2020 Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards

WINNERS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

A Rich Brew: How Cafes Created Modern Jewish Culture 
SHACHAR PINSKER, University of Michigan
New York University Press

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt: Female Adolescence, Jewish Law, and Ordinary Culture
EVE KRAKOWSKI, Princeton University
Princeton University Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century
JAMES LOEFFLER, University of Virginia
Yale University Press

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Martin Buber’s Theopolitics
SAMUEL BRODY, The University of Kansas
Indiana University Press

FINALISTS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

Strange Cocktail: Translation and the Making of Modern Hebrew Poetry
ADRIANA X. JACOBS, University of Oxford
University of Michigan Press

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Dominion Built of Praise: Panegyric and Legitimacy among Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean
JONATHAN DECTER, Brandeis University
University of Pennsylvania Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

American Jewry and the Reinvention of the East European Jewish Past
MARKUS KRAH, University of Potsdam
DeGruyter

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Philo of Alexandria: An Intellectual Biography
MAREN NIEHOFF, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yale University Press

WINNERS

In the category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity

Blood for Thought: The Reinvention of Sacrifice in Early Rabbinic Literature
MIRA BALBERG, University of California, San Diego
University of California Press

In the category of Jews and the Arts: Music, Performance, and Visual

The Jewish Bible: A Material History
DAVID STERN, Harvard University
University of Washington Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Europe and Israel

Jabotinsky’s Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism
DANIEL KUPFERT HELLER, Monash University
Princeton University Press

In the category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore

When the State Winks: The Performance of Jewish Conversion in Israel
MICHAL KRAVEL-TOVI, Tel Aviv University
Columbia University Press

FINALISTS

In the category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity

The Literary Imagination in Jewish Antiquity
EVA MROCZEK, University of California, Davis
Oxford University Press

In the category of Jews and the Arts: Music, Performance, and Visual

Honest Bodies: Revolutionary Modernism in the Dances of Anna Sokolow
HANNAH KOSSTRIN, The Ohio State University
Oxford University Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Europe and Israel

A Home for All Jews: Citizenship, Rights, and National Identity in the New Israeli State
ORIT ROZIN, Tel Aviv University
Brandeis University Press

In the category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore

Modernity and the Jews in Western Social Thought
CHAD ALAN GOLDBERG, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The University of Chicago Press

WINNERS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters
MAYA BARZILAI, University of Michigan
New York University Press

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Contested Treasure: Jews and Authority in the Crown of Aragon
THOMAS W. BARTON, University of San Diego
Pennsylvania State University Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

Young Lions: How Jewish Authors Reinvented the American War Novel
LEAH GARRETT, Monash University
Northwestern University Press

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

A Political Theory for the Jewish People
CHAIM GANS, Tel Aviv University
Oxford University Press

FINALISTS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

The Marriage Plot: Or, How Jews Fell in Love with Love, and with Literature
NAOMI SEIDMAN, Graduate Theological Union
Stanford University Press

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Anti-Jewish Riots in the Crown of Aragon and the Royal Response, 1391-1392
BENJAMIN R. GAMPEL, Jewish Theological Seminary
Cambridge University Press

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

Across Legal Lines: Jews and Muslims in Modern Morocco
JESSICA M. MARGLIN, University of Southern California
Yale University Press

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

The Christian Schism in Jewish History and Jewish Memory
JOSHUA EZRA BURNS, Marquette University
Cambridge University Press

WINNERS

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History & Culture in Antiquity:

What's Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives
CHRISTINE HAYES, Yale University
(Princeton University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts (Visual, Performance, Music):

Jewish Contiguities and the Soundtrack of Israeli History
ASSAF SHELLEG, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Europe and Israel:

Protocols of Justice: The Pinkas of the Metz Rabbinic Court, 1771–1789
JAY R. BERKOVITZ, University of Massachusetts Amherst
(Brill)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Rhinestones, Religion, and the Republic: Fashioning Jewishness in France
KIMBERLY A. ARKIN, Boston University
(Stanford University Press)

FINALISTS

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History & Culture in Antiquity:

Tradition and the Formation of the Talmud
MOULIE VIDAS, Princeton University
(Princeton University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts (Visual, Performance, Music):

Roman Vishniac Rediscovered
MAYA BENTON, International Center of Photography
(DelMonico Books/Prestel/International Center of Photography)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Europe and Israel:

Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–1948
ANNA CICHOPEK-GAJRAJ, Arizona State University
(Cambridge University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Jaffa Shared and Shattered: Contrived Coexistence in Israel/Palestine
DANIEL MONTERESCU, Central European University
(Indiana University Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Jews and the Arts (Visual, Performance, Music):

Social Concern and Left Politics in Jewish American Art
MATTHEW BAIGELL,Rutgers University
(Syracuse University Press)

Graphic Details: Jewish Women's Confessional Comics in Essays and Interviews
SARAH LIGHTMAN, University of Glasgow
(McFarland)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Thin Description: Ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
JOHN L. JACKSON, JR., University of Pennsylvania
(Harvard University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Cultural Studies and Media Studies:

Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography
SARA LIPTON, State University of New York, Stony Brook
(Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania:

Becoming Ottomans: Sephardi Jews and Imperial Citizenship in the Modern Era
JULIA PHILLIPS COHEN, Vanderbilt University
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

Jewish Philosophical Politics in Germany, 1789-1848
SVEN-ERIK ROSE, University of California, Davis
(Brandeis University Press)

FINALISTS

In the Category of Cultural Studies and Media Studies:

Roman Vishniac Rediscovered
MAYA BENTON, International Center of Photography
(DelMonico Books/Prestel/International Center of Photography)

Dreamland of Humanists: Warburg, Cassirer, Panofsky, and the Hamburg School
EMILY LEVINE, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
(The University of Chicago Press)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania:

The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire
ADAM D. MENDELSOHN, University of Cape Town
(New York University Press)

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

The Modernity of Others: Jewish Anti-Catholicism in Germany and France
ARI JOSKOWICZ, Vanderbilt University
(Stanford University Press)

Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition
BENJAMIN D. SOMMER, Jewish Theological Seminary
(Yale University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of of Jewish Literature and Linguistics:

Poetic Trespass: Writing between Hebrew and Arabic in Israel/Palestine
LITAL LEVY, Princeton University
(Princeton University Press)

Unclean Lips: Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture
JOSHUA LAMBERT, Yiddish Book Center / UMASS-Amherst
(New York University Press)

In the Category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History:

Palaces of Time: Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe
ELISHEVA CARLEBACH, Columbia University
(Harvard University Press)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—European Countries:

The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755–1816
PAWEL MACIEJKO, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(University of Pennsylvania Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History:

After Expulsion: 1492 and the Making of Sephardic Jewry
JONATHAN RAY, Georgetown University
(New York University Press)

The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice
YAACOB DWECK, Princeton University
(Princeton University Press)

Sinners on Trial: Jews and Sacrilege after the Reformation
MAGDA TETER, Wesleyan University
(Harvard University Press)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—European Countries:

Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk
ELISSA BEMPORAD, Queens College, CUNY
(Indiana University Press)

Yankel's Tavern: Jews, Liquor, and Life in the Kingdom of Poland
GLENN DYNNER, Sarah Lawrence College
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity:

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz
EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL, Yeshiva University
(Wayne State University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

The Jewish Dark Continent: Life and Death in the Russian Pale of Settlement
NATHANIEL DEUTSCH, University of California - Santa Cruz
(Harvard University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts—Visual, Performance, and Music:

Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust
DAVID SHNEER, University of Colorado - Boulder
(Rutgers University Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity:

The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity
RACHEL NEIS, University of Michigan
(Cambridge University Press)

Stories of the Law: Narrative Discourse and the Construction of Authority in the Mishnah
MOSHE SIMON-SHOSHAN, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Jewish Identities in Postcommunist Russia and Ukraine: An Uncertain Ethnicity
ZVI GITELMAN, University of Michigan
(Cambridge University Press)

Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places
ERICA T. LEHRER, Concordia University
(Indiana University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts—Visual, Performance, and Music:

MARC MICHAEL EPSTEIN, Vassar College
Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative & Religious Imagination
(Yale University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Cultural Studies and Media Studies:

Messianism, Secrecy and Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life
LAURA ARNOLD LEIBMAN, Reed College
(Vallentine Mitchell)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania:

Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora 
REBECCA KOBRIN, Columbia University
(Indiana University Press)

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

Franz Rosenzweig and the Systematic Task of Philosophy 
BENJAMIN POLLOCK, Michigan State University
(Cambridge University Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Cultural Studies and Media Studies:

Members of the Tribe: Native America in the Jewish Imagination 
RACHEL RUBINSTEIN, Hampshire College
(Wayne State University Press)

The Most Musical Nation: Jews and Culture in the Late Russian Empire
JAMES LOEFFLER, University of Virginia
(Yale University Press)

In the Category of Modern Jewish History—Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania:

Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition
MARNI DAVIS, Georgia State University
(New York University Press)

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

Method and Metaphysics in Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed
DANIEL DAVIES, University of Cambridge
(Oxford University Press)

The Figural Jew: Politics & Identity in Postwar French Thought
SARAH HAMMERSCHLAG, Williams College
(University of Chicago Press)

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity:

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz
EPHRAIM KANARFOGEL, Yeshiva University
(Wayne State University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

The Jewish Dark Continent: Life and Death in the Russian Pale of Settlement
NATHANIEL DEUTSCH, University of California - Santa Cruz
(Harvard University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts—Visual, Performance, and Music:

Through Soviet Jewish Eyes: Photography, War, and the Holocaust
DAVID SHNEER, University of Colorado - Boulder
(Rutgers University Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Jewish History and Culture in Antiquity:

The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity
RACHEL NEIS, University of Michigan
(Cambridge University Press)

Stories of the Law: Narrative Discourse and the Construction of Authority in the Mishnah
MOSHE SIMON-SHOSHAN, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Jewish Identities in Postcommunist Russia and Ukraine: An Uncertain Ethnicity
ZVI GITELMAN, University of Michigan
(Cambridge University Press)

Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places
ERICA T. LEHRER, Concordia University
(Indiana University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts—Visual, Performance, and Music:

MARC MICHAEL EPSTEIN, Vassar College
Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative & Religious Imagination
(Yale University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Ancient and Medieval Jewish History:

Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate
MARINA RUSTOW, Johns Hopkins University
(Cornell University Press)

In the Category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics:

Literary Passports: The Making of Modernist Hebrew Fiction in Europe 
SHACHAR M. PINSKER, University of Michigan
(Stanford University Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics:

Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk's Creator, S. An-Sky 
GABRIELLA SAFRAN, Stanford University
(Harvard University Press)

Singing in a Strange Land: A Jewish American Poetics
MAEERA Y. SHREIBER, University of Utah
(Stanford University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Early Modern and Modern Jewish History:

How Jewish is Jewish History
MOSHE ROSMAN, Bar-Ilan University
(Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)

The Familiarity of Strangers: The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period
FRANCESCA TRIVELLATO, Yale University
(Yale University Press)

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Tours that Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism 
SHAUL KELNER, Vanderbilt University
(NYU Press)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Social Science, Anthropology, and Folklore:

Gender and American Jews: Patterns in Work, Education, & Famliy in Contemporary Life
HARRIET HARTMAN & MOSHE HARTMAN
(Brandeis University Press)

Mediterranean Israeli Music and the Politics of the Aesthetic
AMY HOROWITZ
(Wayne State University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Jews and the Arts:

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology
STEVEN FINE, Yeshiva University
(Cambridge University Press)

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Archaeology:

The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel
BENJAMIN D. SOMMER, Jewish Theological Seminary
(Cambridge University Press)

NOTABLE MENTIONS

In the Category of Biblical Studies, Rabbinics, and Archaeology

RICHARD KALMIN, Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Babylonia between Persia and Roman Palestine
(Oxford University Press)

In the Category of Jews and the Arts

Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music, and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn
MARK KLIGMAN, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
(Wayne State University Press)

From the Ghetto to the Melting Pot: Israel Zangwill’s Jewish Plays
EDNA NAHSHON, Jewish Theological Seminary
(Wayne State University Press)

WINNERS

In the Category of Gender Studies:

Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe
ELISHEVA BAUMGARTEN
(Princeton University Press)

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

Jewish Messianism and the History of Philosophy
MARTIN KAVKA
(Cambridge University Press)

NOTABLE SELECTION

In the Category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought:

Converts, Heretics, and Lepers: Maimonides and the Outsider
JAMES A. DIAMOND
(University of Notre Dame Press)