IsitpossibletoconceiveoftheAmericandietwithoutbagels?OrStarTrekwithoutMr.Spock?ArethecreaturesinMauriceSendak’sWheretheWildThingsArebasedonHolocaustsurvivors?AndhowhasYiddish,alanguagewithoutacountry,influencedHollywood?TheseandotherquestionsareexploredinthisstunningandrichanthologyoftheinterplayofYiddishandAmericanculture,editedbyaward-winningauthorsandscholarsIlanStavansandJoshLambert.ItstartswiththearrivalofAshkenaziimmigrantstoNewYorkCity’sLowerEastSideandfollowsYiddishasitmovesintoHollywood,Broadway,literature,politics,andresistance.Wetakedeepdivesintocuisine,language,popularculture,andevenYiddishintheotherAmericas,includingCanada,Argentina,Cuba,Mexico,andColombia.Thebookpresentsabountifulmenuofgenres:essays,memoir,song,letters,poems,recipes,cartoons,conversations,andmuchmore.AuthorsincludeNobelPrize-winnerIsaacBashevisSingerandluminariessuchasGracePaley,CynthiaOzick,ChaimGrade,MichaelChabon,AbrahamCahan,SophieTucker,BlumeLempel,IrvingHowe,ArtSpiegelman,AlfredKazin,HarveyPekar,BenKatchor,PaulaVogel,andLianaFinck.Readerswilllaughandcryastheydelveintopersonalstoriesofassimilationandlearnaboutpeoplefromadiversevarietyofbackgrounds,Jewishandnot,whohavemadethelanguagetheirown.TheYiddishsayingstates:Dermentshtrakhtungotlakht.ManplansandGodlaughs.HowYiddishChangedAmericaandHowAmericaChangedYiddishillustrateshowthoseplansarefullofzest,dignity,andtremendoushumanity.
RECIPES AMERICA poems BROADWAY CARTOONS literature SONG language CHANGED
