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The Rise Abraham Cahan Audiobook
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The first general-interest biography of the legendary editor of The Jewish Daily Forward, the iconic Yiddish-language newspaper of the laboring masses that inspired, educated, and entertained millions of readers, helped redefine journalism during its golden age, and transformed American culture. Abraham Cahan took the helm of a failing Yiddish Socialist daily in New York City in 1902 and over the next fifty years turned it into a national newspaper that changed American politics and earned him the adulation of millions of Jewish immigrants and the friendship of the greatest newspapermen of his day, from Lincoln Steffens to H. L. Mencken. Cahan--whose tenure at the Forward spanned the Russian Revolution, the First World War, the rise of political Zionism, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel--did more than cover the news. He led revolutionary reforms--spreading social democracy, organizing labor unions, battling communism, and assimilating immigrant Jews into American society, most notably via his groundbreaking advice column, "A Bintel Brief." Cahan was also a celebrated novelist whose works are read and studied to this day as brilliant examples of fiction that turned the immigrant narrative into an art form. Acclaimed journalist Seth Lipsky, creator of the English-language successor to Cahan's Forward, gives us the fascinating story of a man of profound contradictions: an avowed socialist who wrote fiction with transcendent sympathy for a wealthy manufacturer; an internationalist who turned against the anti-Zionism of the left; an assimilationist whose final battle was against religious apostasy. Lipsky's Cahan is a prism through which to understand the paradoxes and transformations of American Judaism itself. A towering newspaperman in the manner of Horace Greeley and Joseph Pulitzer, Abraham Cahan revolutionized our idea of what newspapers could accomplish.
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“Lipsky has a Doctorow-like ability to bring to life the tumult, joy, and tragedy of life in the big city. He is also the best person alive to write the definite biography of Cahan because he is widely understood to be Cahan’s worthiest successor.”
— Jeffrey Goldberg, author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror
Quotes
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“An indispensable book: a wonderfully intelligent reckoning with a wonderfully intelligent man.”
— Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families -
“Read this magical book. It will transport you back to some of the most tumultuous decades the world has ever known, as seen through the life of a fearless newspaperman whose paper didn’t simply cover events; it changed the course of them.”
— Jonathan Mahler, author Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning -
“This is a book to savor and remember.”
— Peter Kann, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and former publisher of the Wall Street Journal
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About Seth Lipsky
Seth Lipsky is the founding editor of the Forward and of the New York Sun. He is a former foreign editor of the Wall Street Journal and served as a member of its editorial board. He is the author most recently of The Citizen’s Constitution: An Annotated Guide. A graduate of Harvard College, he served as a combat reporter in Vietnam for the GI daily Pacific Stars and Stripes. He lives in New York City.
About Wes Talbot
Wes Talbot has worked as a voice and character actor for more than twenty-five years. His corporate and commercial clients include Discover Card, MassMutual, and ServiceSpan, as well as numerous others. He also works as a voice announcer for WGBY Public Television for western New England.