On April 8, 2018 at 10:30 a.m., Temple Beth-El’s Bagels and Books Club will present a discussion of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books, by Aaron Lansky. UTSA Professor of Art, Judith Sobre, Ph.D, will lead the discussion. The discussion will be held in the Block Conference Center at Temple Beth-El. 

 

As a twenty-three-year-old graduate student, Aaron Lansky set out to save the world’s abandoned Yiddish books before it was too late. Today, more than a million books later, he has accomplished what has been called “the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history.” In Outwitting History, Lansky shares his adventures as well as the poignant and often laugh-out-loud stories he heard as he traveled the country collecting books. Introducing us to a dazzling array of writers, he shows us how an almost-lost culture is the bridge between the old world and the future—and how the written word can unite everyone who believes in the power of great literature. A Library Journal Best Book A Massachusetts Book Award Winner in Nonfiction An ALA Notable Book.

 

This book is available on Amazon.com.

 

Dr. Judith Sobre is Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Sobre has a personal connection to Outwitting History as her father is mentioned in it.