Ebook Download Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod
It won't take even more time to purchase this Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod It won't take even more cash to publish this book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod Nowadays, individuals have been so clever to utilize the technology. Why do not you use your kitchen appliance or various other device to save this downloaded and install soft data publication Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod This method will certainly allow you to always be accompanied by this book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod Naturally, it will be the ideal buddy if you review this book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod till finished.
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod
Ebook Download Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod
Spend your time also for only few minutes to read a book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod Reviewing a publication will certainly never ever minimize as well as squander your time to be pointless. Reading, for some people come to be a requirement that is to do daily such as hanging out for consuming. Now, just what about you? Do you want to review a book? Now, we will certainly reveal you a new book entitled Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod that could be a brand-new way to discover the knowledge. When reading this book, you can obtain one point to always bear in mind in every reading time, even pointer by action.
Reviewing, again, will certainly offer you something new. Something that you do not know then revealed to be renowneded with the book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod message. Some knowledge or lesson that re obtained from reviewing e-books is uncountable. More books Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod you check out, even more expertise you get, and also a lot more opportunities to constantly love reviewing publications. As a result of this reason, reading publication should be started from earlier. It is as exactly what you can acquire from guide Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod
Get the benefits of reviewing practice for your lifestyle. Schedule Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod notification will certainly consistently relate to the life. The real life, understanding, science, wellness, religion, enjoyment, and also more can be discovered in written publications. Many authors provide their experience, science, research study, and all things to show you. Among them is through this Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod This book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod will certainly supply the required of notification and statement of the life. Life will be completed if you know a lot more points through reading e-books.
From the explanation above, it is clear that you require to review this book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod We provide the on the internet publication qualified Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod right below by clicking the web link download. From discussed publication by on the internet, you can give more perks for lots of people. Besides, the visitors will certainly be likewise quickly to obtain the favourite publication Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod to review. Locate one of the most favourite and required e-book Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came To Serve Truth, Justice, And The Jewish-American Way, By Harry Brod to review now as well as below.
As brilliant as it is witty, Harry Brod’s surprisingly insightful exposé delves into the secret identities of the world’s most famous superheroes.
Many of us know that the superheroes at the heart of the American comic book industry were created by Jews. But we’d be surprised to learn how much these beloved characters were shaped by the cultural and religious traditions of their makers. Superman Is Jewish? follows the “people of the book” as they become the people of the comic book. Harry Brod reveals the links between Jews and superheroes in a penetrating investigation of iconic comic book figures.
With great wit and compelling arguments, Brod situates superheroes within the course of Jewish- American history: they are aliens in a foreign land, like Superman; figures plagued by guilt for not having saved their families, like Spider-Man; outsiders persecuted for being different, like the X-Men; nice, smart people afraid that nobody will like them when they’re angry, like the Hulk. Brod blends humor with sharp observation as he considers the overt and discreet Jewish characteristics of these well-known figures and explores how their creators—including Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby— integrated their Jewish identities and their creativity.
Brod makes a strong case that these pioneering Jews created New World superheroes using models from Old World traditions. He demonstrates how contemporary characters were inspired by the golem, the mystically created artificial superhuman of Jewish lore. And before Superman was first drawn by Joe Shuster, there were those Jews flying through the air drawn by Marc Chagall. As poignant as it is fascinating, this lively guided tour travels from the Passover Haggadah’s exciting action scenes of Moses’s superpowers through the Yiddish humor of Mad to two Pulitzer Prizes awarded in one decade to Jewish comic book guys Art Spiegelman and Michael Chabon.
Superman Is Jewish? explores the deeper story of how an immigrant group can use popular entertainment media to influence the larger culture and in the process see itself in new, more empowering ways. Not just for Jewish readers or comic book fans, Superman Is Jewish? is a story of America, and is as poignant as it is fascinating.
***
A surprising question, one that takes a certain amount of chutzpah to even raise. To add even a bit more chutzpah, this book considers questions about the Jewishness of more superheroes than just Superman, and offers answers that will surprise many. You mean Spider-Man is Jewish too? Well, actually, yes, but in a very different way than Superman is. And, as we’ll see, the shift between them reflects the evolution of Jewish life in America itself in the generation between the two, the generation that gets us from World War II and the “Golden Age” of comics to the 1960s and the “Silver Age” of comics. The historical turning points of those tumultuous years and others, like the powerful 1950s crusade against comics for supposedly causing juvenile delinquency, turn out to be central to our story because these events, and their great impact on American Jews, appear on comic book pages themselves, and behind the scenes in their production. For it turns out that the history of Jews and comic book superheroes, that very American invention, is the history of Jews and America, particularly the history of Jewish assimilation into the mainstream of American culture.
- Sales Rank: #1113194 in Books
- Published on: 2012-11-06
- Released on: 2012-11-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .90" w x 6.00" l, .90 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 240 pages
From Booklist
The question of whether Superman is Jewish is, Brod admits, “one that takes a certain amount of chutzpah to even raise.” But when he says our favorite superheroes are Jewish, Brod doesn’t mean it literally: he’s speaking of the way the evolution of Jewish culture in America is reflected in our superheroes. Superman, for example, was created in the late 1930s as an immigrant refugee who felt it necessary to hide his own identity behind a false one. In fact, many of the great early comic-book writers, creators, and publishers—Lee, Kirby, Gaines, Kane, and Superman’s Shuster and Siegel—were Jewish, and Brod makes a strong case that their heroic creations were designed, in one way or another, to express or reflect their own identities. How closely the evolution of the comic-book superhero mirrors the evolution of the Jewish culture in America is perhaps difficult to quantify, and Brod stops well before that point. Alongside such important books as Gabilliet’s Of Comics and Men (2009) and Jones’ Men of Tomorrow (2004), this one should take its place as an essential study of the field. --David Pitt
Review
"This witty, insightful expose delves into the secret identities of the world's most famous superheroes." --Publisher's Weekly
"Brod’s scholarly but lively narrative does a fine job of tracing 'how the people of the book became the people of the comic book.'" --Kirkus Reviews
"An essential study of the field." --Booklist
"Told by a storyteller as knowledgeable and entertaining as Harry Brod has proven himself to be, Superman Is Jewish? provides the intellectual thrill of a good scholarly text as well as the guilty pleasure of a good comic book." (Iowa Press-Citizen)
“A serious work that often is light-hearted, amusing and generally clear, deliberately avoiding the obscure vocabulary with which so many academics write.” (American Jewish World)
About the Author
Harry Brod is a professor of philosophy and humanities at the University of Northern Iowa. He has appeared on CNN, Today, Geraldo, and other TV and radio programs, and his articles have been published in many journals and popular magazines. He is the father of two children and still has his old comic book collection.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Book!
By Harrianne
What can I say? Perfect book. Well researched, well written, fascinating content. You name it, this book covers the topic of the book title perfectly, with humor and rather keen observations.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful.
A much-told tale with some nitpicks
By William Henley
Students of the history of American comic books may notice that a large number of the creators of major comic characters were Jewish, including Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (creators of Superman); Bob Kane and Bill Finger (creators of Batman, though only Kane is officially credited by DC Comics); Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Stan Lee (between them creators of most of the major Marvel superheroes) and Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (primarily responsible for the war hero Sgt. Rock). Over the past few years there has been a flurry of several books taking note of this fact and suggesting that Jewish culture and the Jewish-American experience played a major role in shaping the comic superhero genre and the comic book industry generally. This book is something of a late-comer to the theme. (Some titles of earlier entries include JEWS AND AMERICAN COMICS; UP, UP AND OY VEY; FROM KRAKOW TO KRYPTON; and DISGUISED AS CLARK KENT.)
Due to my own interest in comic-book history (I'm not Jewish myself, though my wife is), I've looked at several of these books. This one covers some of the same ground as the earlier books, but also some new aspects, for instance how Jewish artist Joe Kubert moved from drawing generic war comics to historical comics on Jewish and Holocaust themes; and an analysis of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon, a fictionalized version of the Jewish experience in the comic book field.
As a comic-book buff, though, I spotted some mistakes, though. For instance, Brod says at one point (page 15) that the Superman series never addressed the question of how his Kent foster parents kept his super-powers secret during his infancy and childhood; but comics fans of the 1950's and 60's will remember a whole series of "Superbaby" stories that dealt, lightheartedly, with that very issue. He states (pg. 91) that Jack Kirby's creation the Silver Surfer "became one of Marvel's most popular characters", but actually the first Silver Surfer comic book was a sales flop, and though frequently revived, the Surfer never has become a major Marvel star on the level of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Iron Man, or Thor (most of whom were Kirby co-creations, so he certainly deserves credit, but the Surfer wasn't one of his big hits). The popularity of the Kanigher/Kubert war anti-hero Enemy Ace at DC is likewise exaggerated (I like Enemy Ace myself, but he wasn't a big seller).
This kind of thing may sound like nitpicking, but when I see a writer make mistakes on a topic I know really well, such as comics history, it makes me wonder whether the writer is also making mistakes in areas I don't know so well, such as Jewish history and culture. Also, I have an interest in general real-world history as well as comics history, and Brod makes at least one statement about that I find dubious; he states (page 68) he states that "conservatives who opposed the New Deal...tended to favor an aggressive, militaristic policy that would insert the U.S. into (World War II)." My study of that period leads me to believe that most anti-New Deal conservatives were also "isolationists" who opposed U.S. involvement in the war (unlike some, though, I don't think that makes the conservatives evil or pro-Nazi, though they may have been short-sighted).
Anyway, if you're interested in learning about how Jewishness and comic books were inter-related, this book is an OK place to start... but several earlier books on the theme would do just as well.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Enjoyable, accessible book on Jewish cultural influences on American comic book characters
By G.C.
By a quirk of curious timing, Harry Brod's book on the Jewish roots of several American comic book superheroes appeared in print just a few months after Larry Tye's book "Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero", where the titles might imply some sort of competitive collision between the two books, which is not necessarily the case. Tye himself has addressed the question of the Jewish "roots" of Superman via its creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and has continued to do so in various newspaper commentaries and on book tours. In the case of Brod's book, his cheeky and snarky title does not imply that his own book is only about the single character of Superman, not at all. Brod's subtitle, which mentions "comic book superheroes", broadens his scope to encompass not just the Man of Steel, but a number of comic book creators and their creations, ranging from "Mad" magazine through the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Sgt. Rock and the X-Men (Magneto in particular), and also including chapters about Will Eisner, Joe Kubert, Art Spiegelman, and Michael Chabon.
Brod does a good job of explaining how Jewish legends such as the Golem inform the creation of Superman and comparable heroes, as larger-than-life humans who are to help redeem society and weed out evil, as the Golem was meant to do. He also notes how later treatment of Superman essentially whitewashed out the Jewish "roots" of Superman to make him more "Christian" or "Christ-like" in his meanings and symbolism. Likewise, Brod's treatment of other aspects of comic book history touch on how not just past cultural and religious history, but also economic circumstances, led to such a striking Jewish influence early on in the history of American comics. He also goes beyond earlier superheroes in chapters on Art Spiegelman's "Maus" and on Israeli and European comics who use more explicitly Jewish themes in their work, certainly compared to earlier American comic book artists of decades earlier.
Brod is a professor at the University of Northern Iowa, but goes out of his way in this book to avoid academic jargon and to tell his story in as clear and accessible prose as possible. At times, IMHO, he leans a bit too far in his informal and chatty tone, when he "breaks the fourth wall" of history writing with his own personal memories or comments, bringing in the authorial "I", where normally the author does not intrude so personally. Other readers may not be quite so jarred by such passages compared to this reader. Also, you need to be aware that while there are footnotes after the main text, there is no index.
While this topic of the Jewish roots of American comic books isn't completely new, for those to whom this might be a new subject, this book makes a decent introduction.
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod PDF
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod EPub
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod Doc
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod iBooks
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod rtf
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod Mobipocket
Superman Is Jewish?: How Comic Book Superheroes Came to Serve Truth, Justice, and the Jewish-American Way, by Harry Brod Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar