Category Archives: book reviews

Book Matters

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Abigail

Book Matters People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present By Dara Horn The only other book by Dara Horn that I’ve read is Eternal Life, which is a kind of romantic fiction with a difference. In that book, … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | Tagged Dara Horn, Dara Horn's People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present, Dara Horn's Eternal Life: A Novel | Leave a comment

Book Matters

Posted on August 17, 2021 by Abigail

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris By David McCullough “I’d like to see Paris before I die.” That’s how W. C. Fields, about to be hanged in “My Little Chickadee,” answers when he’s asked if he has any last wish. … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | 2 Comments

Explain This.

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Abigail

Explain This. If the roof falls in or the ship is taking water, I’m the teammate you’ll want to have around. I’ll do anything that seems to need doing and I won’t try to be important while I’m about it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acupuncturist, avoiding platitudes, back to normal, barriers to friendship, can't make old friends, coming up roses, comrade in arms, covenantal renewal, defending the defenseless, extraordinary people, facing solitude, family reunion, fight with my name on it, friend in hospital, future Holocaust, going with the flow, group identity, illustrated books, in your lifeboat, Jewish origins, lifelong friendship, local sage, moral condescension, moral solidarity, multi-generational understanding, normality, ostracism, personal identity, picturing the story, post-surgical visit, preparing the Shoah, repairing friendship, rolling with the punches, social condescension, story and picture, teammate, unforced familiarity, what I am, who I am, women friends | 5 Comments

Light on the Longest Hatred

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Abigail

Light on the Longest Hatred I’d intended to devote this column to leisurely reflections on what I sometimes term “the Jewish assignment” in history. Reflections prompted by a biography I’m now reading, with the title, Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “The Right Way to Act”, academic politics, academic union, anti-Nazi resister, armchair moralists, choice of evils, Divine mystery, Divine Presence, extremist tactics, Franz Rosenzweig, Genesis 12:3, group think, I and Thou, Israel's right to exist, Jewish disunity, Jews in history, Leo Baeck, longest hatred, Martin Buber, Michael A. Meyer's Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times, opinion shapers, partnering with God, Professional Staff Congress CUNY, PSC Israel resolution, rabbinic responsibility, ritual observance, the Jewish assignment, tying past to future | Leave a comment

Book Matters

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Abigail

Book Matters Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America By David Hackett Fischer The four British folkways in the title are the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Quakers in Pennsylvania, the Royalists in Virginia, and the Scotch-Irish in … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | Tagged David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America | Leave a comment

My First Teaching Non-Anxiety Dream

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Abigail

“Moses and the Tablets”Rembrandt, 1659 My First Teaching Non-Anxiety Dream I don’t know how many academics and former academics have teaching anxiety dreams, but mine followed me even after stepping down from active faculty status. You can take the girl … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, book reviews, books, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged anxiety dreams, blaming Moses, Book of Numbers, Cain and Abel, classroom discipline, documentary hypothesis, ecumenical dream, Exodus narrative, fear of public speaking, first fratricide, Hebrew Bible as history, Hebrew Scriptures, historicity of bible, Iliad, Israelite grumbling, Israelite wilderness narrative, Jewish calendar year, Korah's rebellion, liberal denomination, literary text interpretation, Mahabarata, Moses' leadership, naturalistic text interpretation, naturalistic worldview, nightmare, parashah, Pentateuch, Plato's influence, providential intervention, recurrent nightmare, Reform congregation, spiritual envy, student back talk, student's support, teacher's authority, Torah, Torah Study, truth v persuasiveness, Western philosophy | Leave a comment

Are We Seeing a Culture Shift?

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Abigail

Are We Seeing a Culture Shift? Dates vary, when people try to characterize a phase of culture, but for (let us say) the past 50 years, opinion-shapers in our culture have functioned under the aegis of the following influences: post-structuralism, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Adam Kirsch, aesthetic intentions, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, anything goes, artist's intentions, blacklisting, Cathleen Schine, conscious intentions, contradictory doctrines, creative intention, cultural framework, culture shift, Cynthia Ozick's Antiquities, debate at Davos, deconstruction, denouncing the denouncers, dominant group, Ernst Cassirer’s The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, falsifiable claims, group agendas, group domination, hegemony, idealist v materialist, impartial justice, intentions as irrelevant, intentions no excuse, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, John Gray, Jonathan Rée's Witcraft: The Invention of Philosophy in English, Marxism, objective reality, objective truth, opinion shaper, paradigm shift, philosophy in culture, philosophy's impact, Plato v Epicurus, post-modernism, post-structuralism, reality check, recognition of truth, relativism, rules of the road, search for truth, self-understanding, Steve G. Lofts, taking life seriously, the beautiful people, The New York Review of Books, universal values, writer's aim | Leave a comment

Book Matters

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Abigail

Book Matters The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century By Adam Kirsch This is an unusual book. Its author, Adam Kirsch, has combined skills rarely found together: poet, successful literary critic, academic … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | Tagged Adam Kirsch, Adam Kirsch's The Blessing and the Curse: The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century | Leave a comment

Proceedings and Addresses

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Abigail

Proceedings and Addresses Proceedings is the shared forum, like the Athenian agora, where American philosophers who have managed to command the attention of their colleagues publish their invited addresses. Since 2000, I’ve stepped down from active faculty status (though not … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, science, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 17th century thought, Abigail's Adages, academic gossip, academic infighting, academic papers, academic politics, academic wives, agora, American philosophers, American Philosophy, APA, APA’s Memorial Minutes, APA’s Presidential Address, Athenian agora, Authenticity, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College Philosophy Department, confirmation bias, Contemporary philosophy, cut throat business, discrediting reason, dog eat dog, epistemolgy, faculty status, finding oneself, giving a paper, good advice, high-power husband, human trustworthiness, impartial criteria, intellectual competition, intimate ties, invited addresses, Julia Driver, mathematical physics, misology, modern philosophy, moral criteria, moral prioritization, New York diner, one thought too many, pecking order, Penelope Maddy, personal v universal, philosophic argument, physicalism, primary and secondary qualities, Proceedings and Addresses, science and human values, search for truth, self-realization, sense of belonging, sense of decency, shared reasoning, snubbing, social forces, social prudence, The American Philosophical Association, The Enlightenment, the football field, the human zoo, the latest stuff, the longest conversation, the measurement of nature, theory of knowledge, universal criteria, universal ties, wives and widows, women philosophers | 2 Comments

Book Matters

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Abigail

Book Matters Blaming the Jews: Politics and Delusion By Bernard Harrison It’s not common that you see someone with a high degree of philosophic training actually doing something helpful with it. This book, by a well-regarded British philosopher, sheds a … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books | 5 Comments

	Abigail on “Thankfulness”
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Category Archives: book reviews

Book Matters

Book Matters

Book Matters

Book Matters

Book Matters

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