Eminent Jews : Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer / David Denby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Denby, David, 1943- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990.

Bernstein, Leonard.

Friedan, Betty.

Brooks, Mel, 1926-.

Brooks, Mel.

Mailer, Norman.

Jews--United States--Intellectual life--20th century.

Jews.

United States--Civilization--Jewish influences.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiv, 383 pages, 8 unnumbered leaves of unnumbered plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Henry Holt and Company, 2025.

Summary:

"Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. Brilliant, brash, 100 percent Jewish and 100 percent American, they were hell-bent on shaking up the world of their fathers. They worked in different fields, and, apart from clinking glasses at parties now and then, they hardly knew one another. But they shared a commonhistorical moment and a common temperament. For all four, their Jewish heritage was electrified by American liberty. As prosperity for American Jews increased and anti-Semitism began to fade after World War II, these four creative giants stormed through the latter half of the twentieth century, altering the way people listened to music, defined what was vulgar or not, comprehended the relations of men and women, and understood the nation's soul. They were not saints; they were Jews, children of immigrants, turbulent and self-dissatisfiedintellectuals who fearlessly wielded their own newly won freedom tofree up American culture. Celebratory yet candid, at times fiercelycritical, David Denby presents these four figures as egotistical and generous-larger-than-life, all of them, both daringly individual and emblematic of their Jewish generation"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue: At home in America I

Mel Brooks and the end of self-pity

Betty Friedan and the end of subservience

Norman Mailer and the end of shame

Leonard Bernstein and the end of apprenticeship

Epilogue: At home in America II.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1250193400

9781250193407

OCLC:

1429640278