Our blog features essays, book reviews, coverage of FTB titles, and noteworthy news of American Jewish experience by our publisher.
About my father-in-law … and the connections to writing
Posted on September 4, 2020
Tomorrow marks the 21st anniversary of the death of David Streger, my father-in-law, a man who exemplified what is meant by a person of The Greatest Generation. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1939 — Phi Beta Kappa — and served in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer in WWII. Shot several times, he […]
Brief Review of A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
Posted on August 30, 2020
Take a look at Amos Oz’ A Tale of Love and Darkness (amzn.to/3fpn8mc). Step out of the current cultural and political wars in Israel and get real insight into what life was like just before and the War of Independence. The stories he tells place you in the heart of Jerusalem, where you can practically […]
Why are so many North American Jews ignorant about the Israel-Palestine situation?
Posted on August 18, 2020
Peter Beinart’s article in The New York Times of July 8, 2020 (https://nyti.ms/3h6MaZa) lit up the Internet with comments, and sucked in people such as the actor Seth Rogen to chime in with remarks that I can only characterize as silly and immature. I’m not going to dwell on Beinart’s premise — that there should […]
Fig Tree Lit – our monthly newsletter
Posted on July 30, 2020
One of the best parts of running Fig Tree Books is publishing Fig Tree Lit – our monthly newsletter. Sign up and look at our back issues here: https://figtreebooks.net/fig-tree-lit/. Fig Tree Lit includes essays, D’Var Torahs, short stories, book reviews, videos, audio interviews, links to websites, and book promotions. Typical topics include: OLDIE BUT GOODIE […]
Black and White in the U.S.A
Posted on July 13, 2020
I posted the following four paragraphs on Facebook during the last four weeks that I think are worth seeing together. They include references to 2 books, 1 video trailer for a movie, 1 music video, 1 link to a Facebook account, and 1 article. July 4: During these very troubling times, with a president who, in […]
Thinking of Starting a Book Club?
Posted on June 29, 2020
Ideas for Your Book Club No two book clubs are alike. Each has its own flavor, its own personality. There’s no “right” way to run your book club. But these suggestions might give you some ideas to help your book club develop a unique life of its own, one that will enrich the lives of […]
The Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests
Posted on June 17, 2020
Here is a superb article from The New Yorker magazine that goes in-depth on the frustration behind the George Floyd protests: Whether you are on the Left in the Center or on the Right politically, this article will make sense to you. It’s long, but well worth the read. Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration […]
Edward Lewis Wallant
Posted on June 8, 2020
We re-published Edward Lewis Wallant’s extraordinary novel The Pawnbroker in 2015, with a superb Foreword by acclaimed novelist Dara Horn. You can read the Foreword for free. The Pawnbroker is available for just $3.99 as an e-book and $9.99 in a print edition. Wallant’s life was cut very short but his contribution to literature and […]
To Blurb Or Not To Blurb
Posted on May 29, 2020
Guest blog from Anonymous: I’m all things bookish and Jewish: author, editor, book club leader, blubber, and reviewer. I’m tough on myself, having set standards that other editors whom I admire impressed upon me when I was younger and just starting out as a writer. It’s helped me enormously; I walk away from my own […]
Kibbutzim
Posted on May 26, 2020
Kibbutzim have changed radically since they first appeared (to the world) as a representative of what life was like in pre-state Israel starting a hundred years ago. (See: bit.ly/2zB6n8G.) The changes have been even more dramatic since the Six Day War in 1967. Jessamyn Hope gives us a view of the complicated lives of kibbutzniks from […]