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National Jewish Book Award Winners 2019
The Jewish Book Council’s picks that celebrate Jewish history and culture.
Published on April 27, 2020
America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today
Pamela NadellJewish Book of the Year: “America’s Jewish Women” won the top prize. The Jewish Book Council describes it as an “enthralling” look at heralded and obscure Jewish women who took control of their own destinies and altered the course of an entire nation.
The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary
Robert AlterLifetime Achievement Award: “Alter’s translation is the first translation of the Hebrew Bible by a single person, and his translation coupled with his commentary have made the Hebrew Bible accessible to an even wider audience — a resource for not only academics and serious bible scholars, but a vital contribution to every Jewish home library and reader. His work showcases the role of translation in our understanding of the Hebrew Bible, and the necessary effort that goes into accurately capturing its text, rhythm, and poetics,” according to the Jewish Book Council judges.
The World That We Knew: A Novel
Alice HoffmanBook Club Winner: Alice Hoffman (“Practical Magic,” “The Dovekeepers”) has been a fiction favorite for years, so it’s no surprise that her novel about love and sacrifice during World War II won the book club category. Amid the sadness and mayhem of Nazi Germany, Hoffman offers hope and magic.
The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America
The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics and the Law That Kept Two Generations of Jews, Italians, and Other European Immigrants Out of America
Daniel OkrentGerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award for History: In the era of Fake News and the rapid spread of misinformation thanks to social media, this book about the rise of eugenics (pushed by pseudo-scientists to influence immigration policies in 1920s America) is a crucial read. It reveals how deeply wrong but persuasive, powerful, and ultimately detrimental these arguments proved to be.
Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria
Joshua ColeSephardic Culture Winner: “‘Lethal Provocation’ is a masterful account of one of modern North Africa’s most infamous episodes of violence between Jews and Muslims. … Cole’s extensive archival research offers a gripping history of Algerian Jews and their relations with their Muslim and Christian neighbors. And he ends with an unexpected twist, showing that the murders were not a spontaneous eruption of hatred, but rather the work of cold, calculated provocation,” according to the Jewish Book Council judges.