At a time when so many of us worry about the future of reading, the future of books, and the future of university scholarship and the humanities, this type of community recognition is a ray of light. You can see all the categories, winners and finalists of the 2019 National Jewish Book Award here.
It is especially gratifying to see the place of Jewish thought and philosophy in this writers’ eco-system. For the purpose of this post, I’m highlighting those finalists writing, more or less loosely, under the rubric of Jewish thought. I’m noting in particular Paul Nahme, who published his book on Hermann Cohen at the series in New Jewish Philosophy and Thought at Indiana University Press (where he is joining, among all the brilliant writer-scholars at the series, award winners Mara Benjamin and Samuel Brody.)
In no particular order they are:
Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah: Canonization and Resistance in the Reception of a Jewish Classic
Eric Lawee
Oxford University Press
The Autobiography of Solomon Maimon: The Complete Translation
Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Abraham Socher, eds.; Paul Reitter, trans.
Princeton University Press
Hermann Cohen and the Crisis of Liberalism
Paul E. Nahme
Indiana University Press
Dissident Rabbi: The Life of Jacob Sasportas
Yaacob Dweck
Princeton University Press
Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement
Naomi Seidman
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
The Notorious Ben Hecht: Iconoclastic Writer and Zionist Militant
Julien Gorbach
Purdue University Press
Vasily Grossman and the Soviet Century
Alexandra Popoff
Yale University Press
The Foundations of American Jewish Liberalism
Kenneth D. Wald
Cambridge University Pres
American JewBu: Jews, Buddhists, and Religious Change
Emily Sigalow
Princeton University Press
Colonialism and the Jews
Ethan B. Katz
Indiana University Press
