Luke Ford

I read two terrific books Sunday.

First was Mr. Confidential: The Man, the Magazine & the Movieland Massacre by Samuel Bernstein.

From Publishers Weekly: "Bernstein’s hard-boiled yet juicy chronicle of publisher Robert Harrison’s 1950s celebrity gossip magazine Confidential is an apt, unflinching take on the wildly popular tabloid that stood by its slogan, "Tells the Facts and Names the Names." In its heyday, the rag was revealing romantic trysts, outing gay stars and insinuating a lot more for an audience of over 5 million readers. That wouldn’t last, as "The Trial of 100 Stars, then 200 stars" in 1957 brought multiple felonies against the tabloid-including conspiracy to commit libel and disseminate obscene material-that would lead to circulation-killing content and format changes. Focusing on the embattled founder and two key Confidential players-Harrison’s niece and research director Marjorie Meade, "the most feared woman in Hollywood," and editor Howard Rushmore, a "goofball-popping, alcoholic, violent, Communist witch-hunter"-and including a huge cast of celebrities, Bernstein does a commendable job bringing Harrison and his times to life with a page-turning pace and prose worthy of the tabloid (somewhat appropriately, his frequent italicized asides could have used more consistent attribution). Including more than 75 pages of photos and reproductions of the magazine’s stories and covers, this smart exposé should please anyone interested in 1950s Hollywood or the evolution of celebrity journalism."

The second was Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court by Jan Crawford Greenburg. It kept me up until 1 a.m. finishing it.

I read four good books over Shabbos:

* We’re All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age by Scott Gant.

From Publishers Weekly: "In his first book, Gant, a law partner in Washington, D.C., and former counsel for the New Republic, attempts to update our slim definition of "journalist" for the Internet age. In this narrow volume, he casts a wide net. Adamant that journalism is an activity undertaken, and not a profession practiced, Gant invites us all to join the ranks of the press. He argues that the media’s role as a check on government depends on both the expanded category of journalist and the unfettered freedom to report without fear of government reproach. Using specific landmark constitutional law cases, as well as contemporary examples, including the Valerie Plame case and the San Francisco Chronicle reporters who uncovered the BALCO scandal, Gant makes the case that the health of our democracy requires a press clause that entitles journalists to constitutional protection from revealing their sources. His argument draws parallels between colonial pamphleteers and present-day bloggers. His scope is radical, simultaneously calling for the enactment of federal shield laws for the press and a greatly expanded definition of who is a journalist (roughly, everyone). Gant’s forward-thinking logic is presented convincingly, though he dismisses the most immediate problems with suspicious facility."

* Looking for Class: Days and Nights at Oxford and Cambridge by Bruce Feiler.

MCureton writes on Amazon.com: "This gem of book begins, in Feiler’s self deprecating style as he finds himself somewhat increduously accepted for his Master’s at Cambridge (certainly not because he doubts his own abilities but more because of the imposing wall between Oxbridge and the rest of us). Feiler journals his year with a selective and at times detached air. Snapshots and glimpses of Cambridge float by as he makes his way towards his degree. Yet, this is no mismatched mosaic, but rather an expressionistic view of a year well spent in "the game." Academia is, of course, a construct built much for its own purposes and the two institutions of Cambridge and Oxford represent the grandest of these constructs. Feiler seems to know this starting out, and nevertheless, he dives into life at Cambridge with all the eagerness of a ten year old embarking on a day at the Magic Kingdom. Throughout his year of study he is frequently caught up in the juxtoposition of very high ideals and very low life; very fine minds with very little common sense. All is not what the romantics might imagine along the banks of the Cam. But Feiler is no anti-intellectual detractor aiming for a cheap expose. So, while the layers are peeled back in what is at times a very private journal, revealing both the ironic and the farcical, he never loses respect for, and never insults the tradition that is Cambridge. In the end, it is a very humane and forgiving look at what is at once both a place of lofty thoughts and grimy academia. It is in essence a lovingly realistic journal of one man’s ride through what remains for most us, intellectual Oz."

* Climbing Jacob’s Ladder: One Man’s Journey to Rediscover a Jewish Spiritual Tradition

From Publishers Weekly: "This moving account of a secular Jew’s search for spirituality begins with his explorations of Eastern religions in India and ends with his quest’s eventual culmination in Jewish tradition. Born and raised in Toronto, Morinis won a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a Ph.D. in anthropology at Oxford. After teaching at different universities in Vancouver, he became involved in filmmaking and abandoned academia. He was successful for many years but his business finally failed. During his resulting depression, he turned to Judaism for solace since his investigation of Eastern religions had proven fruitless. He learned about Musar (ethics, morality), a little-known Jewish movement that emphasizes the study of Judaism’s ethical writings and their practical application. The need for a teacher to guide him beyond his reading led him to a rabbi in Far Rockaway, N.Y. For the next three years, Morinis traveled frequently between Vancouver and New York. What he learned is incorporated in this well-written book which sets forth the teachings of Musar, often through parables told to Morinis by his teacher. These homilies make a profound connection between belief and behavior. The narrative also reveals the story of the author’s life, including the impact of his studies on his relationship with his physician wife and their two daughters. The achievement of personal growth through spirituality is richly demonstrated by this touching account of the author’s journey to Judaism."

* Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence by Elliott Horowitz

Jan Peckis writes on Amazon.com:

Usually, all we hear is that Christians thought of Jews as responsible for deicide. Throughout this book, Horowitz makes it clear that Jews had just as much religiously-motivated animosity against Christians as Christians did against Jews. Horowitz paints the former as a defensive reaction of Jews against Christian persecution. Yet it becomes obvious from reading his book that such acts occurred in places and times when Jews were not undergoing persecution, and that these acts were often very overt and provocative in nature.

The portrayal of Christianity as Haman was very common during Purim celebrations. For instance, Horowitz writes: "In the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine, it was common, in the early eighteenth century, to hire a Christian to play the role of Haman in the annual Purimshpiel." (p. 86). Obviously, there was another side to Polish anti-Semitism, and Horowitz has touched upon this seldom-mentioned side.

Horowitz examines the attacks on sacred Christian objects by Jews: "…we are in a better position to take Christian reports of Jewish cross-desecration seriously rather than dismissing them as anti-Semitic inventions." (p. 156). "To both Jews and Christians of their time (unlike some historians of recent generations) it was not difficult to imagine a Jew, whether naturally born or converted, urinating on a cross if given the opportunity to do so. Unlike ritual murder or host-desecration this form of hostile conduct, it may be added, was not reported exclusively by Christian sources." (p. 169). What about attacks on Holy Communion? Horowitz says the following about host-profanation: "Yet in recent decades Jewish historians have been more open to the possibility that such acts of desecration, not necessarily always premeditated, could indeed have taken place from time to time." (p. 173).

Horowitz discusses Jewish violence against Christians. For instance, Jews who converted to Christianity were sometimes attacked by other Jews (pp. 202-203). A large-scale instance of Jewish violence against Christians occurred during the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614. The local Jews killed 90,000 Christians, though some other estimates accept a death toll of 30,000 (p. 241). Horowitz does not mention the fact that the numbers of Jews killed during the later Crusades has also been exaggerated, and is comparable to the number of Christians killed earlier by Jews during the events of 614.

Horowitz believes that the blood libel had originated as a tale told by Jewish converts to Christianity (p. 219, 226). Interestingly, some modern Muslim leaders accept the blood libel as fact (p. 9).

The avoidance of discussion of Jewish violence stems from the tendency to consider Jews as victims and not victimizers. Horowitz comments: "Evenhanded assessments of the reciprocal role of violence in Jewish-Christian relations were to become increasingly rare in post-Holocaust Jewish historiography, both in the land of Israel and in the Diaspora." (p. 235).

During the Carmelite convent controversy at Auschwitz and its aftermath, the media paid attention only to those Jews who found offense in the cross. Horowitz comments: "Yet in the heat of the fierce debates about the Auschwitz crosses, it was somehow forgotten that since the late nineteenth century such prominent Jewish artists in Europe and the United States as Samuel Hirschenberg, Joseph Budko, Marc Chagall, and Barnett Newman had appropriated both the cross and the crucifixion as symbols of Jewish suffering…Not only did Jewish artists develop an attraction to the use of the cross, so did such early twentieth century Jewish writers as Sholem Asch, Lamed Shapiro, and Uri Greenberg…" (pp. 182-183).