Breaking onto the scene in 1982 with Diner, which was hailed by one critic as a masterpiece of observation, Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson has since become recognized as one of the preeminent writer/directors of our time. Diner was set in Levinson's native Baltimore, during the late 1950s of his youth, and is, as Pauline Kael wrote in the New Yorker, "that rare autobiographical movie made by someone who knows how to get the texture right."...With Tin Men Levinson returned to richly detailed middle class milieu of Baltimore and introduced another group of characters -- the "tin men" who make their living hard-selling aluminum siding to unsuspecting homeowners...In Avalon Levinson continues his cycle of Baltimore stories.

In Rose Eichenbaum’s latest book on the confluence of art making and human expression, she sits down with thirty-five modern day storytellers—the directors of theater, film, and television. Eichenbaum’s subjects speak with revealing clarity about the entertainment industry, the role and life of the director, and how theatrical and cinematic storytelling impacts our culture and our lives. The Director Within includes interviews with Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show), Julie Taymor (The Lion King), Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles), Tim Van Patten (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), Hal Prince (The Phantom of the Opera), Barry Levinson (Rain Man), and many others. The interviews are skillfully crafted, sensitively executed, and brimming with honesty and insight. The accompanying portraits demonstrate Eichenbaum’s mastery of photography and convey the truth, depth, and intimacy of their subjects. The Director Within is an inspirational, informative, and entertaining resource for anyone interested in creativity, art making, and artistic collaboration. The book includes a listing of works from each of the directors.

How has the Jewish family changed over the course of the twentieth century? How has it remained the same? How do Jewish families see themselves--historically, socially, politically, and economically--and how would they like to be seen by others? This book, the fourteenth volume of Oxford's internationally acclaimed Studies in Contemporary Jewry series, presents a variety of perspectives on Jewish families coping with life and death in the twentieth century. The book is comprised of symposium papers, essays, and review articles of works published on such fundamental subjects as the Holocaust, antisemitism, genocide, history, literature, the arts, religion, education, Zionism, Israel, and the Middle East. Published annually by the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Studies in Contemporary Jewry series features current scholarship in the form of symposia, articles, and book reviews by distinguished experts of Jewish studies from colleges and universities across the globe. Each volume also includes a list of recent dissertations. Volume XIV: Coping with Life and Death: Jewish Families in the Twentieth Century will appeal to all students and scholars of the sociocultural history of the Jewish people, especially those interested in the nature of Jewish intermarriage and/or family life, the changing fate of the Orthodox Jewish family, the varied but widespread Americanization of the Jewish family, and similar concerns.

* New insights into modern consumer culture by a master critic

Helps readers find a new passion and honesty in their relationship with God by modeling their prayer life on the prayers of the Psalms and delving deeper into familiar types of prayer, such as asking, praising, and confessions, and by exploring new forms of praying. Original.

Movie-Made Jews focuses on American Jewish cinematic tradition. This tradition includes fiction and documentary films that make Jews through antisemitism, Holocaust indirection, and discontent with assimilation, and through unapologetic assertion of Jewishness, queerness, and alliances across race and religion. While it's a truism that Jews make movies, this book demonstrates how movies make Jews.

“A superb, thought-provoking analysis tracing the metamorphosis of the image of the Jew as portrayed through 80 years of American cinema.” —Library Journal Like the haggadah, the traditional story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt read at the Passover seder, cinema offers a valuable text from which to gain an understanding of the social, political, and cultural realities of Jews in America. In an industry strongly influenced by Jewish filmmakers, the complex, evolving nature of the American Jewish condition has had considerable impact on American cinema and, in particular, on how Jews are reflected on the screen. This groundbreaking study analyzes select mainstream films from the beginning of the sound era to today to provide an understanding of the American Jewish experience over the last century, from the time when Hollywood’s movie moguls, most of whom were Jewish, shied away from asserting a Jewish image on the screen, to a period when Jewish moviemakers became more comfortable with the concept of a Jewish hero and with an overpowered, yet heroic, Israel, and the way that the Holocaust assumed center stage as the single event with the greatest effect on American Jewish identity. Recently, as American Jewish screenwriters, directors, and producers have become increasingly comfortable with their heritage, we are seeing an unprecedented number of movies that spotlight Jewish protagonists, experiences, and challenges. This is “a wonderful book for any lover of American films” (Hadassah Magazine).