Books Set in Asia; Israel

10/7, by Lee Yaron (2024)

This book recounts 100 human stories about horror of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.  On that traumatic day, 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.  Yaron provides a human portrait of many of those killed.

On Shabbat October 7, 2023, which was also the last day of Sukkot and the beginning of Simhat Torah, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel.  Hamas indiscriminately massacred civilians in what became one of the worst terror attacks in recent history, and the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Read:  September 25, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in North America, Massena, New York, United States

The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town, by Edward Berenson (2019)

Read:  June 8, 2025

3 Stars

Books Set in Europe and North America: Germany and California

Address Unknown, by Katherine Kressman Taylor (1938)

This is a very short book, written in letters between friends and business partners, in the early 1930s.  Martin recently returned to Germany and writes to Max about the rise of the Nazi party.  He initially thinks the new government will benefit Germany.  Max, who is Jewish, begins to question the stories of violence against Jews, but Martin dismisses his concerns.

When Max learns that Martin turned Max's sister away, and she was subsequently killed, Max devised a plan by written letters to Martin that appear to be in code.  Martin begs Max to stop writing, but Max continues until one of his letters to Martin is returned, marked "address unknown."

Read:    December 17, 2024

             May 9, 2004

5 Stars

Books Set in the World

People Love Dead Jews, by Dara Horn (2021)

 

I first heard of this book through Dara Horn’s podcast of the same name.  After listening to the podcasts, I knew I wanted to read the book.  I know of Dara Horn mostly through her novels.  This book is not a work of fiction.  Instead, it is a collection of 12 well-researched essays of how Jews are represented throughout history, how museums are built to honor Jewish heritage, just so long as evidence of live Jews is not present.  At the Anne Frank House, for example, a young Jewish worker was informed that he could not wear his kippah.

 

Horn recounts how she visited the city of Harbin, China, a city that was built primarily when the Russians sent their Jews there.  For a brief period in the 1930s, the city was a haven for Russian Jews.  Then the War broke out.  The Jews were either forced to leave or were slaughtered.  Today, there is a new “memorial” honoring the Jewish citizens of this city.

 

Horn explores antisemitism in the United States and the world in this book.  It is both disturbing and thought provoking.

 

Read: January 2022

 

4 Stars