This guide highlights Dickinson library resources, including books, films, and databases, for expanding our understanding of social justice issues, so that we can combat discrimination in all its forms. You can discover more resources on the library website. If you would like help finding additional information sources, or if you wish to recommend additional resources, please contact a librarian for assistance.
Non-fiction Books
No Small Matter: Features of Jewish Childhood by
Visiting five continents and covering 220 years, our journey into modern Jewish childhood begins with birth and ends at the time of bar or bat mitzvah. Jewish children, their history and their images, are described by scholars from the fields of demography, history, linguistics, film studies, literature, religious studies, and psychology. Among the questions they probe are: How did Jewish children experience immigration? What did they contribute to modern ethnic and national Jewish cultures? What was their fate during times of war? In the aftermath of war, how did they go about rebuilding their lives, and how did they recollect and interpret the events of their interrupted childhood?
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2021
Judaism, Antisemitism, and Holocaust: Making the Connections by
In this book, David Patterson offers original insights into the dynamics that underlie the phenomenon of endemic antisemitism, arguing that in all its manifestations, antisemitism is fundamentally anti-Judaism. Structured in a unique matrix of chapters that are linked historically and theoretically, his book elucidates the interconnections that tie antisemitism with the Holocaust, as well as the Judaism that the Nazis sought to obliterate from the world. As Patterson demonstrates this is an ongoing effort and is the basis of today's antisemitism.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2022
#antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate by
Using personal experiences, qualitative research, and the historic moment in which Generation Z is coming of age, Jewish educator Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath uses antisemitism from both the political left and the right to explore identity development among Jewish Generation Zers. With insights from educators, students, activists, and more, she holds a lens up to current antisemitism and its impact on the choices and opinions of the next generation of Jewish leaders.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2022-06-01
Mordecai Would Not Bow Down: Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Christian Supersessionism by
Timothy P. Jackson argues that the central reasons for the Holocaust were ideological: Nazism's belief in survival of the fittest directly conflicted with Judaic moral monotheism, and this conflict drove the compulsion to annihilate the Jewish people. Identifying these ideological causes provides important context for the continual resurgence of anti-Semitic violence.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2021-05-13
The New Jewish Canon: Ideas and Debates 1980-2015 by
The late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been a period of mass production and proliferation of Jewish ideas, and have witnessed major changes in Jewish life and stimulated major debates. The New Jewish Canon offers a conceptual roadmap to make sense of such rapid change. With over eighty excerpts from key primary source texts and insightful corresponding essays by leading scholars, on topics of history and memory, Jewish politics and the public square, religion and religiosity, and identities and communities, The New Jewish Canon promises to start conversations from the seminar room to the dinner table.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2020
Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by
"What does it mean to be a Bad Jew? Many Jews use the term "Bad Jew" as a weapon against other members of the community or even against themselves. You can be called a Bad Jew if you don't keep kosher; if you only go to temple on Yom Kippur; if you don't attend or send your children to Hebrew school; if you enjoy Christmas music; if your partner isn't Jewish; if you don't call your mother often enough. The list is endless. In Bad Jews, Emily Tamkin argues that perhaps there is no answer to this timeless question at all. Throughout American history, Jewish identities have evolved and transformed in a variety of ways. The issue of what it means, or doesn't, to be a Good Jew or a Bad Jew is particularly fraught at this moment; American Jews feel and fear antisemitism is on the rise.
Call Number: E184.36.P64 T36 2022ISBN: 9780063074019Publication Date: 2022-10-18
From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey: A Commentary on Food in the Torah by
Food retains a place at the heart of Jewish life and culture, which is based around the Torah. In From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey, Diana Lipton combines these two central aspects of Judaism. Based on the Leket Israel Food & Torah project, From Forbidden Fruit to Milk and Honey includes short essays by 52 internationally acclaimed scholars and Jewish educators. Lipton then provides an even more in-depth commentary and analyzes references to the production, the preparation, and the eating of food found in the Bible.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2020
Judaism, Education and Social Justice : Towards a Jewish Critical Pedagogy by
This book sets out new theoretical foundations for Jewish social justice education by surveying and discussing Freirean critical pedagogy, Catholic models of social justice education, Jewish social justice literature and interviews with educators and activists.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2022-11-17
Poetry
The Essential Muriel Rukeyser by
"Engaging closely with the violence, oppression, and injustice that she witnessed in her lifetime, Muriel Rukeyser was one of the seminal poets of the mid-twentieth century. Closely informed by issues relating to equality, social justice, feminism, and Judaism, her impassioned poetry was often seen as a mode of social protest, but it was also heralded for its deep emotional impact; its personal perspective; forthright discussion of the female experience, particularly sex and single parenthood at a time when these topics were largely taboo; and its wide-ranging exploration of genre and form.
Call Number: PS3535 .U4 E87 2021Publication Date: 2021-06-01
Memoirs/First-hand Accounts
The Diary of Anne Frank by Call Number: DS135 .N6 F73313 2003ISBN: 0385508476Publication Date: 2003-03-25
Savage Feast by Call Number: On OrderPublication Date: 2019
A History of the Grandparents I Never Had by
o write this book, Jablonka traveled to three continents; met the handful of survivors of his grandparents' era, their descendants, and some of his far-flung cousins; and investigated twenty different archives. And in the process, he reflected on his own family and his responsibilities to his father, the orphaned son, and to his own children and the family wounds they all inherited. A History of the Grandparents I Never Had cannot bring Matès and Idesa to life, but Jablonka succeeds in bringing them, as he soberly puts it, to light. The result is a gripping story, a profound reflection, and an absolutely extraordinary history.
Call Number: Available OnlinePublication Date: 2020
Fiction
For more reading recommendations:
Library Databases
- American Jewish Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window Explore a collection of historical content from American Jewish newspapers. Titles included are: The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (1857-1922), The Jewish Advocate (1905-1990), The American Israelite (1854-2000), and Jewish Exponent (1887-1990). Coverage: 1854-2000, but varies by title; contains primary sources. Full text.
- Encyclopaedia Judaica This link opens in a new window Explore Jewish life, culture, history, and religion, written by Israeli, American, and European subject specialists. Coverage: antiquity to the early 21st century. Full text.
- Jewish Life in America This link opens in a new window Explore the history of Jewish communities in America, from the arrival of the first Jews in the 17th century right through to the mid-20th century. Coverage: 1654-1954, contains primary sources. Full text.
- Jewish Studies Source This link opens in a new window Access multidisciplinary publications on the study of Jewish civilization from its historical origins to the present. Coverage: 1946 to present. Full text.
- JSTOR Jewish Studies This link opens in a new window Access journals that cover historical and regional aspects of Jewish studies. This collection includes titles written in English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, and Hebrew. Coverage: varies by title - 1844 to present, contains primary sources. Full text.