Offers a multigenerational series of portraits that follows individuals in their struggle to salvage a heritage devastated by Communism

A Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe

Kaufman, Jonathan

Religion & Spirituality

Penguin??Books

'A masterpiece of research, The Last Kings of Shanghai is a vivid and fascinating story of wealth, family intrigue, and political strategy on the world stage from colonialism to communism to globalized capitalism' Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College\nAn epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era\nShanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon - billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty - the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of Private Lives in his suite, Charlie Chaplin entertained his wife-to-be, and the American socialite Wallis Simpson reportedly posed for 'glamour' photographs. A few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist party have been plotting revolution before being forced to flee the city.\nBy the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty - the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred and seventy five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power. In Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue and survival.

Kings of Shanghai

Business & Money

Biography & History

ABACUS +

Examines the history of black-Jewish relations in America, tracing the change from unification during the Civil Rights Movement and the growth of the Democratic Party to the mutual antagonism that surfaced during the 1984 election

Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America

History

Americas

BERKLEY

Spanning nearly a century, from the years preceding the Holocaust to the defeat of the Nazis and subsequent triumph of Communism to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the present day, Jonathan Kaufman tells the stories of five families. A Hole in the Heart of the World is both a descent into the still-dark soul of Eastern Europe and a shockingly optimistic chronicle of a fragile cultural and religious birth. In Berlin a prominent Jewish family clings to its Communist ideals even after the end of the Cold War. A West German cantor - and concentration camp survivor - crosses the Berlin Wall to minister to the Jewish remnant in East Berlin. In Hungary a rabbi turns dissident when Communist-controlled Jewish leaders dismiss him, but he continues to teach Hebrew class in his living room, waging an underground war to preserve and nurture Jewish life. Young citizens of Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest find a renewed faith and pride as they uncover a secret heritage buried in the rubble of war and long condemned by the Communist regime. A Polish Catholic woman bears silent witness to the sufferings of her Jewish neighbors during World War II and later discovers something that overturns everything she ever believed about her past. From the old to the young and the disenchanted to the enthusiastic, each arrives, finally, at a place of cultural and religious renewal. A Hole in the Heart of the World is a luminous portrait of the Jewish life that persists, though transformed and tenuous, as a vital element of the European community.

Viking Adult

Jonathan Kaufman paints a vivid, moving portrait of the relationship between blacks and Jews in recent decades--from the strong partnership forged during the civil rights movement of the 1960s to the angry war of words, recriminations, and highly charged confrontations making headlines today. Includes a new preface and epilogue by Kaufman.

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Touchstone

"In vivid detail... examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties."--The Boston Globe "Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China's past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China's modern history."--LA Review of Books An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Shanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon--billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty--the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of Private Lives in his suite and Charlie Chaplin has entertained his wife-to-be. And a few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist Party have been plotting revolution. By the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty--the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than 175 years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and losing nearly everything as the Communists swept into power. In The Last Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families participated in an economic boom that opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil at their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival. The book lays bare the moral compromises of the Kadoories and the Sassoons--and their exceptional foresight, success, and generosity. At the height of World War II, they joined together to rescue and protect eighteen thousand Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism. Though their stay in China started out as a business opportunity, the country became a home they were reluctant to leave, even on the eve of revolution. The lavish buildings they built and the booming businesses they nurtured continue to define Shanghai and Hong Kong to this day. As the United States confronts China's rise, and China grapples with the pressures of breakneck modernization and global power, the long-hidden odysseys of the Sassoons and the Kadoories hold a key to understanding the present moment.

The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China

VIKING

"In vivid detail... examines the little-known history of two extraordinary dynasties."--The Boston Globe\n"Not just a brilliant, well-researched, and highly readable book about China's past, it also reveals the contingencies and ironic twists of fate in China's modern history."--LA Review of Books\nAn epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist\nThe Sassoons and the Kadoories stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred seventy-five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power. Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue, and survival.

The Money Machine

Univ Editions

Burying the Pawn

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

River Grove Books

The role of the individual is largely insignificant in world affairs but it's not zero. Each of us can make an intervention. And each of us should. Jettison the car pethaps. Cease one's addiction to flying. Change to a more sustainable diet. Rage against the polluting corporates. Turn the pen against the propaganda machine. Take radical action as befits the circumstances. All this has to be better than passivity and despair. Yes, we are a highly ingenious species. But also an incredibly shortsighted one. Which trait will win out in this lethal struggle between antithical poles? No way of knowing in advance of course, but best not bet your money on human ingenuity and rationality. We don't have a great track record in this regard. Our tribal and base instincts are still far too deeply ingrained. So if you're waiting for the tech geeks to bail us out at the eleventh hour you may very well be disappointed. Far better to take your very own heroic stand now whilst the global eco-systems still allow. Maybe it's too late already, but maybe it's not. Either way, the head-in-the-sand option doesn't seem to have much going for it amidst the never ending fires, floods and life sapping droughts. Start by reading these polemical rhymes and take things from there.

Rhymes From A Dying Planet: Rhyming Polemics Vol 2

Poetry

UK Book Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kaufman, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kaufman, Jonathan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kaufman, Jonathan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe

Kings of Shanghai

Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America

A Hole in the Heart of the World: Being Jewish in Eastern Europe

Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times Between Blacks and Jews in America

The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China

The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China

The Money Machine

Burying the Pawn

Rhymes From A Dying Planet: Rhyming Polemics Vol 2