Jack Cooper

Divided into five parts (chapters?), "Near East: Early Times"; "Western Europe: Trying to Fit in"; "Central Europe And The East: The Unwanted Diaspora"; " The Holocaust: Perpetrators, Bystanders, Rescuers"; "Israel : Building and Defending a Nation", each of these parts provides quite interesting insights into actual historical events, however, for me, the fourth chapter ( "America: Finding a Home and Contributing") presented somewhat of a "turn-off) with its assertions that there were Biblical parallels to the American experience e.g. 'Yuchi Indians celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles’ and "Puritans relived the Israelite experience" the implications being that God was behind it all. Otherwise, I did get a very interesting historical perspective.… (meer)

This is a collection of unusual facts about Jewish history collected from a very wide range of sources. The items range from the amusing (A Chinese shopkeeper priced his goods in Hebrew) to appalling (A Jewish Holocaust survivor planned to flood 5 German cities with poison gas). Many are the kind of harmless boosterism most ethnic groups engage in -- Joseph Seligman's sale of Union war bonds was more important than Gettysburg etc. A few are inaccurate --a list of "Pentateuchal" names includes Esther, Jonathan and Daniel, all in Biblical books later than the Pentateuch. Some may be a matter of interpretation. The Knights of Malta are called pirates and so is an American privateer in the Revolution, neither of which I would call a pirates in the sense of indiscriminate plunderers of ships of all nations. Some recent ones may be controversial, especially when dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict --several rely on From Time Immemorial, a strongly pro-Israeli interpretation of the relations of Jewish settlers with the local Arabs, which I have seen criticized elsewhere for serious bias. Overall, they are a mixed bag, though there are enough interesting items for the book to be worth dipping into.… (meer)

I loved the concept: Interesting stories from Jewish history, each told on one or two pages, in the style of a grandfather telling stories to grandchildren. In some regards Jack Cooper's "Who Knew?! Unusual Stories in Jewish History" accomplished this goal, but in other regards it could have been much better. The structure of the book was great: combining chronological and geographical headings made sense as this way the book has a section on biblical times, Western Europe, Central Europe and the East (although I would have separated these into two sections), the Holocaust, America and Israel. I also found the selection and content of the stories wide-ranging enough from the obscure to the pivotal. Furthermore they measured high enough on the scale of being interesting.

Where the book felt short was in accuracy and style. I wish the book had a historian AND a scholar of Judaism editor. I recognize that the author has breadth of knowledge and taught Jewish history. But the depth of his expertise didn't always measure up and teaching at a day school does not require the highest level of scholarship. (FWIW: He taught English at higher levels, but not History.)

To end on a positive note: I really appreciated the footnotes. Pop-science or pop-history books often omit this crucial detail. But Cooper identified his sources, sometimes even 7 of them for a single entry. This makes it easier to learn more about any of his topics, for those who are inclined.

BTW: If you order the book from the publisher, Gefen, this week (and if your order is large enough) you can get it shipped free within the US and Israel.… (meer)

This is a book for insiders. Author Jack Cooper has a grandfatherly air to his writing, as though a group of beloved children are sitting at his feet and he's telling them about Jewish history. I joined in and had a good time listening in, even though I had the distinct feeling I was butting in to a private conversation.

Cooper has a good ear for storytelling, and he's incredibly erudite. These stories are all short, which I find useful as a teacher. When I teach history, I'll have some memorable anecdotes to stick in to my lectures, anecdotes that I think will both illuminate history and give a somewhat unusual side of it.

The grandfatherly tone is sometimes pretty awkward. For example, Who knew ".. Jews make great Indian fighters"? That's just plain dumb. The story itself, about Hungarian Sigmund Shlesinger, who joined Sheridan's Indian fighters, is very interesting. But really. "Jews make great Indian fighters?" That manages to pack racism, a patronizing tone, and gee-whizzness into just five words. There's a lot of that going on in this book.

Nevertheless, Cooper's range of scholarship is admirable. The stories come from a wide range of historical eras, countries, and points of view. Well-condensed snippets about Rasputin's business manager, George Washington, Eichmann, and French Catholics give a sense of the wide-ranging presence of Jewish life and culture throughout history.

I enjoyed these stories tremendously and will keep the book in my library. But I wanted a little less grandfather, and a little more respect for me as reader.… (meer)