Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology
Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthologyis a comprehensive  collection of Jewish American writings, from colonial times to the present. The  book is organized chronologically, with thematic sections on Jewish humor, the  Broadway song, and the art of translation. Editors Jules Chametzky, John  Felstiner, Hilene Flanzbaum, and Kathryn Hellerstein provide enlightening  introductions for each section, helping readers to discern the lines of  development through the various contributions, whose genres range from  autobiography to sermons to songs and jokes, by writers as diverse as Irving  Berlin, Emma Lazarus, Allegra Goodman, and Woody Allen. Among the many  fascinating strains to follow in this collection is the changing yet abiding  role of Scripture as a source of inspiration for American Jewish writers. "It  may be that in the past, Jewish civilizations survived by cleaving to the  righteousness and difference inscribed in sacred texts," notes the book's  general introduction. "Some would hold that this spiritual tenacity is still  necessary and sufficient. Possibly so. But with it come wit and self-deprecation, moral dilemma, verbal ingenuity, aspiration, tragedy, and joy,  families aplenty, nostalgia, satire--a full slice of human life at its most  vocal."--Michael Joseph Gross