Looking Back to a Better Time – Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American by Rachel Gordan

This scholarly book examines what the author, Rachel Gordan, calls anti-antisemitism writing, in novels and non-fiction books about Judaism, and in magazines, starting just after World War II and going into the 1950s. One of the most famous examples of fiction of the period is the 1947 Gentleman's Agreement, by Laura Z. Hobson, a novel about a gentile journalist who goes undercover as a Jew to write about the experience of antisemitism and exclusion in New York City and the upper class suburbs of Connecticut. It was a tremendous bestseller, and was made into an Oscar-winning movie with Gregory Peck in the leading role.

Another is the 1958 Exodus, by Leon Uris, about the founding of the State of Israel following the voyage of the immigration ship "Exodus". It too was made into a highly successful film, released in 1960, starring Paul Newman in the central role. Though I was a young child in pajamas in the back of my parents' car at a drive-in theater, I still remember the impression made on me by its stirring music and vivid graphic opening.

Gordan examines other best-selling fiction by such writers as Herman Wouk, the author of Marjorie Morningstar and The Caine Mutiny, who also wrote the non-fiction This Is My God, his interpretation of Judaism (also a bestseller), and similar non-fiction texts by rabbis of the period. Wouk was a practitioner of Modern Orthodox Judaism, and the other books examined Judaism from the Reconstructionist and Reform viewpoints.

In addition, she describes the special features on Judaism (and other major religions) in mainstream magazines like "Time", "Life", and "Look", which were revolutionary in bringing a Jewish perspective into the mainstream of American life.

On the whole, it presents a positive view of the evolution and mainstreaming of Jewish life in America after World War II, and onward, until the last decade or so, when we began to see obvious evidence of increased antisemitism once again, typified by the Tree of Life synagogue attack in Pittsburgh in 2018. It is a highly informative and fascinating book, but it was written before the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas and the ensuing events. Since then, everything has changed, and the hopeful sentiments of this book must, sadly, be viewed as nostalgia.