Arts
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Entertainment
COVER
Lorraine Gordon:
Alive at the Village Vanguard
(Hal Leonard; $27.95)
In her memoir, subtitled "My Life In and Out
of Jazz Time," the author, with the help of
writer Barry Singer, tells about owning the
most famous jazz club ever known. She also
reveals the details that came before celebri-
ties formed the center of her life.
Jerome Groopman, M.D.:
Steven Bach:
Leni: The Life and Work of Leni
Riefenstahl
(Alfred A. Knopf; $30)
The filmmaker vilified for glorifying Hitler is
described in this biography. The author also
explores issues of moral values connected
to art.
Naftali Bendavid:
How Doctors Think
(Houghton Mifflin; $26)
A seasoned physician offers advice on
understanding the rational and irrational
thought processes doctors employ in mak-
ing health-care decisions. He also offers
tips intended to coach patients into leading
their own doctors into making the right
assessments of conditions.
Ruth Gruber:
Witness
The Thumpin'
(Doubleday; $23.95)
This blow-by-blow chronicle of the 2006
midterm election — subtitled, "How Rahm
Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to
Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican
Revolution" — takes readers inside the key
races and national strategy making that
moved Democrats from forecasted gains
of three seats to a sweeping gain of 29. In
the Illinois congressman, says the author,
the Democrats finally had "a killer, poised
to seize the advantage and deliver what
President Bush would call 'a thumpint.'"
(Schocken; $27.50)
This memoir, in words and black-and-white
photographs, documents Gruber's remark-
able life and work as an international corre-
spondent, humanitarian, witness to and par-
ticipant in history. In her long life, the 95-
year-old has escorted Jewish war refugees
from Europe to America, covered the plight
of the Exodus in 1947 and documented the
establishment of the State of Israel, among
other major events.
By Harry Bernstein
H
arry Bernstein remembers
the morning noise of his
dusty mill town in northern
England. In the early 1900s, Bernstein
would listen from the bed he shared
with two brothers; as the youngest, he
slept at their feet.
Their narrow home was in a row of
brick houses inhabited by Russian and
Polish Jews who had fled pogroms
and found refuge. Across the street,
in a row of similar facing houses, only
Christians lived. The cobblestone
stretch between the two lines of
homes was only several yards wide,
but the two sides were worlds apart.
The Christians were mill workers,
the Jews tailors. All were very poor,
but the smells, foods and even their
42
June 28 2007
Einstein: His Life and Universe
(Simon & Schuster; $32)
The veteran journalist bases his work
largely on the more than 3,500 pages of
Einstein's personal letters recently released
by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Isaacson sees Einstein as a rebel from
childhood, always questioning conventional
wisdom; his character, curiosity, creativity
and passion for freedom were interconnect-
ed — driving his life, science and politics.
Zachary Karabell:
Peace Be Upon You
(Knopf; $26.95)
Subtitled, "The Story of Muslim, Christian,
and Jewish Coexistence," this history looks
back to times and places that had Jews,
Christians and Muslims getting along. The
book explores 14 centuries of interaction in
light of the current tensions among mem-
bers of distinct faiths.
David Matthews:
Ace of Spades
(Henry Holt; $24)
The author, born to a Jewish mother
and black father, describes his experi-
ences passing from white to black worlds.
Ultimately, he tells what it means to grow
up with mixed heritage.
Jurgen Neffe:
Einstein: A Biography
Translated by Shelley Frisch, this best-sell-
ing 2005 biography of Einstein looks at the
global icon as a parent and physicist, as a
citizen and a Jew and as an American. He
writes of his complicated subject: "He could
reconcile discrepant views of the world, but
he was a walking contradiction. Einstein
polarized his fellow man like no other. He
was a friend to some, an enemy to others,
narcissistic and slovenly, easygoing and
rebellious, philanthropic and autistic, citizen
of the world and hermit, a pacifist whose
research was used for military ends."
Sherwin Nuland, M.D.:
The Art of Aging
(Random House; $24.95)
The author, who subtitles his book "A
Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being,"
describes the impact of aging on both bod-
ies and minds. He moves his observations
from science to art with advice on how to
turn the process of growing older into a
chance for rewarding experiences.
Karen Stabiner:
The Empty Nest
(Voice; $23.96)
Editor Stabiner subtitles her work "31
Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships,
Love, and Freedom After the Kids Fly the
Coop." Ellen Levine, Grace Saltzstein, Letty
Cottin Pogrebin and Ellen Goodman join
a group of essayists revealing how their
lives changed when children were no longer
integral to their households. The group of
writers represents different ethnicities and
lifestyles.
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $30)
THE INVISIBLE WALL
(Ballantine; 320 pp.; $22.95)
Walter Isaacson:
shoes were different.
While there wasn't
open hostility, there
was little interaction,
as though an invis-
ible wall divided the
two communities.
The Invisible Wall
is Bernstein's deeply
felt, lyrically written
memoir of his early
life in Lancashire,
not far from Manchester. This memoir
would be getting literary praise even
if it were not the debut book of a 97-
year-old author (he began writing it
about five years ago, after the death
of his wife of 67 years).
In the memoir, 'arry, as he was
known by his Lancashire-accented
neighbors, recalls a child's view of a
life amidst poverty. He was one of six
siblings born to a tender-
hearted mother who mus-
tered great strength and
energy to try to provide a
better life for her children.
But she wasn't able to stand
up to her brutish husband,
who provided little income,
spending his evenings after
work getting drunk and
then yelling at and beating
her upon his return.
While the street was free
of open hostility, school was
not. Bernstein and his sib-
lings were often beaten up
and cursed for being Jews.
One of the most heartbreaking parts
of this story is when Harry's older
sister, Lily, wins a scholarship at age
12 to attend grammar school, where
she would study to become a teacher.
The day she is to go for her interview,
dressed in a new white dress with lace
ruffles, her father is unexpectedly at
home. He announces that she has had
enough school and that it's time for
her to work for a living.
While in school, Lily had fallen in
love with Arthur, a boy from the other
side, who had won the same scholar-
ship and shared her love of books.
Harry was recruited as go-between,
and he felt torn between loyalty to
his mother, who tried to forbid her
daughter from seeing or speaking with
Arthur, and allegiance to his sister and
affection for Arthur.
"I remember feeling very close and
warm feelings about being Jewish,"
he adds, "because Jewishness was
my shelter, my protection against the
gentiles.
Now Bernstein doesn't practice any
religion, and in fact thinks the world
would be better if there were no reli-
gions. But, he says, "I can't help but
to identify with Jewishness; it's like a
stamp on your forehead from the day
you're born."
- Sandee Brawarsky