Contemporary Jewish Fiction

This landmark anthology brings together some of the best stories written in the last thirty years by and about American jews. Saul Bellow tells a brutal coming-of-age story set in Chicago; Mark Helprin recalls a stint in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War; Grace Paley explores the complex relationship between Jews and blacks; Philip Roth muses on what life would have been like for Kafka if he had come to America, and maybe dated Roth's aunt.

From I. B. Singer's unforgettable depiction of a widower in Miami Beach to Michael Chabon's California-style Jewish wedding and Allegra Goodman's satiric portrayal of a yuppie Orthodox family, a rare view-and one surprising in its diversity emerges out of the contemporary Jewish experience in America.