Israel Through the Jewish-American Imagination: A Survey of Jewish-American Literature on Israel, 1928-1995 (Suny Series in Modern Jewish Literature & Culture)

Examines eight Jewish-American writers--Meyer Levin, Leon Uris, Saul Bellow, Hugh Nissenson, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Anne Roiphe, and Tova Reich--who have "imagined" Israel in their work. Analyzing a wide array of Jewish-American fiction on Israel, Andrew Furman explores the evolving relationship between the Israeli and American Jew. He devotes individual chapters to eight Jewish-American writers who have “imagined” Israel substantially in one or more of their works. In doing so, he gauges the impact of the Jewish state in forging the identity of the American Jewish community and the vision of the Jewish-American writer. Furman devotes individual chapters to Meyer Levin, Leon Uris, Saul Bellow, Hugh Nissenson, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Anne Roiphe, and Tova Reich. To chart the evolution of the Jewish-American relationship with Israel from pre-statehood until the present, he considers works from 1928 to 1995, examining them in their historical and political contexts. The writers Furman examines address the central issues which have linked and divided the American and Israeli Jewish communities: the role of Israel as both safe haven and spiritual core for Jews everywhere pitted against its secularism, militarism, and entrenched sexism. While the writers Furman examines depict contrasting images of the Middle East, the very persistence of Israel in occupying that imagination reveals, above all, how prominent a role Israel played and continues to play in shaping the Jewish-American identity.

Israel Through the Jewish-American Imagination: A Survey of Jewish-American Literature on Israel, 1928-1995 (Modern Jewish Lit Culture)

History

Furman, Andrew

World

State University of New York Press

Analyzing a wide array of Jewish-American fiction on Israel, Andrew Furman explores the evolving relationship between the Israeli and American Jew. He devotes individual chapters to eight Jewish-American writers who have "imagined" Israel substantially in one or more of their works. In doing so, he gauges the impact of the Jewish state in forging the identity of the American Jewish community and the vision of the Jewish-American writer.Furman devotes individual chapters to Meyer Levin, Leon Uris, Saul Bellow, Hugh Nissenson, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Anne Roiphe, and Tova Reich. To chart the evolution of the Jewish-American relationship with Israel from pre-statehood until the present, he considers works from 1928 to 1995, examining them in their historical and political contexts. The writers Furman examines address the central issues which have linked and divided the American and Israeli Jewish communities: the role of Israel as both safe haven and spiritual core for Jews everywhere pitted against its secularism, militarism, and entrenched sexism. While the writers Furman examines depict contrasting images of the Middle East, the very persistence of Israel in occupying that imagination reveals, above all, how prominent a role Israel played and continues to play in shaping the Jewish-American identity.

Literature & Fiction

United States

State Univ of New York Pr

“An eloquent testament to the impact of the special places that exist both in the natural world and within our hearts.”—Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle
“Andrew Furman heard the siren call and headed south, where—with the zeal of a new convert—he became Florida’s transplanted Thoreau.”—William McKeen, editor of Homegrown in Florida
“A wonderful book about enjoying everything our state has to offer. It’s interesting that a new Floridian is showing old Floridians what Florida is all about.”—Jeff Klinkenberg, author of Alligators in B-Flat: Improbable Tales from the Files of Real Florida
“Furman reminds us that nature is a part of everyday life. While showing us how to engage friends and family in enjoying and understanding the real Florida, he presents the stories behind the flora and fauna he encounters.”—Sandra Friend, author of Exploring Florida’s Botanical Wonders
“Adroitly tells the story of and wrestles with one of the most historically rich and environmentally compromised areas of the United States. Required reading for anyone who cares about both the past and future of one of America’s most unique and important places.”—Casey Clabough, author of Confederado: A Novel of the Americas and The Warrior’s Path: Reflections along an Ancient Route When Andrew Furman left the rolling hills of Pennsylvania behind for a new job in Florida, he feared the worst. While he’d heard much of the fabled “southern charm,” he wondered what could possibly be charming about fist-sized mosquitoes, oppressive humidity, and ever-lurking alligators.It wasn’t long before he began to notice that the real Florida right outside his office window was very different from the stereotypes portrayed in movies, television, and even state-promoted tourism advertisements. In Bitten, Furmanshares his amazement at the beautiful and the bizarre of his adopted state. Over seventeen years, he and his family have shed their Yankee sensibilities and awakened to the terra incognita of their new home.As he learns to fish for snook—a wily fish that inhabits, among other areas, the concrete-lined canals that crisscross the state—and seeks out the state’s oldest live oak, a behemoth that pre-dates Columbus, Furman realizes that falling in love with Florida is a fun and sometimes humbling process of discovery. Each chapter highlights a fascinating aspect of his journey into the natural environment he once avoided, from snail kites to lizards and cassia to coontie. Sharing his attempts at night fishing, growing native plants, birding, and hiking the Everglades, Furman will inspire you to explore the real Florida. And, if you aren’t lucky enough to reside in the Sunshine State, he’ll at least convince you to unplug for an hour or two and enjoy the natural beauty of wherever it is you call home.

Bitten: My Unexpected Love Affair with Florida

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

University Press of Florida

Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980s, roughly half of Furman’s high school basketball teammates lived in the largely Anglo, and increasingly Jewish, San Fernando Valley, while the other half were African Americans bused in from the inner city. Los Angeles was embroiled in efforts to desegregate its public school district, one of the largest and most segregated in the country. Tensions came to a head in the late 1970s as the state implemented its forced busing plan, a radical desegregation program that was hotly contested among Los Angeles residents―particularly among Valley residents―and at all levels of the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.In My Los Angeles in Black and (Almost) White, the high school’s diverse basketball team serves as the entry point for a trenchant exploration of the judicial, legislative, and neighborhood battles over school desegregation that gripped the city in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education and that continue to plague our “post-racial” nation. Furman accesses a diverse array of opinions about these years and about the current crisis of race and public education by examining landmark judicial decisions, public policy studies, and newspaper articles, and by interviewing key community leaders, including former U.S. Representative Bobbi Fiedler, the Jewish activist who led the campaign to stop forced busing in Los Angelese, and retired Superior Court Judge Paul Egly, with whom Fiedler and her allies wrangled. Furman also documents his recent visit to Los Angeles during which he met with several of his former teammates, coaches, and neighbors. At once critical and fair-minded, My Los Angeles in Black and (Almost) White cuts through the incendiary rhetoric over school desegregation to offer a lucid, engaging, and informed account of our long legacy and current challenges regarding race and public education.

My Los Angeles in Black and (Almost) White (Sports and Entertainment)

Community & Culture

Syracuse University Press

Exploring the ambivalent relationship between multiculturalists and contemporary Jewish American literature, this text advocates a more inclusive and intellectually valid form than is currently practiced. It includes an historical overview of Jewish American fiction.

Contemporary Jewish American Writers and the Multicultural Dilemma: Return of the Exiled (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art)

History & Criticism

Exploring the ambivalent relationship between multiculturalists and contemporary Jewish American literature, this text advocates a more inclusive and intellectually valid form than is currently practiced. It includes an historical overview of Jewish American fiction.

Nathan Pray's life is a mess. A rare cold snap in the subtropics has nearly obliterated his beloved snook population, as if rising seas, urbanization, and toxic red tide blooms weren't trouble enough. What's more, his domestic life has unraveled. Nathan's father suffers through the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, his wife has left him for a more upstanding (and normal) Jewish husband, his adolescent son seems to have retreated into a dubious hip-hop identity, and his mother has her own problems. He's a good man who just can't catch a break. But Nathan's luck just might be about to change. A lucrative sponsorship and a television role on a popular fishing program can be his for the taking if he will only compromise on some of his stubborn piscatorial principles. Inspired in equal parts by Ernest Hemingway, Bernard Malamud, and Saul Bellow, Jewfish chronicles the day-to-day life of a middle-aged fisherman, lovable in spite of his shortcomings, and shines a light on the environmental issues facing south Florida and the planet.

Jewfish

World Literature

Little Curlew Press

It’s 1961, and everything is changing in Florida. Jim Crow strains to maintain its hold, the Cold War escalates, the US space program hits its stride, and the Jewish Goldens―determined to begin a new pastoral life along Florida’s central east coast―are just trying to hold on to their small orange grove near the excitement of Cape Canaveral. In Goldens Are Here, Andrew Furman imagines with great empathy the individual members of the Golden family, their unique struggles and dreams, during a single tumultuous citrus season. Inspired by true events surrounding a historic Florida citrus season and the civil rights struggle, Goldens Are Here offers a glimpse of the sea changes occurring in Florida and the nation in the 1960s through the prism of one family’s negotiations for the land, with their neighbors, and with each other.

Goldens Are Here

Genre Fiction

Green Writers Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Furman, Andrew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Furman, Andrew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Furman, Andrew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Israel Through the Jewish-American Imagination: A Survey of Jewish-American Literature on Israel, 1928-1995 (Modern Jewish Lit Culture)

Israel Through the Jewish-American Imagination: A Survey of Jewish-American Literature on Israel, 1928-1995 (Suny Series in Modern Jewish Literature & Culture)

Bitten: My Unexpected Love Affair with Florida

My Los Angeles in Black and (Almost) White (Sports and Entertainment)

Contemporary Jewish American Writers and the Multicultural Dilemma: Return of the Exiled (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art)

Contemporary Jewish American Writers and the Multicultural Dilemma: Return of the Exiled (Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art)

Jewfish

Goldens Are Here