About the Book

Whether one understands it as flight or restlessness, as ancient punishment or promise, the compulsion to travel is at the heart of historical Jewishness. Wherever there is a Jew, there is a journey, and for a Jew to go in search of his roots is doubly Jewish. As Howard Jacobson sets off in search of his Eastern European roots, he does so not with the sentimental hope of repossessing the sensation of belonging, but fully expecting to repossess nothing. As the journey takes him via the Catskills, Manhattan, Tucson, L.A., Eilat, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Haifa, to say nothing of Stamford Hill and Llandudno - although there are shorter routes to Lithuania - he finds there is more to being Jewish than schmaltz and self-ridicule. Roots Schmoots is as fast, funny and furious as Howard Jacobson's fans would expect, but beneath its surface there is a profound and moving exploration of what it is to be a Jew in the late twentieth century.

Product Details

Media: Paperback Book, 516 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Overlook Press

Edition: Unknown

ISBN-10: 0879516054

Publication Date: Aug. 1st, 1995

ISBN-13: 9780879516055

Dimensions: 5.98 x 8.96 x 1.36 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.54 lbs

• Categories: General Jewish History