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Welcome to Vallentine Mitchell Publishers!
Vallentine Mitchell, founded over fifty years ago, are international publishers of books of Jewish interest, both for the scholar and general reader. Subjects published include Jewish history, culture and heritage, modern Jewish thought, biography and reference.
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|  | Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland
An Anthology
Finalist in Anthologies and Collections, National Jewish Book Awards
Bromberg Ben-Zvi, Hava
Of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, three million were from Poland. Their literary heritage is a treasure to be preserved, and this lavish anthology gathers together the rich and varied forms of magnificent Jewish life and culture from a Poland that is no more. The book includes memoirs, short stories, poetry, eyewitness reports, fragments of novels, essays, letters, folk tales, and humor. The work of writers - both Jewish and Polish, prominent and new - presents a true, valid, rich, and compelling panorama of life as it was. Historically informative, heartbreaking, poignant, and amusing, the book speaks in many voices: those of women, children, and survivors. It is an exceptionally broad range of literature which paints a rich panorama of life before, during, and following the Holocaust, ending with tales of hope and renewal in new centers of Jewish life. With every emotion sensitively and skillfully explored, this anthology will fascinate Jewish and non-Jewish readers, shedding light on the origins and roots of contemporary Jewry in the English-speaking world. Meticulous listing of sources and a bibliography will prove fertile ground for students and scholars alike.
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|  | The View From Damascus
State, Political Community and Foreign Relations in Modern and Contemporary Syria (Second Edition)
Rabinovich, Itamar
Throughout the last 100 years, Syria has been a crucial hub of Middle Eastern events. As the birth place and 'pulsating heart' of Arab nationalism, and as the object of colonial and regional ambitions, Syria has been transformed into a regional power exerting influence over its neighbors. Now available in paperback, this unique bestseller sheds new light on the recent history and current politics and policies of this important Middle Eastern country. Author Itamar Rabinovich is uniquely qualified to take a panoramic view of Syria's modern history and contemporary politics. As a scholar, he spent 35 years studying Syria in diplomatic archives and through the range of sources. As a diplomat, he was Yitzhak Rabin's chief negotiator with Syria and Israel's ambassador to Washington, and thus a key participant in some of the events addressed in the book. This enlarged second edition includes a new introduction, as well as two new chapters on the Israeli-Syrian-American peace negotiations and Israel's view of the Syrian uprising. The 23 essays by Rabinovich cover the century from the eve of the First World War to the Bush Administration's row with Bashar al-Asad. The essays focus on three principal themes: the notion of a Syrian entity and its translation into a Syrian state in its current boundaries; the conflict between rival concepts of the political community that inhabits the Syrian state; and issues of foreign policy with a particular emphasis on the Syrian-Israeli conflict and peace process. The main themes of Syrian history and politics are picked up at their inception and followed through the course of the 20th century to the present day.
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|  | The Palestinian Arab In/Outsiders
Media and Conflict in Israel
Caspi, Dan; Kabha, Mustafa
Why has the Israeli government tried to control the Arab media in Israel? What was the purpose of this and how has the Arabic press begun to liberate itself? The Palestinian Arab In/Outsiders offers an integrated historical-sociological study of the Palestinian press within Israeli society, which thus serves as a guide to the complex relationship between the two communities in Israel. This ground-breaking book is a comprehensive and historical overview of the Arab-language press in Israel, identifying the main mechanisms through which the press restores the Palestinian identity of the Arab minority in Israel. Opening the way for further study, the book provides extensive foundations for a topic that has previously been ignored and excluded, or mentioned only as secondary to the socio-political discussion of the history of Arab society in Israel.
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|  | Whatever Happened to British Jewish Studies?
Ewence, Hannah; Kushner, Tony
This wide-ranging collection of essays investigates the current position and purpose of British Jewish studies in the modern age. Taking the post-1880 period as its focal point, the book adopts an innovative approach that brings together trans-disciplinary, historical, and cultural perspectives viewed through the prism of the local, national, and global. The book's approaches range from literary criticism, cultural studies, oral history, legal studies, history, memory, and heritage research. Using this range of methodologies, the essays open up and drive forward this pertinent area of enquiry. The book is accessible to a wide readership, and, underpinned by an intellectually and theoretically rigorous agenda, it will provide a fruitful area of study for academics.
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|  | Being Jewish and Doing Justice
Bringing Argument to Life
New in Paperback!
Klug, Brian
This book deals with a wide range of moral, social and political issues centred on questions of identity, Jewish or otherwise. Its scope extends from anti-Semitism, Zionism and Palestinian terrorism to the language of race, the status of animals, the rights of the child and related topics. While the chapters interact and overlap, each is self-contained. Taken together, they develop the title theme: the inner connection between being Jewish and doing justice. The prologue offers a bold, new interpretation of the idea of ëthe people of Godí. From this point on, bringing argument to life is the authorís watchword. Drawing on his training as an academic philosopher, his Jewish education and personal experience, Klug tackles thorny problems, combining rigorous analysis with outspokenness. He assists readers to think for themselves about difficult questions and provokes them to do so. Following a series of reflections on what it means to be an animal, a child, and a human being, the epilogue brings the discussion round to the title theme: being Jewish and doing justice.
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|  | Mussolini's Concentration Camps for Civilians
An Insight into the Nature of Fascist Racism
Reale, Luigi
This book fundamentally challenges how Italians remember life in Italy during the time of Mussolini and the Fascist years. It examines what Italians know of these Fascist concentration camps, which were set up all over Italy between 1940 and 1943, directly influenced by Mussolini's race laws of 1938. The book discusses in detail the Fascist race laws, comparing them with those of the Nazi regime. It studies the complex structure of internment created in Italy, in order to provide evidence that Fascist racism and Nazi racism evolved as two distinct but parallel movements that, while they shared many characteristics, were not the same. Using original documents from local archives, the book's detailed and comprehensive reconstruction of the camps - where they were located, why they were there, what they looked like, who was sent there, and how the internees lived or died - provides a unique insight into Fascist racism and how Italy, at the time, chose to deal with people who were neither Christian nor Italian.
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|  | Izak Goller
Selected Poems, Plays and Prose
Goller, Izak, Sivan, Gabriel
Izak Goller (1891-1939) was a gifted and inspiring teacher, poet, playwright, novelist, and thinker. Now, more than 70 years after his death, readers can better appreciate Goller's artistry, his fearless hard-hitting style, and his uncompromising Zionism. Goller had three parallel careers - as an educator, an author, and a Zionist leader - and wrote nearly a dozen literary works, many enhanced by the author's striking 'cartoons.' He had a powerful influence on his young disciples in Liverpool and sought to infuse the Anglo-Jewish rabbinate and ministry with courageous moral leadership in the prophetic tradition. Based on extensive research, interviews, and textual analysis, including the recent discovery of his last (unpublished) novel, this representative selection of Izak Goller's verse and prose demonstrates his genius and versatility. The book also shows how far ahead of his time Goller was, and how he cut a masterly figure in Anglo-Jewish literature between the two World Wars. It includes many of the author's original line drawings and cartoons.
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|  | In Kindling Flame
The Story of Hannah Senesh 1921-1944 [Second Edition]
Atkinson, Linda
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award when it was first published in 1985, In Kindling Flame tells the impassioned story of a young woman who left Europe for Palestine in 1939, when she was just 18, but returned five years later on a parachute mission to rescue other Jews. The mission cost Hannah Senesh her life - she was executed at age 23 by a firing squad in Budapest in 1944. The book presents a moving portrait of a gifted, courageous young woman in a terrible time. In Kindling Flame also presents a gripping history of the Holocaust, Jewish resistance, and the Zionists' effort to create a Jewish national home in British-controlled Palestine.
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|  | The Arab Mind Bound
Heggy, Tarek
The Arab Mind Bound proposes that Arab culture has been stifled by two major problems. The first is that of religion misinterpreted. Islam has come to be seen and propagated as a religion of violence, while in reality this violence is merely the result of a single interpretation of Islam. In fact, there are other interpretations that call for moderation and progress. The second problem is education. The backward education system engenders misconceptions which in turn provoke political, social, and economic problems. These trigger a vicious circle which fortifies the existing Arab mindset. The Arab societies are thus trapped in this cycle, to which the only solution is science and modern management. The Arab Mind Bound looks at the factors which led to the rapid spread and influence of violent Islam and its effect on Arab societies. Written by Tarek Heggy, this insightful and topical book is a companion volume to Heggy's The Arab Cocoon: Progress and Modernity in Arab Societies.
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|  | Fascism and the Jews
Italy and Britain
Garau, Salvatore; Tilles, Daniel
Interwar European fascism is inextricably associated with anti-semitism - and, in particular, the destructive racial ideology and policies of the Nazis. Certainly, as the period progressed, anti-semitism did become an increasingly integral ideological component for European fascist movements, with Italy and Britain as distinctive examples of this phenomenon. But the main fascist parties in both countries were founded with no anti-Jewish agenda, before progressively incorporating anti-semitism as official policy. Moving away from the standard Nazi paradigm, this book explores the factors behind fascism's adoption and use of anti-semitism, the varying forms that it took, and the ways in which it evolved. Similarly, the exploration of the Jewish relationship with fascism has been dominated by German, Nazi, and Holocaust history. Yet Jews undertook a far wider range of interactions with this political creed, ranging from membership of fascist organizations to influential involvement in anti-fascist movements. Through comparative examination of the Jewish communities in interwar Britain and Italy, this book unravels some of the complexities of Jewish attitudes towards, and experiences of, fascism.
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|  | The Arab Cocoon
Progress and Modernity in Arab Societies
Heggy, Tarek
- New in Paperback!
- With new up-to-the-minute introduction
- Crucial for understanding current events in Egypt and Tunisia
- "A courageous and distinctive voice from Egypt" Professor Bernard Lewis
The Lotus Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt have come as no surprise to Tarek Heggy. In his outstanding book The Arab Cocoon he clearly lays out the reasons that have prevented Arab societies from joining the West in the march of progress, and the tensions that this has created internally as well as between the Arab world and the West. Heggy explores: a widespread anti-modernity and anti-integration religious Islamic movement; out-dated educational systems; and unhealthy hatred of the 'other' in the Arab world. He shows that the resulting systemic rejection of modernity and progress is the direct cause for the confrontation between most of the Arabic-speaking peoples and the West. It ensures that Arab culture, people and their mentality are unable to integrate in the march of civilization, based on progress and modernity. Very little has been written in depth on the Arab culture and mind. Writing in an informative and accessible style, Tarek Heggy offers the depth needed to understand and deal with this expanding anti-modernity culture, against which the youth of the region are revolting, in one society after the other, using the very tools of modern technology.
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|  | Jewish Identities in Poland and America
The Impact of the Shoah on Religion and Ethnicity
Rejak, Sebastian
Unique field research on Polish and American Jewish diasporas using a comparative approach. Covers topics of interest for Holocaust and Jewish studies scholars, sociologists, philosophers. Analysis of authorís original empirical research and critical assessment of works published by scholars. Explores the impact of the Holocaust on ethnic and religious identities of Jews. Jewish Identities in Poland and America sheds new light on the impact of the Holocaust upon two distinct, yet inter-related, Jewish diasporas. It seeks to explore how the awareness of the Shoah has affected the concepts of Judaism and Jewishness. The book demonstrates how the perception ñ and memory ñ of the Holocaust has been appropriated by Jews in Poland and America and how it functions as a group identity and identification. It explores ëthe Jewish wayí of coping with the Shoah, and whether there is any one typical Jewish way. The book demonstrates, too, how being Jewish, or belonging to a specific ethnic religion (to some: ir-religion), differs from the social experiences of many other groups; how the revival of Jewish community spirit accompanied by a withdrawal from the world of traditional biblical faith has led to the emergence of a new social paradigm: belonging without believing. Has Holocaust memory and imagery had its share in this phenomenon? Has it brought many to atheism? Do American Jews share the same experience with Polish Jews in this respect?
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|  | Nation and History
Israeli Historiography and Identity between Zionism and Post-Zionism
Gelber, Yoav
During the last twenty years Israel has reached unprecedented prosperity yet it is haunted by existential fears for its future, identity and survival. Israel's legitimacy is under assault from within and without by a coalition of left-wing radicals, Palestinians and their sympathizers, and Muslim fundamentalists. All these groups deny the existence of a Jewish nation and argue that Jews do not need a nation state. Hence, Israel should either disappear completely or become ëa state of all its citizensí devoid of any Jewish symbol or identity. The origins of this campaign are twofold. One derives from the traditional opposition that has accompanied Zionism from its inception. The second is contemporary, articulating the post-ist fads that swamped the West since the 1980s. The past occupies a prominent place in this crusade that aims at the present and future. Traditional historiography, scientific and pseudo-scientific, and the new vogue of memory and narrative that claims to be the true history of human experience are equally abused to delegitimize Israel. The book follows these two paths, while avoiding disputes over current political issues. First, it portrays the disciplinary background ñ the evolution of the modern history discipline. Subsequently, it focuses on the conflicting approaches to the cardinal issue of Zionism's essence: is it a national liberation movement of European origin that offered a solution to the modern Jewish Question in a world of nationalities? Or is it a colonial movement that oppressed equally Arabs and oriental Jews?
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|  | The Jewish Year Book 2012
Levy, Elkan; Taylor, Derek
For over 115 years, readers have been referring to the Jewish Year Book for information regarding Britain's Jewish community - the institutions, the organizations, the charities, contact details, and a who's who of personalities. The Jewish Year Book 2012 also provides details on: dates that matter in the Jewish calendar, award winners, anniversaries, obituaries, an overview of the position of Jews in countries outside Britain, happenings in Israel, the 2012 festivals and Sabbaths all over the country, and a 30-year Jewish calendar. Included in this volume are a series of articles which look back over the year gone by and the centuries gone by, with: Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks on the progress of the community over recent years * Derek Taylor on Shechitah * Clive Lawton on Limmud * Peter Lee on the 250th anniversary of the Plymouth Synagogue * Cecil Bloom on Jewish libraries in Leeds * a 75th-anniversary article on the opening of Thompsons Lane synagogue in Cambridge * a 75th-anniversary article on the Council of Christians and Jews.
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