Few would have predicted that Bernard Berenson, from a poor Lithuanian Jewish immigrant family, would rise above poverty. Yet Berenson left his crowded home near Boston's railyards and transformed himself into the world's most renowned expert on Ital...

"Emma Goldman" is the story of a modern radical who took seriously the idea that inner liberation is the first business of social revolution. Her politics, from beginning to end, was based on resistance to that which thwarted the free development of...

Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in southern Ukraine, Trotsky was both a world-class intellectual and a man capable of the most narrow-minded ideological dogmatism. He was an effective military strategist and an adept diplomat, who staked the fate of th...

One of the reasons baseball fans so love the sport is that it involves certain physical acts of beauty. And one of the most beautiful sights in the history of baseball was Hank Greenberg's swing. His calmly poised body seemed to have some special set...

Everything about Sarah Bernhardt is fascinating, from her obscure birth to her glorious career – redefining the very nature of her art – to her amazing (and highly public) romantic life to her indomitable spirit. Well into her seventies, after the am...

A powerful hero of the Bible, Jacob is also one of its most complex figures. Bible stories recounting his life often expose his deception, lies, and greed, then puzzlingly attempt to justify them. In this book an eminent biblical scholar looks at Jac...

Instantly recognizable with his iconic eye patch, Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) was a powerful yet controversial figure in Israel from the 1950s through 70s. A fearless warrior and a strong-headed, charismatic politician, he was admired for his leadership...

This deeply informed biography of Walther Rathenau (1867-1922) tells of a man who – both thoroughly German and unabashedly Jewish – rose to leadership in the German War-Ministry Department during the First World War, and later to the exalted position...

Tradition has it that King Solomon knew everything there was to know – the mysteries of nature, of love, of God himself – but what do we know of him? Esteemed biblical scholar Steven Weitzman reintroduces readers to Solomon's story and its surprising...

The "German Socrates", Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) was the most influential Jewish thinker of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A Berlin celebrity and a major figure in the Enlightenment, revered by Immanuel Kant, Mendelssohn suffered the in...