Book review

'Kotsuji's Gift': The Japanese scholar who rescued Jewish refugees during World War II - review

The picture is cropped. A Japanese man standing to one side has been cut away. That man is Kotsuji, and the book is the long work of putting him back.

A JEWISH GIRL and her Chinese friends in the Shanghai Ghetto, 1945, from the collection of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.
CHABAD ‘SHLUCHIM’ gather in front of 770 Eastern Parkway, New York, in 2022.

'Engaging the Essence': The Lubavitcher Rebbe as philosopher - review

Disputation between Christian and Jewish scholars. Woodcut by Johann von Armssheim, 1483.

'Joseph Albo': A sweeping map of Jewish belief - review

Gene Shalit

Mustachioed movie critic Gene Shalit dies at age 100


A book about Germans who had status, safety and power; and still chose to defy Hitler - review

In September 1943, a group that included aristocrats, a diplomat, a pioneering educator, and an intelligence officer gathered in a Berlin drawing room. Not to gossip, but to defy the Nazi regime.

“The Traitors Circle” describes a group of German elites who plotted to fight Nazism.

National Book Award in nonfiction goes to ‘One day, everyone will have always been against this'

“It’s very difficult to think in celebratory terms about a book that was written in response to a genocide,” El Akkad said in his acceptance speech.

Omar El Akkad attends the 76th National Book Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on November 19, 2025 in New York City.

'The True Power of Speech': Speaking improperly has cosmic consequences - review

It is a book about what happens in the spiritual world when we cross the boundaries of proper speech into the realm of lashon hara.

THE CHOFETZ CHAIM, Yisrael Meir Kagan, arrives with a group at the first Congress of Agudat Yisrael in Vienna in 1923.

'Zaidy's Band': Revealing Canada’s contribution to World War II - review

Aron Heller's new book brings into the public arena the little-publicized history of the contribution in World War II of the Canadian Armed Forces, particularly its Jews.

THREE OF Zaidy’s comrades lie side by side in the military cemetery in Rehovot.

'Moshe Dayan': Shedding analytical light on an Israeli war hero - review

Moshe Dayan: The Making of a Strategist is an outstanding book on multiple levels, offering valuable historical assessments and useful derivative opportunities to learn from Israel’s past.

MOSHE DAYAN and Jordanian Lt.-Col. Abdullah El Tell reach a ceasefire agreement in Jerusalem, Nov. 30, 1948.

'The Writers' Castle': Nazis at Nuremberg, impossible to defend - review

Uwe Neumahr provides an engaging account of the experiences (and sexual liaisons) of more than a dozen reporters in Nuremberg, their varied responses to the trial.

AT A solemn session in Berlin, representatives of various nations hand over to the tribunal their indictments in the Nuremberg Trials.

'Frequencies of Deceit': Propaganda broadcasting in the heyday of the radio age - review

From the previously under-appreciated source of radio broadcasting, Margaret Peacock sheds new light on how and why today’s Middle East has developed.

KING GEORGE V delivers the 1934 Royal Christmas Message on BBC Radio.

'The Jewish South': Comfort and discomfort of southern Jewry - review

Most pioneering is her description of the Jews’ participation in the Confederate government and army, pinpointing by name the Jewish “rebels” serving in the army.

BETH ISRAEL Synagogue in Macon, Georgia, circa 1876.

'Hostage': Eli Sharabi’s account of his captivity by Hamas - review

Two men grabbed Sharabi and dragged him out barefoot. He yelled to his family, promising to return. A terrorist hit him, causing his glasses to fall to the ground. He was beaten and kicked.

Eli Sharabi greets supporters, alongside Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon (behind him, next to the flag), as he arrives to address the UN Security Council in New York York City, in March.

'Living Dangerously': A man's journey to business success and religion - review

Irwin Katsof considers that his “journey has been... connecting to my soul and to the Jewish people and to God so that I’m never really alone, and I can deal with anything that happens…”

THE KATSOF FAMILY on Passover 2025, at the winery of one of Katsof’s sons, called Settlers Wine, based in Esh Kodesh.