The Netanyahus

By Joshua Cohen,

Book cover of The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a  Very Famous Family

Book description


WINNER OF THE 2022 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION

2021 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD WINNER

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2021

A KIRKUS BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2021

"Absorbing, delightful, hilarious, breathtaking and the best and most relevant novel I’ve read…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Netanyahus as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I loved this propulsive and darkly comic novel about an American history professor who encounters Benzion Netanyahu (father of Benjamin) at a New England college in the 1950s. I was moved by the narrator’s reflections on Jewish life and identity in the USA.

The book is witty and surprising throughout. As an academic, I found the author’s skewering of academia’s pretentions to be sharply funny.

In light of the war in Gaza and ongoing debates about antisemitism on college campuses, I’ve been reflecting on this book because it confronts profound questions around Jewish identity and faith in diaspora. I plan…

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