Up Close
And Personal
Ann Arbor Jewish Book Fair offers the opportunity for readers to
meet and greet an interesting mix of Jewish authors.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
Ann Arbor
N
epotism, justice and child
development are among the
topics to be discussed by
authors introducing their
new books at the 16th annual Ann
Arbor Jewish Book Fair hosted by the
Jewish Community Center of
Washtenaw County.
Adam Bellow's In Praise of Nepotism
(Doubleday; $30) presents a history and
analysis of family enterprise. Gregg
Hurwitz's The Kill Clause (William
Morrow; $24.95) takes the form of a
thriller questioning the judicial system.
Kathy Hirsh Pasek's Einstein Never Used
Flash Cards (Rodale Press; $22.95) offers
a fresh look at education inside and out-
side school.
The book fair, which runs Nov. 9-16,
includes some of the authors — Warren
Bass, Howard Blum, Stuart Eizenstat,
Matt Engelbert, Sheri Fink, Stella
Suberman, Ari Weinzweig — also
appearing at Detroit's Jewish Book Fair
sponsored by the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit at its
locations in West Bloomfield and Oak
Park, running now through Nov. 16.
Two entertainment events also are
planned in Ann Arbor.
"Voices Celebrating Jewish Life," with
Molly Raynor and Harvey Ovshinsky
among other area Jewish writers, will be
an evening of poetry, prose and letters
starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15.
A "Robbo Children's Concert" fea-
tures Robb Zelonsky performing his
original Jewish and secular music begin-
ning at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16.
Meet The Authors
"I'll talk in a general sense of what
nepotism is and why people continue
to practice it despite the negative rep-
utation that it has," says Bellow, 46,
who understands nepotism in the
field of writing as the son of novelist
Saul Bellow.
"Since this will be a largely Jewish
audience, I plan to focus mainly on the
role of nepotism in Jewish history, and
I'll argue that Jewish survival and suc-
cess has been largely owed to the intelli-
gent use of nepotism."
Bellow's book, which first explores
nepotism around the world and moves on
to nepotism in America, references Bible
stories and Jewish families, including the
banking Rothschilds. The author devotes
considerable space to political families,
including the Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush
and Gore clans.
"What made this book fun to write
ANN ARBOR BOOK
FAIR SCHEDULE
SUNDAY; NOV 9:
3 p.m.: Kathy Hirsh Pasek, Einstein Never Used
Flash Cards
7:30 p.m.: "An Evening of Mystery," featuring
Gregg Hurwitz, The Kill Clause; and Jonathan
Wilson, A Palestine Affair
MONDAY; NOV 10:
Noon: Lunch & Learn: Ari Weinzweig, Zingernzans
Guide to Good Eating
6:30 p.m.: David Gottlieb, Almost a Mensch
8 p.m.: Howard Blum, The Eve of Destruction: The
Untold Story of the Yom Kippur nr
111 7
2003
14
IN PRAISE OF NEPOTISM
A NAlvs,,,,, Ilr, roey
Adam Bellow
A D AM.BELLOW
— and I hope fun to
read — are the stories
that I was able to tell
about families in history
and the ways in which
they used nepotism in
their rise to wealth and
power," says Bellow, who
steered clear of his father's
advice while writing the
text but got a positive reac-
tion after it was finished.
"I selected families
Gregg Hurwitz
whose stories are already
1 ,111
well known and retold
those stories from an
unexpected or unfamiliar
angle."
Bellow, a longtime non-
it as someone follow-
fiction editor now working for
ing a great family tradition."
Doubleday, has been drawn to any sub-
In the context of fiction, Hurwitz
ject surrounded by hypocrisy, which he
will talk about how his background
believes nepotism represents.
led to his writing career and how his
He views nepotism as an issue people
books have ethical underpinnings
face in two ways, denouncing and dis-
based on Jewish philosophy.
approving of it while practicing it as
"I wanted my book to address the
much as they can.
issues of security and personal freedom,
"When we think of nepotism, we
what the United States has been facing
tend to focus on a handful of negative
since 9-11," says Hurwitz, 30, under
examples and assume that accounts for
contract to write the screenplay version.
the entire picture," Bellow asserts.
"I was very interested in exploring the
"That's only part of the story. When
nuances and weaknesses of the law."
nepotism is practiced in the right way, it
doesn't look like nepotism. We think of
PERSONAL, on page 76
TUESDAY NOV. 11:
Noon: Lunch & Learn: Sheri Fink, War Hospital: A
True Story of Surgery and Survival
7:30 p.m.: Warren Bass, Support Any Friend:
Kennedy's Middle East and the Making of the U.S.-
Israel Alliance
GREGG
HURW 1TZ
KTLL
Congregation Searches for Its Leader
8 p.m.: Faye Moskowitz, Peace in the House: Tales
from a Yiddish Kitchen
FRIDAY NOV 14:
Noon: Lunch & Learn: Lev Raphael, The German
Money
WEDNESDAY, NOV 12:
Noon: Lunch & Learn: Stella Suberman, When It
Was Our War: A Soldier's Wife on the Home Front
7:30 p.m.: Adam Bellow, In Praise of Nepotism (at
the Ann Arbor Main Library)
THURSDAY, NOV 13
Noon: Lunch & Learn: Stuart Eizenstat, hnperfe' ct
Justice
6:30 p:m.: Stephen Fried, The New-Rabbi: A
SATURDAY NOV. 15:
7:30 p.m.: ."Voices Celebrating Jewish •ife," a
poetry and literature event •
SUNDAY NOV 16
1 p.m.: Robbo Children's Concert
6:30 p.m.: Matt Engelbert, Uncivil Procedure
8 p.m.: _Ari Goldman, Living a Year ofKaddish