Does it matter if a book on or of Jewish thought or culture is published at the Library of Jewish Ideas “co-sponsored” by the neo-conservative Tikvah Fund? It’s very clear from the webpage, which you can read here,  that the unnamed series editors are shooting for a popular readership. That’s a very good thing. But why at a university press and not at a trade press? It’s about the veneer of academic quality. Do or should these kinds of things cast a pall on the scholarly bona fides, i.e. the fair and open dealings, of Jewish Studies at Princeton University Press? Is it just about the money? I think it does and should and I think it is.