JPS Desk Reference

This new volume in the JPS Guides series is a fiction reader's dream: a guide to 125 remarkable works of fiction. The selection includes a wide range of classic American Jewish novels and story collections, from 1867 to the present, selected by the author in consultation with a panel of literary scholars and book industry professionals. Roth, Mailer, Kellerman, Chabon, Ozick, Heller, and dozens of other celebrated writers are here, with their most notable works. Each entry includes a book summary, with historical context and background on the author. Suggestions for further reading point to other books that match readers' interests and favorite writers. And the introduction is a fascinating exploration of the history of and important themes in American Jewish Fiction, illustrating how Jewish writing in the U.S. has been in constant dialogue with popular entertainment and intellectual life. Included in this guide are lists of book award winners; recommended anthologies; title, author, and subject indexes; and more.

Josh Lambert is a doctoral candidate in English and Jewish literature at the University of Michigan. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard in English literature, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and served as a staff writer for the Harvard Lampoon. He led the redesign and relaunch of JBooks.com, an online book review magazine, in 2003, and served as its editor until 2004. He now contributes book reviews and essays to the Forward, the San Francisco Chronicle, the two national daily newspapers in Canada (the National Post and Globe and Mail), The Jerusalem Post, and Nextbook Inc.