The Renoir Girls, Catherine Ostler

Three  daughters of a prominent French Jewish family, were painted as children by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. One would marry an English aristocrat and escape; one would collaborate with the Nazis; one would die in Auschwitz. This book details the history of the lives behind the portraits.

 

The Jewish South, Shari Rabin

In 1669, Carolina colony offered freedom of worship to “Jews, heathens, and other dissenters.” Jews settled in cities throughout the Confederate states. These are their stories.

 

The First Ghetto: Venice and the Origins of Modern Antisemitism, Alexander Lee

In early 16th century, amid mounting religious hatred, the world’s first Jewish ghetto was established in cramped, unsanitary conditions, the prototype for ghettos throughout Europe. The ghetto paved the way for modern antisemitism.