A journalist and author of The Influence of Soros examines the history of Jewish people in
America and explores their ever-evolving relationship to the nation's culture and identity-and
each other. What does it mean to be a Bad Jew? Many Jews use the term Bad Jew as a weapon
against other members of the community or even against themselves. You can be called a Bad Jew
if you don't keep kosher if you only go to temple on Yom Kippur if you don't attend or send
your children to Hebrew school if you enjoy Christmas music if your partner isn't Jewish if
you don't call your mother often enough. The list is endless. In Bad Jews Emily Tamkin argues
that perhaps there is no answer to this timeless question at all. Throughout American history
Jewish identities have evolved and transformed in a variety of ways. The issue of what it means
or doesn't to be a Good Jew or a Bad Jew is particularly fraught at this moment American Jews
feel and fear antisemitism is on the rise.. There are several million people who identify as
American Jews-but that doesn't mean they all identify with one another. American Jewish history
is full of discussions and debates and hand wringing over who is Jewish how to be Jewish and
what it means to be Jewish. In Bad Jews Emily Tamkin examines the last 100 years of American
Jewish politics culture identities and arguments. Drawing on over 150 interviews she tracks
the evolution of Jewishness throughout American history and explores many of the evolving and
conflicting Jewish positions on assimilation race Zionism and Israel affluence and poverty
philanthropy finance politics and social justice. From this complex and nuanced history
Tamkin pinpoints perhaps the one truth about American Jewish identity: It is always changing.
