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biography

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim gestures during a gathering at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., Monday, April 12, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
May 23, 2026, 11:52 am
New biography hits the high and low notes of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim’s life
Author Daniel Okrent doesn’t miss a beat analyzing the music, lyrics — and complicated personality — of the extremely secular Jewish maverick who revolutionized American musical theater
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Cathryn J. Prince, author of 'For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman.' (Courtesy)
April 26, 2026, 6:13 am
From child laborer to union leader: Too-relevant story of 20th-century immigrant Pauline Newman
In ‘For the Love of Labor,’ ToI contributor Cathryn J. Prince follows the Lithuanian-born labor activist who blazed trails fighting sexism and classism in her new homeland, America
By Rich Tenorio
Jewish thinkers, giants in their fields. From left to right: Moshe Davis, Mordecai Kaplan (center) and Hillel Bavli (Inset from an image courtesy of the Mordecai Kaplan Center)
April 6, 2026, 8:53 am
How an upstart rabbi was excommunicated over his prayer book for a ‘new US Judaism’
Mordecai Kaplan’s vision of a unified, reconstructed religion for American Jews was plagued by backlash but launched a new denomination. Now he’s the subject of a new biography
By Rich Tenorio
Author Judy Blume at BookCon in New York, May 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
March 21, 2026, 5:09 pm
For generations of Judy Blume fans, long-awaited biography does not disappoint
Realistic kids’ and teen fiction pioneer introduced readers to relatable characters and plots, not to mention unforgettable lines like, ‘We must, we must, we must increase our bust!’
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Henrietta Szold at home in Jerusalem, circa 1922. (Wikimedia Commons)
February 17, 2026, 1:23 am
Did the founder of Hadassah – Israel’s ‘mother’ – support a one-state solution?
In her biography, ‘Henrietta Szold: Hadassah and the Zionist Dream,’ author Francine Klagsbrun shows how the acclaimed activist fought against misogyny and for the rights of all children
By Rich Tenorio
Carole King performs in New York's Central Park on May 26, 1973. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File)
December 28, 2025, 2:33 am
How ‘Natural Woman’ Carole King defied societal expectations to achieve pop stardom
Former Forward editor Jane Eisner’s new biography tracks the Jewish artist from her native NYC to California, where she recorded hit album ‘Tapestry,’ through multiple marriages in Idaho
By Rich Tenorio
Supporters cheer for Hitler in Germany on October 10, 1931. (AP Photo)
December 31, 2024, 10:20 am
In ‘Hitler’s People,’ a UK historian reveals rare bios of Nazis ‘disturbingly like us’
While humanizing the perpetrators of the Holocaust has long been considered taboo, the 20 portraits in Richard Evans’s new book are a stark reminder of humanity’s capacity for evil
By Robert Philpot
Marty Glickman (left), and Sam Stoller, at sea en route to the 1936 Olympics. (Courtesy, Nancy Glickman via JTA)
August 7, 2024, 1:44 am
How the US caved to antisemitism and snubbed a Jewish Olympian at 1936 Berlin Games
In new book ‘Marty Glickman,’ historian and professor Jeffrey Gurock unlocks the life of a sports hero and announcer whose proud Jewish identity was a model for countless young fans
By Rich Tenorio
Judge Irving Kaufman (Kaufman Family Photo Collection)
May 26, 2024, 4:54 pm
Biography tries to move judge out from under shadow of controversial Rosenberg spy case
Irving R. Kaufman, remembered primarily for sending couple to electric chair, shifted over time from being almost unquestioningly pro-government to an upholder of individuals’ rights
By Renee Ghert-Zand
A very young Elida (left) with Stanislava and her daughter Audra, who hid Elida (renamed Rita) on their farm from late 1943 to the end of the war. (Courtesy of Zipora Klein Jakob)
May 4, 2024, 7:10 am
The amazing true story of a baby illegally born and smuggled out of Kovno ghetto
Elida Freidman Goldberg Katzman changed names, families, countries and continents numerous times as she grappled until her premature death with being a Holocaust orphan from birth
By Renee Ghert-Zand
'Fatherland,' by Burkhard Bilger (Courtesy); and Karl Gonner's undated prisoner of war photo. (Dépôt central des archives de la justice militaire)
October 4, 2023, 4:24 am
The ‘reasonable Nazi’ defended by the French villagers he oversaw
In his new book ‘Fatherland,’ Burkhard Bilger tells about his 1992 discovery that his grandfather had been tried for war crimes in postwar France – but that’s not the whole story
By Robert Philpot
Prime Minister Golda Meir pays a visit to the Na'aran kibbutz in the West Bank on November 28, 1972. (Moshe Milner/GPO)
August 15, 2023, 11:47 pm
How should Golda Meir be remembered? Deborah Lipstadt weighs in
50 years after end of Meir’s term as PM, longtime historian and current US envoy pens a new biography of the leader – but chooses to skim over her time leading the nation
By Amy Spiro
FILE - In this June 29, 1956 file photo, actress Marilyn Monroe, left, and playwright Arthur Miller embrace on the lawn of Miller's home in Roxbury, Conn., several hours before they were married in White Plains, New York. (AP Photo, File)
April 22, 2023, 2:40 am
The rags-to-riches story of Arthur Miller, Pulitzer-winning son of Jewish immigrants
A new biography by John Lahr in Yale’s Jewish Lives Series tracks the successes (and many failures) of a beloved American writer whose tragic characters were inspired by his life
By JP O’ Malley
'The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century,' by Prof. Matthias B. Lehmann. (Courtesy)
April 11, 2023, 10:24 pm
How Orient Express’s Baron Maurice de Hirsch changed the track of Jewish migration
In bio ‘The Baron,’ Prof. Matthias B. Lehmann takes a new approach to history-telling by following the man who helped resettle Jews in locales ranging from Istanbul to Argentina
By Rich Tenorio
Robert Caro, left, and Robert Gottlieb in a still from 'Turn Every Page,' directed by Lizzie Gottlieb. (Claudia Raschke/ Courtesy of Wild Surmise Productions, LLC / Sony Pictures Classics)
December 30, 2022, 9:03 pm
New doc chronicles adventures of towering US-Jewish writer-editor duo of 50 years
In ‘Turn Every Page,’ out Dec. 30, Lizzie Gottlieb captures the often tense relationship between her father, editing great Robert Gottlieb, and lauded political author Robert Caro
By Jacqueline Cutler
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