This Was Not America: A Wrangle Through Jewish-Polish-American History

By Elżbieta Janicka & Michael Steinlauf
Cherry Orchard Books
Published in 2022

218 pages, 9 x 6 in
Paperback

From fleeing the Warsaw Ghetto and living underground to fighting for social justice in 1960s’ Seattle and helping smash the communist system in 1980s’ Poland, this is a narrative that erupts into critical moments in Jewish, Polish, and American history. It is also a story of the hidden anguish that accompanies and courses through that history, of the living haunted by the dead. The story is told through a conversation, often contentious, between Michael Steinlauf, historian of Polish-Jewish culture and child of Holocaust survivors, and the anthropologist and artist Elżbieta Janicka. It is illustrated with scores of photographs and documents.

Watch YIVO's book talk with Michael Steinlauf and Elżbieta Janicka about this title!

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