Books to curl up with: a librarian's musings

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Outwitting History

Outwitting History spins the tale of a young idealist, Aaron Lansky and his friends, who set about to save Yiddish books in the 1980s. As the speakers and readers of Yiddish were passing, the libraries they used and their personal books were disappearing into dumpsters because the younger generation couldn't read them.

Lansky and his friends go forth collecting the books and stories of these fascinating seniors. Their quest has now saved over a million books and just in time as a new generation is wanting to read them. To see their work check out the National Yiddish Book Center
http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/

As I read the book, I could hear Mrs Haskell saying, "Such a nice boy and a good family, I wonder if he has a brother you could meet?" She always told me to marry a mensch.