Her honesty is appreciated, and her sense of being an outsider seeking acceptance, knowledge and understanding propels this book. The more pertinent question is not whether Tamkin is qualified to undertake this project but whether she is discerning and insightful enough to add to the considerable conversation on Jewish religious, cultural and political identity that already exists.

Tamkin writes in a very acces­si­ble, con­ver­sa­tion­al tone, and enlivens her his­tor­i­cal nar­ra­tive with anec­dotes and per­son­al com­ments. In addi­tion to key polit­i­cal episodes — Rab­bi Stephen S. Wise’s equiv­o­cal role as an advo­cate for Jews dur­ing the Holo­caust; the tri­al of Julius and Ethel Rosen­berg — she ani­mates her account with fre­quent ref­er­ences to pop­u­lar-cul­ture fig­ures...It’s an invit­ing intro­duc­tion to Amer­i­can Jew­ish history.

Focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the book draws from scores of interviews to make its various points. Some, like the discussion with Susannah Heschel, the daughter of civil rights icon Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, are enlightening. Others, like those with Heschel’s other family members, are less so. Though Tamkin raises a wealth of questions about everything from religious observances to neoconservatism versus liberalism, there are not many answers, and that, ultimately, is the point when it comes to the identity of a group as diverse in beliefs and practices as American Jewry. This book is very wide-ranging, not always very deep, but always thought-provoking, and it offers many ideas for readers to explore further..

... vibrant.

Though not a rigorous, scholarly treatment of the subject, the book ably reflects the author’s experience as a skilled journalist and storyteller.