jews? Biro offers a sequel to his acclaimed collection of stories Two Jews on a Train . Through twenty-nine tales—some new, some old, but all finely wrought and rich in humor—Biro spins stories of characters coping with the vicissitudes and reverses of daily life, while simultaneously painting a poignant portrait of a world of unassimilated Jewish life that has largely been lost to the years. From rabbis competing to see who is the most humble, to the father who uses suicide threats to pressure his children into visiting, to three men berated by the Almighty himself for playing poker, Biro populates his stories with memorable characters and absurd—yet familiar—situations, all related with a dry wit and spry prose style redolent of the long tradition of Jewish storytelling. A collection simultaneously of foibles and fables, adversity and affection, Is It Good for the Jews? reminds us that if in the beginning was the word, then we can surely be forgiven for expecting a punch line to follow one of these days.

Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. Jewish Studies. Translated from the Spanish by Antena. The narrator of TELA DE SEVOYA / ONIONCLOTH travels to Bulgaria, searching for traces of her Sephardic heritage. Her journey becomes an autobiographical and imagined exploration of childhood, diaspora, and the possibilities of her family language: Ladino or Judeo- Spanish, the living tongue spoken by descendants of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Memoir, poetry, storytelling, songs, and dreams are interwoven in this visionary text--this tela or cloth that brings the past to life, if only for a moment, and that looks at the present though the lens of history. In 2012, TELA DE SEVOYA / ONIONCLOTH was awarded one of Mexico's most prestigious literary prizes, the Premio Xavier Villaurrutia, whose previous winners include Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, and Mario Bellatin. "TELA DE SEVOYA / ONIONCLOTH is an absolutely extraordinary text... it successfully joins past and present, life and death, memory and imagination."--Juan Gelman "Readers will find, through this tale of the relationship between a girl and her embittered grandmother, an entirely singular world narrated from the point of view of an 'I' whose range exceeds the territory of any private life."--Mario Bellatin

A new translation of a forgotten masterpiece of German World War I literature, based on the author's own first-hand experiences of combat The war, an operation instigated by men, still felt to him like a storm decreed by fate, an unleashing of powerful elements, unaccountable and beyond criticism. Arnold Zweig's novel was first published in 1933 and is based on his own experiences in the German army during World War I. Following the unlawful killing of his younger brother by his own superiors, Lieutenant Kroysing swears revenge, using his influence to arrange for his brother's unit, normally safely behind the lines, to be reassigned to the fortress at Douaument, in the very heart of the battle for France. Bertin, a lowly but educated Jewish sapper through whose eyes the story unfolds, is the innocent man caught in the cross-fire. The book not only explores the heart-breaking tragedy of one individual trapped in a nightmare of industrialized warfare but also reveals the iniquities of German society in microcosm, with all its injustice, brutality, anti-Semitism, and incompetence. A brilliant translation captures all the subtleties, cadences, and detachment of Zweig's masterful prose.

A remarkable insight into Jewish history in Britain, 'My Mother's House' is a poignant story of belonging, nationhood and identity set in Wales, England and Palestine. The first novel from the acclaimed author of Eunice Fleet - a poignant story of belonging, nationhood and identity set in Wales, England and Palestine. First novel from the acclaimed author of EUNICE FLEET a poignant story of belonging, nationhood and identity set in Wales, England and Palestine Simon is a troubled young manborn in Wales, of Jewish heritage, and in love with Englishness and an English heiress. He determines to reject his Jewish and Welsh identity and the industrial valleys he grew up in and seeks to fulfil his ambition to rise in the Civil Service. His experiences in love and his professional life see him reject Edith on discovering that she is not what he believed her to be, and taking up arms in the fight against Englands enemies in the Great War. Ultimately, he must embrace his family and his heritage before he can experience a sense of wholeness. Simons experience raises questions of belonging, language, nationhood and identity that are as relevant now as they were in 1931 when the novel was first published. Lily Tobiass sensitive individual and communal portraits illuminate some of the most topical personal, social and political issues of the twenty-first century.

Set in Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century, Zipper and his Father is a compelling and wonderfully atmospheric portrayal of a childhood friend, Arnold Zipper, and his father, as seen through the eyes of a young boy. The Zipper family welcome the arrival of their son's friend and the boy is fascinated by their cosy suburban life. Zipper Senior, a violin-maker and travelling salesman, is determined that they will attain the success that was denied to him. However, as the two friends mature their lives take different paths' - the army, university, early career choices and a disastrous marriage to an aspiring actress all take their toll - and each has a very different story to tell. From the outskirts of Vienna to the Hollywood hills, Zipper and his Father charts the ambitions of a whole generation who, during period of erratic social change, found themselves dreaming of what might have been.

Larkswood House. The very name suggests birdsong, peace and elegance. It is home to the Hamilton children - Edward, Cynthia and Harriet - who enjoy the freedom and excitement of privilege. But in the glorious summer of 1896, with absent parents and a departed governess, disaster strikes the family, leaving it cruelly divided. More than 40 years later, on the eve of the Second World War, Louisa Hamilton, newly presented at court but struck down with glandular fever, is sent to Larkswood to recuperate. There, for the first time, she meets her grandfather, Edward, home after decades in India. But as Louisa begins to fall under the spell of Larkswood, she realises it holds the key to the mystery that shattered her family two generations before. Will she find the courage to unravel the dark secrets of the past?

Gotz and Meyer, two noncommissioned SS officers, are entrusted with an assignment, "not a big one," but one that "requires efficiency." Their task is to transport five thousand women, children and elderly, one hundred at a time, from a concentration camp near Belgrade in a hermetically sealed truck, in which they are gassed. As Albahari's anonymous narrator, a teacher, obsessively pursues the truth of this systematic annihilation, he shares his findings with his students. Their school bus becomes that truck, and as the memory of Belgrade's lost Jewish souls is evoked, the students are bewildered. Their teacher, worn down as much by the task of making history come alive as by the toll his research has taken on him, is overwhelmed by the horror of his own imaginings. A harrowing, masterfully written story, full of compassion, irony, and lyricism.

A witty and erudite love letter to a bygone age, from one of Europe's last great humanists. "A sparkling slice of eighteenth-century life" Paul Bailey, Independent In August 1785 Paris buzzed with scandal. It involved an eminent churchman, a notorious charlatan, a female fraudster, a part-time prostitute and the hated Queen herself. At its heart was the most expensive diamond necklace ever assembled and the web of fraud, folly and self-delusion it had inspired. In Szerb's last major work, a witty and often surprising account of events, the story is used as a standpoint from which to survey the entire age. Written in war-torn Hungary in the early 1940s,it constitutes a remarkable gesture of defiance against the brutal world in which the writer lived and died. Antal Szerb (1901-1945) was born in Budapest. Though of Jewish descent, he was baptised at an early age and remained a lifelong Catholic. He rapidly established himself as a formidable scholar, through studies of Ibsen and Blake and histories of English, Hungarian and world literature. He was a prolific essayist and reviewer, ranging across all the major European languages. Debarred by successive Jewish laws from working in a university, he was subjected to increasing persecution, and finally murderedin a forced labour camp in 1945. Pushkin Press publishes his novels The Pendragon Legend , Oliver VII and his masterpiece Journey by Moonlight , as well as the historical study The Queen's Necklace and Love in a Bottle and Other Stories .

A young Canadian marches over the Pyrenees and enters into history by joining the International Brigades--men and women from around the world who volunteered to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. This new edition of Ted Allan's novel, This Time a Better Earth, reintroduces readers to the electrifying milieu of the Spanish Civil War and Madrid, which for a short time in the 1930s became the epicentre of a global struggle between democracy and fascism. This Time a Better Earth, first published in 1939, tells the story of Canadian Bob Curtis from the time of his arrival in Spain and the idealism and trials of the international volunteers. Allan's novel achieves the distinction of being both a work of considerable literary and historical significance and a real page-turner. This is the first installment of a series of titles to be published in the Canadian Literature Collection under the Canada and the Spanish Civil War banner. This is a large-scale project devoted to the recovery and presentation of Canadian cultural production about the Spanish Civil War (spanishcivilwar.ca), directed by Bart Auteur and Emily Robins Sharpe. A young Canadian marches over the Pyrenees and enters into history by joining the International Brigades--men and women from around the world who volunteered to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Published in English.

"In the course of an impressive career as a writer, Herbert Gold has demonstrated many gifts, among them his talent for mak-ing high drama of ordinary events, ordinary people." - Chicago Tribune Book World "Gold...has a sharp eye for detail."- The Washington Times Magazine "Not just a good book, but a great one."- Daily Mail (London) "Herbert Gold... gives his stories a wry, bright air of wonder...he is a born storyteller."- New York Times "One of the most gifted writers in America."- Detroit Times Important writers are expected to gather together collections of their shorter works-the obligatory book of stories or essays. In this collection, Herbert Gold discards convention, and instead combines fiction and non-fiction themes that have been important to him as a writer and social thinker. This "interchange between fact and fiction," as Gold writes, "presents the picture of an American mind wrestling with the American mentality." And that mind ranges wide: from the miseries of Haiti to the disasters of Biafra; from the new universities and the beatniks and hippies of San Francisco in the 1960s to the literary life and encounters with random violence, love, death, and sexuality in the present. Portions of this book have been published in periodicals as varied as Esquire and Look , Hudson Review , and Tri-Quarterly , and some appear here for the first time. For this edition, Gold bridges the sections with new introductions, which link the specific works, the times, and his life. The book includes the savage and moving story "A Death on the East Side," and his meditation on the doom of Biafra and the meaning of its fate. He has added two new essays, "King of the Cleveland Beatniks," about his brother, and "Quality Time with Sonny Barger," about the former president of the Hell's Angels Oakland Chapter. These show his consistent interest in what many would see as the margins of social life. Of the title, the author writes: " The Magic Will " seeks to make the real world unreal and magical, and the unreal and magical world practical and real." Amusing, touching, playful, ultimately deeply serious, this book by Herbert Gold further illuminates the mind and heart of a superb writer. It will be a joy to those interested in the humanities, as well as cultural history and social awareness in the broadest sense. Herbert Gold is a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and occasional journalist, who has made his living as a writer for fifty years.

SPANNING SIX GENERATIONS and three continents, My Name, a Living Memory is a fictionalized saga of author Giorgio van Straten’s family from the Napoleonic era through World War II. The story begins in Rotterdam in 1811, when Hartog son of Alexander — father, cucumber salesman, and Dutch Jew — is forced by Napoleonic edict to choose a last name. He chooses Straaten, the Dutch word for “street.” The name presages a journey through history that flings Hartog’s descendants as far afield as San Francisco, London, Odessa, Sao Paolo, and Tbilisi. They witness the Gold Rush, the Russian Revolution, the Stalinist purges, and, finally, the Holocaust. Some are uprooted by business interests, including the author’s grandfather, who lost one of the A’s in his surname en route. As the political climate grows increasingly perilous for Jews throughout Europe, several are forced to flee for their lives, and many fail to return from Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Bergen-Belsen. Historical fiction of a very personal sort, van Straten weaves his relatives’ stories together, much as an art restorer reconstructs the missing portions of a fresco, guided by the evidence that remains. A gold watch, a few photographs, crumpled documents and letters, family lore; these are the artifacts from which lives are re-created. In the end, the story of van Straten’s family can be read as a testament to the rich and varied history and culture of Jews in Europe and the Americas.

In Light of My Eye, Paula Jacques, born in Egypt, recreates the vanished world of cosmopolitan Cairo with remembered affection and amusing dialogue. Her novel depicts the turbulent waning days of its once thriving Jewish community, during the strange and ominous time between the collapse of the Egyptian monarchy and Nasser's rise to power. At its center are the pre-adolescent Mona Castro and her family, whose lives and destinies the author evokes in a series of scenes that veer between poignancy and wit. Mona's coming of age is marked by her youthful rebellion against her domineering mother, Becky; the illness of the beloved family patriarch, Joucky; and her half-innocent dalliance with an older man, a refugee from eastern Europe. The surrounding ensemble of relatives, whose family gatherings attempt to cope with a history that will overwhelm them, shifts the focus from Mona' s tale to a chronicle of a proud, doomed family.

"Robert Annys: Poor Priest: A Tale of the Great Uprising" by Annie Nathan Meyer transports readers to the heart of medieval England during a time of immense social and religious upheaval. This historical novel delves into the world of the Lollards, a religious movement advocating for reform within the Church. Against the backdrop of the Great Uprising, also known as the Peasants' Revolt, the story explores themes of faith, poverty, and resistance. Meyer's meticulously researched work brings to life a pivotal period in English history, offering a glimpse into the lives and beliefs of those who challenged the established order. For readers interested in historical fiction, religious fiction, and the struggles of the Middle Ages, "Robert Annys: Poor Priest" provides a compelling and insightful narrative. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Long-held secrets. Unusual events. Eerily similar coincidences or potential disaster decades in the making? Imagine Dan Brown meets Tom Clancy in a fast-paced, philosophical mystery thriller 1992... Agent Alexei Soloviev discovers Adolf Hitler's secret will in the KGB's underground archives. Thirty years later... Intelligence Services Analyst, Melany Carson, infiltrates a group of white supremacists in Pennsylvania following a series of disturbances in Islamic circles that are connected to neo-Nazi organizations. A discovery as terrifying as it is shocking forces Melany and her new companion, Jeff Cartright, a young millionaire, into danger as they search for the only person who knows what Hitler's last diabolical plan was. If they don't find Alexei, any hope of preventing disaster will be lost. From Washington to Pennsylvania and Boston to Moscow through the suffocating jungles of Sumatra and beyond, THE THIRD TESTAMENT takes readers on a breathtaking adventure that blurs the line between fiction and reality and raises questions about the potential reincarnation of the Third Reich. ***********************************************************************************************************************************************Pierre Rehov's The Third Testament: A shocking and terrifying discovery that could change the course of history is a thriller in every sense of the word. It's a fast-paced, briskly plotted, twist-laden adventure spanning from rural Pennsylvania to Moscow to Indonesia, and imagining a scenario for international bloodshed and terror that sheds light on some commonly ignored but crucially important truths about the contemporary world. (Robert Spencer - PJ Media) Beyond its thriller dimension, which makes it a real "page-turner", a book that you can't let go once opened, "The Third Testament" evokes this natural union between Nazism and Islamism around a breathtaking chase against a background of current events and historical facts. The construction of the book is of a very high level, the reading particularly limpid and rhythmic. Drop everything and hurry to acquire it. This novel is incredible, way beyond Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" (Pamela Geller's report) Pierre Rehov's latest novel, "The Third Testament" is a well-written, fast reading voyage into an exciting and frightening world of violence and intrigue.While traveling throughout the US, Russia and Sumatra searching for answers to questions that Agent Alexei Soloview discovered in Hitler's Will thirty years earlier, Intelligence Services Analyst Melany Carson and her friend Jeff find themselves in terrifying life threatening situations.The answers to the questions, was there a will, and if so, what was prophesied and is that prophesy becoming a reality today must be left to the reader. I recommend the book, it's a great read. (Judith Nusbaum - Jpost) Pierre Rehov brings the knowledge and excitement of his exceptional documentaries on terrorism, combined with the experience from his bestselling European novels to bring the reader on a thrilling journey. You will NOT be able to put it down! One thing I can say for sure: I wait with bated breath for the movie! (Audrey Russo-Real Talk With Audrey Russo)

"Separated by 70 years, Michael, an American soldier, and Michel, a French printer, flee German-occupied France towards Gibraltar. As Michael travels, he continues to stumble onto traces of his grandfather's earlier journey, discovering patterns which connect the two men across the expanse of time."--

"Considered Antonio Lobo Antunes's masterpiece, The land at the end of the world -- now in a new and fully restored translation by acclaimed translator Margaret Jull Costa -- recounts the anguished tale of a Portuguese medic haunted by memories of war, who, like the Ancient Mariner, will tell his tale to anyone who listens. In the tradition of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of the twentieth century's most original literary voices has delivered a haunting and heartrending meditation on the absurdities of love and war"--Back cover