Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

Yiddish is (in some ways) more than a language; it is a history--a civilization. (Not for nothing does the very word Yiddish mean Jewish). And it is a civilization everyone tried to destroy. The Nazis destroyed it; the Jews desperately trying to assimilate into Western countries destroyed it; Zionists who wanted to do away with shtetl culture destroyed it; Hasidim who felt that the mame loshn with its worldly literature takes time away from the Torah destroyed it until, by the time Lansky a graduate student who (oy vei!) decided to study Yiddish, he and his classmates had no books from which to study. The People of the Book had no books.

And so Lansky and his classmates started looking for Yiddish books. It began as a selfish exercise--they were taking a class and they needed books and can starving students afford antiques sold at auction? But, as they heard the stories of the elderly people giving them their books and their histories, it became much more than that. It became an effort to save a civilization. To ensure that Jews today can explain to themselves and others who and what we are.

Which is how the National Yiddish Book Center was born.

And through stories filled with yiddishkeit (and of course books) Lansky introduces readers to that Jewish (Yiddish) civilization. A world we heard about -all of us, Jews and non-Jews alike--but a world we have thought we could never visit again. But maybe, just maybe we can. And maybe Lansky's Outwitting History is the first step on that journey into our history.

I highly recommend this book.

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 of traveling around the globe (although mostly to New York) to collect the books, put together they make for an engaging, even enlightening read.

The best book I have read in a while. A must read. Dont waist time reading this review, just get it and read it. Enjoy. I did!

This desire to hang on to history and heritage is noble and necessary. Bravo to the author and his colleagues. There are things that can be expressed in Yiddish, that when translated, need twice as many English words to convey their meaning. Unfortunately, this book is incorrectly marketed as an adventure---we expect to encounter Indiana Jones! With so much built up anticipation, the reader is left with a "hmmm" instead of a "WOW!" at the end.

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 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.