Our blog features essays, book reviews, coverage of FTB titles, and noteworthy news of American Jewish experience by our publisher.
Why are Jews called “The People of the Book”?
Posted on March 16, 2020
From Allen Schwartz: “Book” is our current technology for written speech—individual and interpersonal language made visible. Writing and reading books are encouraged by Jews as sacred to our concepts of justice, equality, and growth. Books are the embodiment of “text”, our ancient interplay of writing and speech known as Torah. It confirms Law and Covenant in Jews’ unique, yet […]
Why are so many authors who are Jewish prefer not to be labeled as ‘Jewish Authors’?
Posted on March 9, 2020
From Rebecca Mitrani: Q: Why are so many authors who are Jewish prefer not to be labeled as ‘Jewish Authors’? A: It’s said of many famous American authors who are Jewish that they don’t define themselves as ‘Jewish writers.’ It’s hard to square that from the likes of Philip Roth, author of Operation Shylock, The Plot Against […]
How will non-Orthodox Jews vote in the upcoming presidential election?
Posted on February 26, 2020
From Barbara Zaslov: Q: Will non-Orthodox Jews start to move away from the Democratic party in 2020 in a manner similar to what happened in the UK with Jews voting for Boris Johnson in unprecedented numbers? A: In 2016, Jews voted for Hillary Clinton by a 71%-24% margin according to a Pew poll.1 The percentage voting for Clinton […]
Book Industry Disruption
Posted on February 11, 2020
The book industry is in a period of significant change, brought about in great part by the following set of occurrences in recent years: the rise of Amazon.com as a disruptive influence on book distribution, promotion, and pricing; the introduction of e-readers that have altered the way that books are purchased, promoted and read; the […]
Fig Tree Lit — Our New Newsletter
Posted on February 9, 2020
In December, 2019, we issued our first edition of Fig Tree Lit. Each month, we will put out a new issue that will have features including: Jews of Different Hues (articles about Jews such as ‘Nightline’ co-anchor Juju Chang); Apples and Honey (essays and short stories); Book Club Guides (currently featuring A River Could Be A Tree […]