A Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry

by Mark Kurlansky

Despite the horrors of the Holocaust, decades of Soviet dominance, the rise of neo-Nazism, and a resurgence of anti-Semitism, Jewish communities have been recreated throughout postwar Europe. In A Chosen Few, Mark Kurlansky visits the homes and lives of those Jews who have returned or remained, and explores the many reasons why they continue to build their lives in Europe. From Antwerp to Budapest, in Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw, through individuals both ordinary and famous, Kurlansky shows us the face of European Jewry—a face that may bear the scars of persecution, but looks toward a better future with hope and boundless determination.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Judaica, Jewish, Ebooks, Religion, Judaism

432 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 1994

About the author

Mark Kurlansky is an American journalist and author who has written a number of books of fiction and nonfiction. His 1997 book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), was an international bestseller and was translated into more than fifteen languages. His book Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006) was the nonfiction winner of the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

Reviews

[Karen Burkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took immense courage to stay in countries that chose to kill off entire families in an attempt to eradicate your entire religion. The stories are deeply sad and also beautiful. Rebuilding a life in countries once so Anti Semitic. Resurrecting a shattered culture took to a great deal of bravery, and in countries with rising anti Semitic groups. I can not imagine what it must have felt like to go to visit your childhood home, to have to get permission, to need a policeman with you and to see a family living with your furniture, your dishes, your pictures. I can not fathom the emotional fortitude it took.

[Carol Mann Agency]

“This book is a fascinating review of the changing life of Jews and Judaism and Europeans in general since the Second World War.”
–Rocky Mountain News

“Kurlansky does an astonishingly informative job here, covering a vast array of individuals and communities throughout Europe, chronicling the economic, political, and cultural trends that reshaped and often played havoc with their lives and destinies. His descriptions of life in Antwerp, Paris, Budapest, and Amsterdam are superb, while his chapters on Poland are among the best I’ve read.”
–SUSAN MIRON
Forward

“A richly descriptive and insightful survey of post-Holocaust European Jewry . . . With a novelist’s eye for irony and description, [Kurlansky] offers many moments of transcendence and humor; entertaining culture clashes between communists and capitalists, religious and secular, Zionists and diasporists. . . . A lively, penetrating follow-up to Holocaust readings that speaks volumes about the resiliency of the Jewish people.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“Kurlansky’s collection of case histories unfolds like a novel.”
–The Jewish Advocate

[Velvetink]

epub (BookFi.org)