Since I published Cityscapes: A History of New York in Images (2001), I have become fascinated with urban photography, specifically pictures taken by New York Jewish photographers. In researching Cityscapes, I inadvertently discovered how many documentary photographers were Jewish, leading me to ask the question (also asked by others): why? And, how does it matter (if, indeed, it matters).
After writing a number of articles (e.g. “Observant Jews and the Photographic Arena of Looks” with MacDonald Moore, and “On City Streets”), I have completed a book, Walkers in the City: Jewish Street Photographers of Mid-Century New York, to be published by Cornell University Press in 2023.
In 2015 I spoke about my research project:
The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization
My other major research is an editing project. I serve as editor in chief of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, an unprecedented collection curated by leading Jewish Studies scholars. Each volume includes excerpts from thousands of primary sources reflecting Jewish creativity, diversity, and culture world-wide. When completed the ten volumes will span biblical times to the 21st century. Many of these selections from original works are translated into English for the first time with the sacred and secular side by side. Currently, five volumes have been published by Yale University Press. They can also be explored on the Posen Digital Library at www.posenlibrary.com.
TITLES IN THE POSEN LIBRARY
From Biblical Times to the Present
Volume 1: Ancient Israel from Its Beginning through 332 BCE, edited by Jeffrey H. Tigay and Adele Berlin *
Volume 2: Emerging Judaism, 332 BCE–600 CE, edited by Carol Bakhos
Volume 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam, 600–1200, edited by Arnold E. Franklin
Volume 4: Late Medieval Era, 1200–1500, edited by Jonathan S. Ray
Volume 5: Early Modern Era, 1500–1750, edited by Yosef Kaplan**
Volume 6: Confronting Modernity, 1750–1880, edited by Elisheva Carlebach *
Volume 7: National Renaissance and International Horizons, 1880–1918, edited by Israel Bartal and Kenneth B. Moss**
Volume 8: Crisis and Creativity between World Wars, 1918–1939, edited by Todd M. Endelman and Zvi Gitelman *
Volume 9: Catastrophe and Rebirth, 1939–1973, edited by Samuel D. Kassow and David G. Roskies *
Volume 10: Late Twentieth Century, 1973–2005, edited by Deborah Dash Moore and Nurith Gertz *
*published
In 2022, I was asked by Ben Shepherd to choose 5 best books on Jewish life in American cities: