Library Corner

New on the Youth Bookshelf

May 2, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  Some adult book clubs choose one “young adult” title a year to read, simply to sample from the many excellent books in that category.  This year, two …

Looking Anew at Captain Dreyfus

April 8, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  Near the turn of the 20th Century, the Dreyfus Affair thrust France into turmoil.  In 1894, the French army falsely accused and convicted Jewish military captain Alfred …

An American Tale of Love & Community

March 6, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  How can a book full of societal evils like racism, antisemitism, and child abuse manage to be heartwarming and uplifting?  This is the magic of The Heaven …

The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance

January 29, 2024

By Robin Jacobson.  “Pa pleaded. “We can get a hundred and sixty acres out west, just by living on it… If Uncle Sam’s willing to give us a farm… I …

Music, War, and Memory

November 30, 2023

By Robin Jacobson.  The great German poet-playwright Goethe had a deep fondness for a grand oak tree in the woodlands near Weimar.  One autumn morning in 1827, he famously picnicked …