Vanishing American Jew Alan Dershowitz Audiobook New FS

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Most recently in the spotlight as one of the many defense lawyers attending O. J. Simpson in his first criminal trial, attorney Alan M. Dershowitz is also a powerful advocate for the liberal Jewish tradition in this country. In an earlier book, Chutzpah, Dershowitz celebrated an end to Jewish isolation and institutional anti-Semitism in America; in his latest book, The Vanishing American Jew, he decries the perhaps inevitable result of this desegregation: assimilation.
Dershowitz writes powerfully about his fear that, with nothing to struggle against and no powerful motivation to maintain traditions, American secular Jews will, within a few generations, lose their Jewishness. The author writes from a privileged position: raised an Orthodox Jew, he embraced secular Judaism in his young adulthood and thus comes equipped with an intimate understanding of what he has chosen to reject and accept. Though Dershowitz has no definitive answers for the problem of The Vanishing American Jew, the questions he raises may be the first step in discovering a solution. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal
Famed lawyer Dershowitz argues that through intermarriage and assimilation, the American Jewish community is in danger of fading away.
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The New York Times Book Review, Jonathan Rosen
Like most people tackling questions of Jewish continuity, Mr. Dershowitz is much better at identifying problems than solving them . . . he is right that new Jewish leadership is desperately needed to suit the needs of the next century. Mr. Dershowitz would like to be part of such a leadership . . . Mr. Dershowitz writes with characteristic optimism and audacity. Only time will tell whether he is indeed leading them back to Judaism or merely following them into the wilderness. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile
The well-known counselor (best known for his work on the Von Bulow and Simpson cases) has turned from law to a kind of ethnic Brahminism. His premise: Assimilation and other factors will soon end American Jewish culture as we know it unless Jews rise up to establish a "new Jewish state of mind." Leaving aside the validity of his thesis and the value of his arguments, this taped abridgment gives us Dershowitz's passionate, often strident voice, trained in the classroom and courtroom to teach and sway. Except for projecting to the rafters and being unable to bring home his jokes, he uses it well. His oratorical acumen keeps his essay compelling, if not always convincing. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
In his book Chutzpah, Dershowitz, lawyer, educator, and ubiquitous television commentator, explored what it means to be a Jew in America. Here, he wonders whether American Jewry will survive at all. Both intermarriage and assimilation are taking their toll; many young Jews simply don't feel their Judaism is central to their identity. Dershowitz makes an excellent case for the importance of Judaism in both the personal lives of Jews and in the public life of America. He also offers useful suggestions for keeping young people within the Jewish community. All this, however, would have only made a rather short book, so Dershowitz branches out into other discussions--black-Jewish relations, the anti-Semitism of the militia movement, the Mideast situation--areas that, while of undeniable interest, seem to belong in another book. Dershowitz also has a tendency to repeat himself, making the same point over and over, so what might have been a short book turns out to be a very long book indeed. Although this title is primarily of interest to Jews, Dershowitz's notoriety and lively writing style broaden its appeal. Ilene Cooper --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews
Now that Dershowitz, the noted Harvard Law School professor and celebrity defense attorney, has told American Jews what wusses they are (Chutzpah, 1991), he sets out to tell them how to ensure their community's survival into the 21st century. In the past, he claims, Jewish cohesion and continuity were based on negative qualities: fear of anti-Semitism and a tribal mentality. The younger generation today, however, feels physically secure from persecution and is culturally assimilated--to the point where the survival of American Jewry is threatened more by this internal danger than external ones. Hardly original and a bit superficial as analysis, but the real devil is in the details of his case. One could point to Dershowitz's self-aggrandizing inaccuracies, such as his pretension of putting in the open a topic (assimilation) that has been only ``whispered'' about, while in fact it has been a primary concern of the Jewish community since the release of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey. Dershowitz relies on its statistics to project a dismal future if American Jews don't follow his proposals. The study's statistics, however, are hotly debated by scholars. Dershowitz's solution? Let a thousand Judaisms bloom: ``There is no one substantive essence to Judaism,'' he argues dubiously. Thus, young people need not be turned off by any one view of Judaism; they're all equally valid. He begs the question, of course, of what Judaism becomes when it is so broadly defined as ``a Judaism of ideas, of attitudes, of skepticism, of justice, of compassion, of argumentation, and of inclusiveness'' rather than as a set of specific beliefs and a code of action. Dershowitz is right to emphasize the need for good, intensive Jewish education, and he is convincing in his description of the importance Judaism plays in his own life. But he's not convincing in the idea that a Judaism in which everyone can have it any which way they want is a Judaism that will have lasting power in the century to come. (Author tour; TV/radio satellite tour) -- Copyright, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Book Description
In this urgent book, Alan M. Dershowitz shows why American Jews are in danger of disappearing - and what must be done now to create a renewed sense of Jewish identity for the next century. In previous times, the threats to Jewish survival were external - the virulent consequences of anti-Semitism. Now, however, in late-twentieth-century America, the danger has shifted. Jews today are more secure, more accepted, more assimilated, and more successful than ever before. They've dived into the melting pot - and they've achieved the American Dream. And that, according to Dershowitz, is precisely the problem. More than 50 percent of Jews will marry non-Jews, and their children will most often be raised as non-Jews. Which means, in the view of Dershowitz, that American Jews will vanish as a distinct cultural group sometime in the next century - unless they act now. Speaking to concerned Jews everywhere, Dershowitz calls for a new Jewish identity that focuses on the positive - the 3,500-year-old legacy of Jewish culture, values, and traditions. Dershowitz shows how this new Jewish identity can compete in America's open environment of opportunity and choice - and offers concrete proposals on how to instill it in the younger generation.