Material Culture and Jewish Thought in America

How Jews think about and work with objects is the subject of this fascinating study of the interplay between material culture and Jewish thought. Ken Koltun-Fromm draws from philosophy, cultural studies, literature, psychology, film, and photography to portray the vibrancy and richness of Jewish practice in America. His analyses of Mordecai Kaplan's obsession with journal writing, Joseph Soloveitchik's urban religion, Abraham Joshua Heschel's fascination with objects in The Sabbath, and material identity in the works of Anzia Yezierska, Cynthia Ozick, Bernard Malamud, and Philip Roth, as well as Jewish images on the covers of Lilith magazine and in the Jazz Singer films, offer a groundbreaking approach to an understanding of modern Jewish thought and its relation to American culture.

Author: Ken Koltun-Fromm
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 04/21/2010
Pages: 358
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780253221834

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2010

About the Author

Ken Koltun-Fromm is Professor of Religion at Haverford College and author of Moses Hess and Modern Jewish Identity (IUP, 2001), winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award for Philosophy and Thought, and Abraham Geiger's Liberal Judaism (IUP, 2006).