Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Algonquin Books (2005), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 328 pages
Description
History. Nonfiction. HTML: "Incredible . . . Inspiring . . . Important." �??Library Journal, starred review "A marvelous yarn, loaded with near-calamitous adventures and characters as memorable as Singer creations." �??The New York Post "What began as a quixotic journey was also a picaresque romp, a detective story, a profound history lesson, and a poignant evocation of a bygone world." �??The Boston Globe "Every now and again a book with near-universal appeal comes along: Outwitting History is just such a book." �??The Sunday Oregonian As a twenty-three-year-old graduate student, Aaron Lansky set out to save the world's abandoned Yiddish books before it was too late. Today, more than a million books later, he has accomplished what has been called "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history." In Outwitting History, Lansky shares his adventures as well as the poignant and often laugh-out-loud stories he heard as he traveled the country collecting books. Introducing us to a dazzling array of writers, he shows us how an almost-lost culture is the bridge between the old world and the future�??and how the written word can unite everyone who believes in the power of great literature. A Library Journal Best Book A Massachusetts Book Award Winner in Nonfiction An ALA Notabl… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
If the title of this book puts you off to reading it, like it did me for a great while, don’t waste another minute until you begin. This was a most delightful read, causing me both to laugh out loud and weep tears of nostalgia as author Aaron Lansky searched the United States and later around the
A favorite part of the book for me was the Yiddish phrases that were used throughout. For someone who knows Yiddish (or even, as I do, German), the book really comes alive. Yiddish is a language that not only conveys a message, but it also conveys an attitude. All of the Yiddish phrases are translated (albeit a few not quite literally), but with these phrases come the hearts and the souls of the people who utter them.
I adored reading this book. Its effect on me is my wish to help support Aaron Lansky’s cause, to encourage my friends to donate their Yiddish books to his center, to encourage others to learn and study Yiddish, and to find a Yiddish book to borrow just to see how much of it I can understand (as I do know how to sound out the Hebrew letters). I was truly inspired by this very entertaining read and would highly recommend it to others, Jewish or not. If you have a love of books, you’ll find a lot to like in Lansky’s story.
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world for Yiddish books. As I’m the sort of person who collects books to give to others, I felt a personal connection to the work of this author. I was cheering him on when he was able to discover some rarer books and feeling comforted by all of the home-cooked meals he was fed by his elderly donors during his book runs. A favorite part of the book for me was the Yiddish phrases that were used throughout. For someone who knows Yiddish (or even, as I do, German), the book really comes alive. Yiddish is a language that not only conveys a message, but it also conveys an attitude. All of the Yiddish phrases are translated (albeit a few not quite literally), but with these phrases come the hearts and the souls of the people who utter them.
I adored reading this book. Its effect on me is my wish to help support Aaron Lansky’s cause, to encourage my friends to donate their Yiddish books to his center, to encourage others to learn and study Yiddish, and to find a Yiddish book to borrow just to see how much of it I can understand (as I do know how to sound out the Hebrew letters). I was truly inspired by this very entertaining read and would highly recommend it to others, Jewish or not. If you have a love of books, you’ll find a lot to like in Lansky’s story.
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LibraryThing member ZoharLaor
This book is the last present I bought my grandfather before he died. I walked into a small bookstore and the owner recommended it to me (you simply cannot get this kind of service from the major book chains). I must have read half the book in a day, before I sent it to him, and got to finish it
I'm glad I bought this book, he loved it and so did I.
The book tells the story of a graduate student trying to rescue Yiddish books from elimination, and all the characters he meets along the way. The book is easy to read, funny, inspiring, well writing and a page turner. A story of how one man's passion triumph over the odds.
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only after he passed away.I'm glad I bought this book, he loved it and so did I.
The book tells the story of a graduate student trying to rescue Yiddish books from elimination, and all the characters he meets along the way. The book is easy to read, funny, inspiring, well writing and a page turner. A story of how one man's passion triumph over the odds.
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LibraryThing member Deesirings
Aaron Lansky starts off as a university student interested in learning about his culture, the Jewish culture. He soon finds that to do that, it would be beneficial to be fluent in Yiddish. He then finds that the learn Yiddish properly, he and his few classmates will need Yiddish books, which are
Not long thereafter, he has opted to become a full-time Yiddish book rescuer rather and a student and academic. Things just snowball from there. He explains in his foreword: "In 1980, at the age of twenty-three, I decided to save the world's Yiddish books. At the time scholars believed 70,000 volumes remained; today, my colleagues and I have collected more than one and a half million -- may of them at the last minute from attics and basements, demolition sites and Dumpsters.
Towards the end of this grand adventure, Aaron explains his way of proceeding with direct-mail fund-raising. He sums up some of the highlights of the past 20 years spent collecting the world's Yiddish books: "I spoke to our members as friends, letting them know what we were doing and why. In addition to an annual renewal letter there were frequent emergencies: to recover those eighty-five thousand folios of forgotten sheet music, to preserve the world's last Yiddish books in the Soviet Union, Argentina, Mexico or Cuba. Our members broke every record in the generosity of their response."
Some of the things I learned from this book include not only the more expected such as Big Names in Yiddish writing and many aspects of Jewish history and culture but also the unexpected like the fact that rescuing books is action-packed and labour intensive. It involves mostly driving, packing and doing some heavy lifting. In the case of gathering books from aging people who are passing along some of their most valued treasures, it involves getting sitting down to eat and to listen to their empassionned stories.
Toward the end, I was curious about the author's personal life and, sure enough, a few pages later, he included a few pages about how and when he met his wife, thereby delivering on every front. A well-written, constantly interesting account of a Very Important Mission.
I don't think I throw the word "hero" around lightly. But by the end of this book, I certainly thought of Aaron Lansky as one.
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hard to come by. But as he starts trying to scrounge up the books he needs for graduate classes as McGill, he also learns that there are instances where the Yiddish books he is so interested in acquiring are in danger of being lost or destroyed. So starts his journey.Not long thereafter, he has opted to become a full-time Yiddish book rescuer rather and a student and academic. Things just snowball from there. He explains in his foreword: "In 1980, at the age of twenty-three, I decided to save the world's Yiddish books. At the time scholars believed 70,000 volumes remained; today, my colleagues and I have collected more than one and a half million -- may of them at the last minute from attics and basements, demolition sites and Dumpsters.
Towards the end of this grand adventure, Aaron explains his way of proceeding with direct-mail fund-raising. He sums up some of the highlights of the past 20 years spent collecting the world's Yiddish books: "I spoke to our members as friends, letting them know what we were doing and why. In addition to an annual renewal letter there were frequent emergencies: to recover those eighty-five thousand folios of forgotten sheet music, to preserve the world's last Yiddish books in the Soviet Union, Argentina, Mexico or Cuba. Our members broke every record in the generosity of their response."
Some of the things I learned from this book include not only the more expected such as Big Names in Yiddish writing and many aspects of Jewish history and culture but also the unexpected like the fact that rescuing books is action-packed and labour intensive. It involves mostly driving, packing and doing some heavy lifting. In the case of gathering books from aging people who are passing along some of their most valued treasures, it involves getting sitting down to eat and to listen to their empassionned stories.
Toward the end, I was curious about the author's personal life and, sure enough, a few pages later, he included a few pages about how and when he met his wife, thereby delivering on every front. A well-written, constantly interesting account of a Very Important Mission.
I don't think I throw the word "hero" around lightly. But by the end of this book, I certainly thought of Aaron Lansky as one.
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LibraryThing member kingcvcnc
1980, twenty-three-year-old student Aaron Lansky sets out to rescur & preserve anabdoned Yiddish books before they are lost forever. He vows that books which survived Hitler & Stalin will not die. Believing there may be 70,000 such books, he collects 1.5 million. It's an adventure tale full of
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passion, humor, and great sadness. A must read and a must visit to the National Yiddish Book Center online. Show Less
LibraryThing member ExVivre
In the period from 1939 - 1945, most of the Yiddish-speaking world was destroyed in the Holocaust. A language with a thriving literary tradition virtually disappeared. The books that survived this period suffered an ignomious fate: to be ignored by the non-Yiddish speaking children of Holocaust
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survivors. Outwitting History is a compelling memoir of a man who saved Yiddish books from destruction and neglect, and thus saved an important part of Jewish history. Show Less
LibraryThing member livebug
Everyone go read Outwitting History. Right now.If you are a lover of books, of immigrants, of lost causes, of old Jewish ladies that feed you too much and say "nu?" (and who isn't?) you must read this book. You will be inspired. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll thank me. And then we'll all go take
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a Yiddish class together. Show Less
LibraryThing member stellarexplorer
In the 1970s, 23-year-old Aaron Lansky recognizes that due to the aging of the population that was literate in Yiddish, the books are disappearing rapidly. Into trashbins, literal and historical. He sets out to rescue them from individuals and organizations. The stories are hilarious and poignant.
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The vignettes are so true to life.... because they are true. 90-year-olds turning over their precious collections in tears, but asking for the time to explain the books and what they meant, performing in the process an act of desperate and final cultural transmission. He has now built the effort into the National Yiddish Book Center. I highly recommend it for any interested reader! Show Less
LibraryThing member cestovatela
Aaron Lansky is a librarian with a mission: he's determined to save the last of the world's Yiddish literature, most of which is out of print and in danger of being discarded by a new generation of non-Yiddish-speaking Jews. With a shoestring budget and a battered moving truck, Lansky rushes to
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rescue books from rain-soaked dumpsters and buildings on the verge of demolition. Thousands of elderly Yiddish speakers respond to his calls for donations and some of the book's most touching passages chronicle Lansky's trips to their homes to collect books and hear the life stories of Holocaust and gulag survivors. Lansky adeptly weaves his book collecting anecdotes into the history of Judaism, Eastern Europe and Yiddish literature, leaving readers with an appreciation for a little-known culture and literary heritage. If you're looking for detailed historical, cultural or literary analysis, this isn't the place to go but if you'd like basic information delivered in an entertaining way (and maybe some new titles for your reading list), you should definitely pick it up. Show Less
LibraryThing member mzonderm
Aaron Lansky tells us about a lot more than just his efforts (and those of his many, many supporters) to rescue Yiddish books. He interweaves his stories with a history of Yiddish language, culture, and literature. Although these brief history lessons are not nearly as entertaining as his anecdotes
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of traveling around the globe (although mostly to New York) to collect the books, put together they make for an engaging, even enlightening read. Show Less
LibraryThing member JustAGirl
The fascinating, and funny, story of one man's seemingly quixotic attempt to save Yiddish literature, Lansky was that man and this is a true story about books and words and why they should be treasured and saved. It's also about history and honouring that history. And it's about the people that
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helped him, the midnight rides to save books found in dumpsters, the eccentrics, the brilliant and the ordinary folk he met along the way. A truly heart-warming tale. Show Less
LibraryThing member voracious
Aaron Lansky started out as a graduate student interested in Yiddish literature when he set out with some friends to look for Yiddish books. At the advice of his professor, they began combing areas of New York where elderly Jewish people were still living. They were horrified to discover that
I really enjoyed this book, which took a compassionate and humorous look at the donors who lovingly passed on their "treasures" and the rescuers who were trying to save the books on limited funds and time (while continually being fed excessively by the donors). As a reader with limited experience of the Jewish/Yiddish world, I found the story to be culturally sensitive, enthralling and hillarious. I would strongly recommend this book. It is very well written as well as entertaining.
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entire generations of Yiddish speaking immigrants were dying off and their books were being dumped, as their children had never learned to read the Yiddish language. This autobiographical account details how Aaron began his life-long crusade to rescue a million Yiddish books, preserve Jewish history, and promote the Yiddish culture for future generations, through the eventual creation of the National Yiddish Book Center. I really enjoyed this book, which took a compassionate and humorous look at the donors who lovingly passed on their "treasures" and the rescuers who were trying to save the books on limited funds and time (while continually being fed excessively by the donors). As a reader with limited experience of the Jewish/Yiddish world, I found the story to be culturally sensitive, enthralling and hillarious. I would strongly recommend this book. It is very well written as well as entertaining.
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LibraryThing member DrBrewhaha
When you see a book on the shelf with the words "hilarious" and "Yiddish" both on the front cover you are compelled to pick it up. This was my experience with Outwitting History. In the book, Lansky describes the long process of gathering withering Yiddish books from all over the globe. This body
The historical reasons leading Yiddish literature's demise are strongly tied to the Jewish experience. Lansky provides glimpses into this historical, and heart-wrenching, past and forces the reader to ask some very hard questions. Some of his stories sound a bit repetitive during the middle part of the book, but when he describes his experiences of crossing national borders to rescue books during the latter half of the book he really hits his stride.
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of literature faced possible destruction as older generations died off and younger generations moved on. I realize from this brief description I may not have enticed you into checking this book out. However, let me just say that this book is much, much better than I am describing.The historical reasons leading Yiddish literature's demise are strongly tied to the Jewish experience. Lansky provides glimpses into this historical, and heart-wrenching, past and forces the reader to ask some very hard questions. Some of his stories sound a bit repetitive during the middle part of the book, but when he describes his experiences of crossing national borders to rescue books during the latter half of the book he really hits his stride.
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LibraryThing member rondoctor
Inspiirational story of the formation and work of the National Yiddish Book Center.
LibraryThing member countrylife
In this book, the author chronicles how he and a small dedicated group went about the process of rescuing the literature of a tongue from passing away.
Like it or not, Yiddish literature is finite, bound to a specific time and place. But precisely because Yiddish literature is finite, it is
Well written and interesting.
Like it or not, Yiddish literature is finite, bound to a specific time and place. But precisely because Yiddish literature is finite, it is
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enormously important, a link between one epoch of Jewish history and the next. Its world's having been ferociously attacked and almost destroyed only serves to underscore its significance. The books we collect are the immediate intellectual antecedent of most contemporary Jews, able to tell us who we are and where we came from. Especially now, after the unspeakable horrors of the twentieth century, Yiddish literature endures as our last, best bridge across the abyss.Well written and interesting.
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LibraryThing member Sandydog1
I'm a huge lover of books about books, and first read about Mr. Lansky from Nicholas Basbanes. This was a real heart-warmer. Yiddish literature wasn't some tiny, obscure scrap of culture. It is amazing how it was saved, and begs the obvious question: How many other, more obscure, "smaller" cultures
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and written languages are we loosing? Show Less
LibraryThing member dukefan86
This was a surprisingly well-written book, with stories that kept me interested, even fascinated, throughout! Lansky had to deal with a very wide range of issues, including marketing, fundraising, storage, domestic and international travel, and digitization, while working with people on an
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individual level, learning their personal histories at the kitchen table. I recommend this book very highly! Show Less
LibraryThing member bell7
As a graduate in his young twenties, Aaron Lansky had a problem: he was studying Yiddish with friends, but there were no books. His grandparents' generation had books but they were dying out; his parents' generation had become so assimilated in America that they couldn't read them. So, Aaron put
Aaron Lansky's memoir is a great story of how he began saving Yiddish books, often quite literally from dumpsters, and preserved them for a new generation. His memoir recounts his adventures meeting people who had to pass on their inheritance of literature to him one story at a time, founding the Yiddish Book Center, and finding ways to get more books into the hands of young people. It's inspiring and funny by turns. It reads quickly for nonfiction, dragging a little for me in the middle, but generally page-turning good fun.
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the word out and began collecting. Before he knew it, he had thousands of books and a dream of saving all of the Yiddish literature that he could.Aaron Lansky's memoir is a great story of how he began saving Yiddish books, often quite literally from dumpsters, and preserved them for a new generation. His memoir recounts his adventures meeting people who had to pass on their inheritance of literature to him one story at a time, founding the Yiddish Book Center, and finding ways to get more books into the hands of young people. It's inspiring and funny by turns. It reads quickly for nonfiction, dragging a little for me in the middle, but generally page-turning good fun.
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LibraryThing member Colby_Glass
The amazing story of a young man who discovers that as older Jews are dying, their Yiddish books are being discarded. He starts asking for the books and ends up creating a massive library of Yiddish literature, saving it from oblivion. Inspiring and exciting reading.
LibraryThing member CherylGrimm
Did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. A happenstance mission to save all the Yiddish books, worldwide, becomes a grassroot journey, driven by the author, with many a mishap, history lesson and sit down dinner. The stories told by the numerous book donators were heartwarming, heartbreaking
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and humorous. I picked up a few Yiddish words that are now part of my vocabulary and learned a lot about the tenacity of preservation. A truly amazing story of how driving dilapidated rental trucks with nickle and dime finances eventually led to a multi-million dollar library housing over a million Yiddish publications. A Bravo! read. Show Less
LibraryThing member CherylGrimm
Did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did. A happenstance mission to save all the Yiddish books, worldwide, becomes a grassroot journey, driven by the author, with many a mishap, history lesson and sit down dinner. The stories told by the numerous book donators were heartwarming, heartbreaking
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and humorous. I picked up a few Yiddish words that are now part of my vocabulary and learned a lot about the tenacity of preservation. A truly amazing story of how driving dilapidated rental trucks with nickle and dime finances eventually led to a multi-million dollar library housing over a million Yiddish publications. A Bravo! read. Show Less
LibraryThing member melydia
In the late 1970s, Lansky began taking college Yiddish classes and soon found that it was quite difficult to find books in Yiddish, so he began taking them in. As word got out that he was accepting them, more and more people started calling with books for him to take. In the process, he learned a
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whole lot about Jewish culture, particularly in the aftermath of WWII, and of the often conflicting views of Yiddish as both language and social construct. I am not Jewish and the only Yiddish I know are the few words that have trickled into American English (kibbitz, tchotchke, etc.), so this book took me into quite unfamiliar territory. Which is really the best part about books. Show Less
LibraryThing member dono421846
Gripping account of how one man's intellectual curiosity leads him, without obvious expectations of what he was getting into, to undertake a life's quest to preserve the Yiddish literature. He interrupted his schooling in Yiddish literature to take a year's leave to collect books because they were
The timeline in the book is a bit bumpy, but the major point is less to give a history than to evoke a sense of why the project was important, and worth the doing. On that level, the book succeeds brilliantly.
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all but impossible to find, and never returned. It's true, I suppose, that life is what happens when we're making other plans, and that the biggest regrets of our lives will be not taking advantage of the opportunities that appear to do not only great things, but things we love with all our being.The timeline in the book is a bit bumpy, but the major point is less to give a history than to evoke a sense of why the project was important, and worth the doing. On that level, the book succeeds brilliantly.
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Subjects
Awards
Massachusetts Book Award (Must-Read (Longlist) — Nonfiction — 2005)
Notable Books List (2005)
Library Journal Best Books (2004)
Language
Original publication date
2004