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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of A Man Who Rescued A Million Yiddish Books (Hardcover)

by Aaron Lansky (Author) "The phone rang at midnight..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Sholem Aleichem, Yiddish Book Center (more...)
4.6 out of 5 stars  (22 customer reviews)

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Better Together

Buy this book with Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods (P.S.) by Michael Wex today!

Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of A Man Who Rescued A Million Yiddish Books Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its Moods (P.S.)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Lansky was a 23-year-old graduate student in 1980 when he came up with an idea that would take over his life and change the face of Jewish literary culture: He wanted to save Yiddish books. With few resources save his passion and ironlike determination, Lansky and his fellow dreamers traveled from house to house, Dumpster to Dumpster saving Yiddish books wherever they could find them—eventually gathering an improbable 1.5 million volumes, from famous writers like Sholem Aleichem and I.B. Singer to one-of-a-kind Soviet prints. In his first book, Lansky charmingly describes his adventures as president and founder of the National Yiddish Book Center, which now has new headquarters at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. To Lansky, Yiddish literature represented an important piece of Jewish cultural history, a link to the past and a memory of a generation lost to the Holocaust. Lansky's account of salvaging books is both hilarious and moving, filled with Jewish humor, conversations with elderly Jewish immigrants for whom the books evoke memories of a faraway past, stories of desperate midnight rescues from rain-soaked Dumpsters, and touching accounts of Lansky's trips to what were once thriving Jewish communities in Europe. The book is a testimony to his love of Judaism and literature and his desire to make a difference in the world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Lansky’s quarter-century quest not only helped keep Yiddish literature from slipping into history, but also provided him with plenty of terrific material for his first book. Granted, a story about collecting old volumes in an obscure language initially sounds less than thrilling. But thanks to Lansky’s storytelling skills, this memoir lives up to the "amazing adventures" advertised in its title; it’s quickly clear why he’s been dubbed "the Yiddish Indiana Jones" and "the Otto Schindler of Yiddish literature." Lansky’s recounting of his personal mission may come off as self-aggrandizing to a few readers. But most will likely view the book as a great tale filled with memorable anecdotes and a rich cast of characters who reflect the endangered culture they’re trying to save.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews


Product Details
  • Hardcover: 328 pages
  • Publisher: Algonquin Books (October 5, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1565124294
  • ISBN-13: 978-1565124295
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: