Jewish Fantasy Worldwide: Trends in Speculative Stories from Australia to Chile reaches beyond American fiction to reveal a spectrum of Jewish fantasy. The essays in this collection cover speculative works by Jewish artists and about Jewish characters from a broad range of national contexts, including post-Holocaust Europe, the Soviet Union, Chile, French Canada, and the Middle East. The authors consider various media including fiction, film, Youtube videos, and fan sites. For scholars and fans alike, this collection of essays will provide new perspectives on Jewish presences in speculative fiction around the world.

World Jewry today is concentrated in the US and Israel, and while distinctive Judaic approaches and practices have evolved in each society, parallels also exist. This volume offers studies of substantive and creative aspects of Jewish belonging. While research in Israel on Judaism has stressed orthodox or "extreme" versions of religiosity, linked to institutional life and politics, moderate and less systematized expressions of Jewish belonging are overlooked. This volume explores the fluid and dynamic nature of identity building among Jews and the many issues that cut across different Jewish groupings. An important contribution to scholarship on contemporary Jewry, it reveals the often unrecognized dynamism in new forms of Jewish identification and affiliation in Israel and in the Diaspora.

Addressing methodological and substantive research problems common to local Jewish population studies, the contributorsto this book present the most recent research findings on suchproblems as how to design studies that will make a contributionto social science knowledge as well as have a strong impacton the planning process; methods of sampling that will optimizethe trade-offs between costs and accuracy; how to develop acomparative framework so that results from individual communitiesmay be fruitfully understood in a larger context; and whichquestions should be asked in surveys and how. Detailed essaysdiscuss every step of the research process. The book includesa compendium of findings from several recent. population studiesas well as an annotated inventory of questionnaire items, allof which should prove useful to researchers and communitiesplanning to undertake Jewish population studies.

Addressing methodological and substantive research problems common to local Jewish population studies, the contributorsto this book present the most recent research findings on suchproblems as how to design studies that will make a contributionto social science knowledge as well as have a strong impacton the planning process; methods of sampling that will optimizethe trade-offs between costs and accuracy; how to develop acomparative framework so that results from individual communitiesmay be fruitfully understood in a larger context; and whichquestions should be asked in surveys and how. Detailed essaysdiscuss every step of the research process. The book includesa compendium of findings from several recent. population studiesas well as an annotated inventory of questionnaire items, allof which should prove useful to researchers and communitiesplanning to undertake Jewish population studies.

This book is a graphic introduction to how chemistry developed, from ancient times to now. Led by cartoon host, Ben Zene - with occasional interjections by eccentric Greek philosopher Democritus - readers learn about ancient Greek and Chinese elements, alchemists, and the development of chemistry as we know it today, from Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier, from Elizabeth Fulhame and John Dalton, to Joens Jakob Berzelius and Friedrich Woehler, to Rosalind Franklin, Linus Pauling, and Mario Molina. The book delves into topics like nanochemistry, environmental chemistry, and how the structure of atoms and molecules was uncovered, all with good humor, bright colors, and lively drawings. There are occasional sidebars on chemical-related history and the arts, and factoids such as how President of the USA Herbert Hoover and President of Israel Chaim Weizmann influenced chemistry, how personal politics may have denied Gilbert Lewis the Nobel Prize, a Japanese tale of intrigue mingling with chemistry, and which chemist was the first living person to have an element named for him.Related Link(s)

Whether you are planning a road trip or looking to engage with history from the comfort of your couch, the second edition of America's Scientific Treasures is sure to satisfy your craving for scientific and technologic history. Stephen M. Cohen and Brenda H. Cohen, a mother-son pair, take readers through countless museums, arboretums, zoos, national parks, planetariums, natural and technological sites, and the homes of a few scientists in this exciting volume. The two combine their expertise in chemistry and history, making this an educational travel guide for science and technology enthusiasts. The book is split into nine geographic regions and organized by state, and it includes how to get to each place, whom to contact, whether it is handicapped-accessible, and even where you can grab a bite to eat nearby. Cohen and Cohen provide the history and significance of each location, plus they offer images for notable locations like the African Savanna at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in the Anchorage Museum. The resulting book is a navigable travel guide perfect for any science or technology enthusiast. So, what are you waiting for? Let's take a journey through the history of American sciences and engineering.

This book is a graphic introduction to how chemistry developed, from ancient times to now. Led by cartoon host, Ben Zene - with occasional interjections by eccentric Greek philosopher Democritus - readers learn about ancient Greek and Chinese elements, alchemists, and the development of chemistry as we know it today, from Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier, from Elizabeth Fulhame and John Dalton, to Joens Jakob Berzelius and Friedrich Woehler, to Rosalind Franklin, Linus Pauling, and Mario Molina. The book delves into topics like nanochemistry, environmental chemistry, and how the structure of atoms and molecules was uncovered, all with good humor, bright colors, and lively drawings. There are occasional sidebars on chemical-related history and the arts, and factoids such as how President of the USA Herbert Hoover and President of Israel Chaim Weizmann influenced chemistry, how personal politics may have denied Gilbert Lewis the Nobel Prize, a Japanese tale of intrigue mingling with chemistry, and which chemist was the first living person to have an element named for him.Related Link(s)

"Cohen and Eisen have written that rare work, a book that really matters With clarity and grace, The Jew Within tells the story of how American Jews live and understand their Judaism over the span of their lives, in their families, and among their friends." Riv-Ellen Prell

..". a marvelous book. The authors have succeeded in conveying in a very convincing manner the meaning of Jewish identity, Jewish belief, and Jewish practice among a most... important sector of American Jews: the baby-boomer generation." Charles S. Liebman

Rocked by reports of soaring intermarriage rates, rampant assimilation, and diminishing population, the American Jewish community has been concerned with issues of Jewish identification and continuity. What factors shape, nourish, and sustain Jewish commitment? What leads some Jews to place Jewish commitment at the center of their lives, while others consign it to the margins? What matters most to American Jews and why? Through in-depth interviews with Jews across the country, Arnold M. Eisen and Steven M. Cohen, two of the keenest observers and analysts of American Jewish life, probe beneath the surface to explore the foundations of belief and behavior among moderately affiliated American Jews. Among their thought-provoking conclusions are that the construction of Jewish meaning in America is personal and private and that communal loyalties and norms no longer shape Jewish identity as they did several decades ago. The rich and moving personal narratives presented by the authors, accompanied by insightful analysis, raise important questions for all those concerned with the meaning and future of Judaism in American life."

Far from simply vanishing in the face of modernity, Orthodox Jews in the United States today are surviving and flourishing. Samuel C. Heilman and Steven M. Cohen, both distinguished scholars of Jewish studies, have joined forces in this pathbreaking book to articulate this vibrancy and to characterize the many faces of Orthodox Jewry in contemporary America. Who are these Orthodox Jews? How have they survived, what do they believe and practice and how do they accommodate the tension between traditional Jewish and modern American values? Drawing on a survey of more than one thousand participants, the authors address these questions and many more.
Heilman and Cohen reveal that American Jewish Orthodoxy is not a monolith by distinguishing its three broad varieties: the traditionalists, the centrists, and the nominally orthodox. To illuminate this full spectrum of orthodoxy the authors focus on the centrists, taking us through the dimensions of their ritual observances, religious beliefs, community life, and their social, political, and sexual attitudes. Both parochial and cosmopolitan, orthodox and liberal, these Jews are characterized by their dualism, by their successful involvement in both the modern Western world and in traditional Jewish culture. In painting this provocative and fascinating portrait of what Jewish Orthodoxy has become in America today, Heilman and Cohen's study also sheds light on the larger picture of the persistence of religion in the modern world.