From Publishers Weekly
The culture of the Catskills the wide range of hotels, bungalows, rooming houses and elaborate resorts in the mountains in New York State that catered to a mainly Jewish clientele has become, in the broadest sense, American culture: Danny Kaye, Milton Berle, Joey Adams, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Tony Curtis and many others got their start there. This anthology of 34 essays, memoirs, fictions and songs (illustrated with wonderful, evocative photographs) conveys some of the religious, social, historic, sexual and ethnic complexity that "the mountains," as it was called, embodied. Brown (Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat's Memoirs of the Great Jewish Resort Area) has been the unofficial historian of this part of the Jewish-American experience, and this anthology gives a nice, if superficial, taste of the literature. There are engaging popular memoirs (like an excerpt from Joey Adams's 1966 autobiography, The Borscht Belt, and surprising fiction pieces, such as one from Abraham Cahan's classic 1927 novel, The Rise of David Levinsky, as well as the lyrics of the 1941 song "Shoot the Shtrudel to Me Yudel!" which was dedicated to Yudel Slutzsky, owner of the Arrowhead Lodge. While Brown reprints some fascinating historical material, such as Abraham Lavender and Clarence Steinberg's "Jewish Farmers of the Catskills," which charts the start of the Jewish presence in the area and the beginnings of the resort culture, many of the pieces a chapter from Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar and one from Allegra Goodman's Kaaterskill Falls are easily available and add little. This is a great look at the history of Catskill culture for readers new to the material, but those looking for more depth will be disappointed.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
For those who once found respite from their usual activities in the Catskills, this collection of essays is a wonderful reminder. For everyone else, the book helps to provide a permanent record of an era that is a vital part of American Jewish History.
(Morton Teicher
Jewish Advocate )
Phil Brown's new book... is Catskills gold, a rich collection of short stories, essays, excerpts of novels and memoirs, along with vintage photographs, menus, postcards, and song lyrics. More than a nostalgic album, the book is evocative, serious, literary, and fun, too.
(
The Jewish Week )
A nostalgic pastiche of fiction, memoir, photography, art, postcards, menus, etc., celebrating Jewish resort life in the Catskills.
(
Providence Journal (RI) )
A warm, witty and schmaltzy book.
(
Newark Star-Ledger )
A gripping and powerful depiction of a traumatized and emergent community engaged in the pursuit of leisure. The fiction, essays and memoirs all share a dreamlike intensity of emotion and degree of detail that create the sense that the contributors are still revisiting the Catskills in their sleep and trying to describe it when they wake.
(
National Post )
Brown has been the unofficial historian of this part of the Jewish-American experience, and this anthology... is a great look at the history of Catskill culture.
(
Publishers Weekly )
Delightful.
(
The Jerusalem Post )
Whether describing the history and landscape of the Catskill region, the culinary inventions, or the legendary entertainment, this anthology evokes all the flavors and memories of a bygone era.
(
Brandeis Review )
Phil Brown's edited collection is a warm, charming, and valuable work. Much of the writing is simply gorgeous, a mixture of meticulously remembered details and the wisdom of the passing years.
(Paul Buhle
Contemporary Sociology )
