Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
by Aaron Lanskybook data
138 ratings, 4.11 average rating, 41 reviews
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published
September 2nd 2005
by Algonquin Books
binding
Paperback, 328 pages
isbn
1565125134
(isbn13: 9781565125131)
description
In 1980, a twenty-three-year-old student named Aaron Lansky set out to rescue the world’s abandoned Yiddish books before it was too late. Twenty...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 222)
Read in January, 2005
If this hadn't been a selection of my book club, I would never have heard of this book. The subtitle explains the plot, but the story is so well done, with so many interesting anecdotes, that it's a story which stays with you. One man's crusade can be inspiring.
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I can't sing too many praises about this book. It made me laugh & cry simultaneously. It's a beautifully written book.
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Shmegegee, shmuck, putz, meshugana…this is the Yiddish I grew up around, a Yiddish that permeated many Jewish households on Long Island. Until I was a teenager, I didn't know that my father could speak Yiddish. I didn’t know anybody could speak Yiddish, that it was a full language with verbs and adjectives, and not just insults. My father learned Yiddish from his grandparents who helped raise him. My great grandmother Anna swore at us in Yiddish, her Alzheimers stealing her love from us. She...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Linda by:
Rebecita
In his early twenties, Aaron Lansky got interested in studying Jewish culture. This led to his life's mission to save Yiddish books before the literature was lost forever. Parts of this memoir are funny, and I was surprised at how moving it was. Lansky captures the characters of the many friends, helpers, and donors that he enlists in his endeavor. One elderly couple would call every six weeks with several hundred books, all bundled into sets of three or four. Lansky told them they didn't need t...more
Read in March, 2008
recommended to Maani by:
mom
I never thought that I would be looking into classes on speaking Yiddish, but that's what this book did for me. Growing up, I always corrected my grandfather's "hebrew" accent in Synogogue, only to realize from this book that I was trying to be uber-modern and to move on.
With our grandparents no longer with us, this language is dying and quickly. There is much great literature and much great history associated with it, it's pretty remarkable that Lansky had the vision to collec...more
With our grandparents no longer with us, this language is dying and quickly. There is much great literature and much great history associated with it, it's pretty remarkable that Lansky had the vision to collec...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Any Jew not too far removed from Eastern Europe
Not just a great story but great insight into just the crevice of a niche of a corner of a culture that, except for these saved books, might be destined to become a word of mouth memory. Lansky really drives home the impact of every arduous, unrewarding, painstaking task after task to achieve a remarkable outcome. Only someone with either a manomaniacal vision or completely obsessive commitment could accomplish what he has. And I'm glad he did and nice to know that some people will throw themsel...more
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recommends it for:
Anyone of even vaguely Jewish extraction, language lovers, book lovers, anyone!
A few years ago my grandfather (in his ongoing quest to Jewish me up before he dies) got me a membership to the National Yiddish Book Center. Before it expired I got a free copy of this book in the mail, written by the Center's founder. Then I moved to Ecuador. This fall I finally got around to reading it, and what a treat! It's really bursting at the seams with Lansky's passion and expertise. The colorful anecdotes, the endless shlepping, the language lessons, the heartwarming revival of a dyin...more
Read in March, 2008
Wonderfully told story about a man who set out to save Yiddish literature. It's chronicles are often funny combined with the sad strength of the Jewish people as they were forced to relocate from Eastern Europe during the 20th century. His efforts have culminated in a monumental effort that appears to have preserved the Yiddish language and perhaps revived it from it's death throes of 30 years ago. Quite impressive and a much better read than I could have anticipated.
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Read in August, 2008
Aaron Lansky tells us about a lot more than just his efforts (and those of his many, many supporters) to rescue Yiddish books. He interweaves his stories with a history of Yiddish language, culture, and literature. Although these brief history lessons are not nearly as entertaining as his anecdotes of traveling around the globe (although mostly to New York) to collect the books, put together they make for an engaging, even enlightening read.
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
any librarian
I agree it started out a bit slow - there's only so many chapters that you can love that start out with "The phone call came at 2 a.m., someone was throwing out a dumpster full of Yiddish books, so I called my network and started the old beat up truck and drove the 300 miles from Amherst to Brooklyn, etc." - even so, it's a fascinating read about how one person literally rescued an entire culture.
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Read in December, 2007
A hilarious telling of a serious story of one man's passion for Yiddish literature and culture. Truly the tale of a man in the right place at the right time with the right idea. Inspirational to anyone who loves books and thought-provoking for those in the non-profit realm. Also, the National Yiddish Book Center is well worth the visit if you happen to be near Amherst, Massachusetts.
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My sister gave me this book for my birthday (back in June; I'm not so good at this Good Reads thing...). Aaron Lansky treks around the globe saving Yiddish books from being lost forever. Absolutely, spectacularly wonderful. Stories to make you cry. And motivation to make you envious/inspired/astounded. A must-read. I even recognized some (very little) of the Yiddish. What fun!
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Read in July, 2008
This book was a nice mixture of tales of literature rescue and an introduction to Yiddish culture and history. I love how the book tells the story of a person who had a good and noble goal but no resources and no plan for accomplishing his work, eventually, through lots of hard work, perseverence, and creativity, performed a great work that benefitted a great many people.
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Read in February, 2008
This is the true story of a young guy who almost inadvertently starts trying to save old Yiddish books and ends up wholly engrossed in the project. I believe the center the author set up still exists. His anecdotes about who he met, how he was treated, where the books were from, and why people wanted to hand them over to him made for an interesting literary mosaic.
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Read in June, 2008
Suggested reading by my Orthodox Jewish cousin, this was really very interesting, moving at times, and I think, a great read for anyone with a imigrant or two (or three or four) for grandparents -- where did that culture go? WHile this is a look at Yiddish literature, it really has some relevance to any culture being "melted" into American society in the 20th Century.
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
book lovers; Yiddish lovers
I don't know anything about Yiddish, but I loved this book by Aaron Lansky, who describes taking on the task of saving Yiddish literature by preserving any texts in Yiddish he could find--going to yard sales, estate sales, library sales, bookstore closings, and so on. It's sad and yet inspiring to think of Lansky's efforts to save Yiddish publications from extinction.
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Read in April, 2007
The subtitle of this book is: "The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books". Starts out a bit slow if but picks up with the determination of this young man to find, gather and save Yiddish books world wide. Defintely an interesting easy read and a fascinating account of how someone can take a project and make a really profound impact.
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recommended to Megan by:
S. C.
recommends it for: Jews, linguists, social scientists
recommends it for: Jews, linguists, social scientists
I didn't think I'd like this book when a friend recommended/lent it to me, because I thought it would be too dry. It was anything but dry. Lansky's story is a vibrant illustration Yiddish literature, history, and the legacy of those who wrote, read, and lived it. He juxtaposes the minutiae of his endeavors with broad historical background.
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So far it's a great story of the people, emotions, and physical labor the author experienced, when in his twenties, he undertook the brave courageous and bold task (whose enormity he could never have imagined) of saving Yiddish books from the (literal) dustbins and garbage cans of history. Whoa! (and wasn't that a good one sentence review?)
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Read in May, 2008
A must read for bibliophiles and anyone interested in Yiddish. And, yes, an inspiring story.
But what really makes this book great is the way that through his effort to save Yiddish books, Lansky learns about the culture, humor, politics and stories of those who wrote, published, read and collected them.
But what really makes this book great is the way that through his effort to save Yiddish books, Lansky learns about the culture, humor, politics and stories of those who wrote, published, read and collected them.
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currently-reading (on 16 people's shelves)
non-fiction (on 14 people's shelves)
history (on 6 people's shelves)
books-about-books (on 5 people's shelves)
jewish (on 5 people's shelves)
memoir (on 4 people's shelves)
nonfiction (on 3 people's shelves)
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biography-memoir (on 2 people's shelves)
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