When Martin Brower moved his family from heavily Jewish Los Angeles to barely Jewish Orange County, California, in 1974, his Los Angeles friends were amazed at his bravery and his foolishness. Orange County was considered anti-Semitic and lacking in culture. However, during the years following World War II, Orange County was transformed from a small rural community with citrus groves, row crops and cattle -- first into a bedroom community for neighboring Los Angeles County and then into a dynamic urban empire. As the County's population and employment base exploded, Orange County's Jewish population grew from a small enclave of Jewish shopkeepers into a vibrant Jewish community in excess of 100,000. To the surprise of many, Orange County now boasts one of the leading centers of Jewish life in the nation, complete with 30 synagogues, a grand new Jewish Community Center, one of the nation's largest Jewish day schools and one of its finest homes for the aging. In his book "Orange County Jew: A Memoir," Brower superimposes the growth of the Jewish community over the amazing development of Orange County itself, and uses as a framework the personal story of his own 36 years as a resident of Orange County and as a player among its major real estate development companies and its entrepreneurial leaders.

During the 80 years of this author's life, the Jewish population of the City of Los Angeles exploded from a mere 65,000 Jews to 520,000 Jews, establishing Los Angeles as the third largest Jewish population center in the world. Yet, little has been written about this transformation, with most Jewish generational novels concentrating on the New York Jewish experience. And yet, the Los Angeles Jewish experience was completely different from that of New York. The author, a native of Los Angeles, addresses the Los Angeles Jewish experience as a personal memoir -- sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and always engrossing.

When Martin Brower moved his family from heavily Jewish Los Angeles to barely Jewish Orange County, California, in 1974, his Los Angeles friends were amazed at his bravery and his foolishness. Orange County was considered anti-Semitic and lacking in culture. However, during the years following World War II, Orange County was transformed from a small rural community with citrus groves, row crops and cattle -- first into a bedroom community for neighboring Los Angeles County and then into a dynamic urban empire. As the County's population and employment base exploded, Orange County's Jewish population grew from a small enclave of Jewish shopkeepers into a vibrant Jewish community in excess of 100,000. To the surprise of many, Orange County now boasts one of the leading centers of Jewish life in the nation, complete with 30 synagogues, a grand new Jewish Community Center, one of the nation's largest Jewish day schools and one of its finest homes for the aging. In his book "Orange County Jew: A Memoir," Brower superimposes the growth of the Jewish community over the amazing development of Orange County itself, and uses as a framework the personal story of his own 36 years as a resident of Orange County and as a player among its major real estate development companies and its entrepreneurial leaders.

During the 80 years of this author's life, the Jewish population of the City of Los Angeles exploded from a mere 65,000 Jews to 520,000 Jews, establishing Los Angeles as the third largest Jewish population center in the world. Yet, little has been written about this transformation, with most Jewish generational novels concentrating on the New York Jewish experience. And yet, the Los Angeles Jewish experience was completely different from that of New York. The author, a native of Los Angeles, addresses the Los Angeles Jewish experience as a personal memoir -- sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and always engrossing.