A combination travel guide and history book to Jewish culture in Central and Eastern Europe, it is written in a lively style. The author takes readers into a ghostly, multidimensional shadow land of ``Then, Now and What Might Have Been''. Besides providing invaluable tips on getting around, locating historical sights, what to bring and wear, etc., it also includes numerous references, historical and fictional works that will futher aid readers in preparation for their trip.
Ruth Ellen Gruber is an award-winning American writer, editor and photographer who has long been based on Europe. She has chronicled European Jewish issues for more than twenty years and works on cultural topics including an ongoing project called "Sauerkraut Cowboys" documenting how Europeans embrace the mythology of the American Wild West.
She coined the term "Virtually Jewish" to describe the way the so-called "Jewish space" in Europe is often filled by non-Jews: klezmer music, culture festivals, museums, tourism, and kitsch as well as serious and sensitive study and involvement.
Her books include National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe, (2007), Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere) (2008), Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe (2002), and Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today (1994).
A former correspondent in Eastern Europe for United Press International, she is Senior European correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency JTA. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, Hadassah Magazine, the New Leader, the London Independent and many other publications. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and others.
