Category: Historiography

American Judaism with Jonathan Sarna

American Jewish History, Historiography, Modern Jewish History

Jonathan Sarna discusses American Judaism: A History, which recently was published in a second, revised edition. Listen in for a wide ranging conversation about American Jewish history in big terms, about Jonathan’s work at large and the book American Judaism in particular. As we discuss in the episode, American Judaism is one of a series of books which have been published in recent years that has tried to synthesize American Jewish history, so we will look closely at how the landscape of American Jewish historical studies has developed, how we tell the history of America’s Jews, and why it matters.

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Why Modern Jewish Studies Matters with Mirjam Thulin and Jeffrey Blutinger

Bonus episode, Historiography, Roundtable

Mirjam Thulin and Jeffrey Blutinger join us for a conversation about the past and future of modern Jewish studies. We’ll look at what’s at stake when in how people write and tell the history of the Jews, and delve into why studying the Jews has mattered over the course of two centuries of modern Jewish studies, and why it still matters today.

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Why American Jewish History Matters with Hasia Diner

American Jewish History, Historiography, Holocaust, Migration and Mobility, Modern Jewish History

Hasia Diner joins us to talk about the big issues that have driven the field of American Jewish history and her work in particular, how we understand American Jewish history in two contexts—in the context of Jewish history as a whole, and within the framework of American history—and also how the field has changed, what lies ahead, and why it matters today.

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Jewish Origins with Steven Weitzman

Ancient Jewish History, Historiography, Jewish History, Religion

Steven Weitzman joins us to talk about his book The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age, and what the question of Jewish origins has to tell us about a range of issues including nationalism, the relationship between Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and the ways the study of the past has often been put to use for political or ideological purposes.

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