The Hope and The Glory and Other Stories from Herman Wouk That Brought the Light to an Antisemitic Home
The Jewish American Pulitzer Prize-winning author used fiction (and nonfiction) to tell the Jewish story like no other before or since
I abhor ‘trigger warnings.’ My fingers twinge, and the backs of my teeth tingle as if I’d struck a tuning fork from merely writing those two words, but in this instance, I’m making an exception. So here it is. The following is a Jewish story — A ‘pro’ Jewish story.
If, upon reading the above statement, it resulted in a pucker and your face resembling a raisin — you should move along now because you won’t enjoy the content.
The late Herman Wouk was a profound writer, and some of his best work is in historical fiction. He was also an excellent gag writer, playwright, and a decorated US Navy WWII veteran. During his lifetime, Wouk wrote 15 novels. He lived to 103. On his 80th birthday, Wouk was honoured with the American Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award, where critics, colleagues, historians, and publishers described Wouk as “the American Tolstoy.”
Wouk remains my favourite author of all time, and I am not Jewish.
