The Man Who Swam into History

The (Mostly) True Story of My Jewish Family

Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book The Man Who Swam into History by Robert A. Rosenstone, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert A. Rosenstone ISBN: 9780292774650
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Robert A. Rosenstone
ISBN: 9780292774650
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: January 1, 2010
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English
The story begins with a grandfather who heroically escaped from Russia by swimming the Pruth River to Romania—or did he? Then there are stories of another grandfather who kept a lifelong mistress; grandmothers who were ignored except in the kitchen; migrations legal and illegal from Eastern Europe to Canada to California; racketeers on one side of the family and Communists on the other; and a West Coast adolescence in the McCarthy years. All of these (mostly true) stories form a Jewish family's history, a tale of dislocation and assimilation. But in the hands of award-winning historian Robert Rosenstone, they become much more. The fragments of memory so beautifully preserved in The Man Who Swam into History add unforgettable, human characters to the now familiar story of the Jewish diaspora in the twentieth century.This combination memoir/short story collection recounts the Rosenstone family's passage from Romania to America. Robert Rosenstone tells the story not as a single, linear narrative, but through "tales, sequences, windows, moments, and fragments resurrected from the lives of three generations in my two parental families, set in five countries on two continents over the period of almost a century." This more literary and personal approach allows Rosenstone's relatives to emerge as distinct personalities, voices who quarrel and gossip, share their dreams and fears, and maintain the ties of a loving, if eccentric, family. Among the genre of "coming to America" tales, The Man Who Swam into History is a work of unique vision, one that both records and reconstructs the past even as it continuously—and humorously—questions the truth of its own assertions.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
The story begins with a grandfather who heroically escaped from Russia by swimming the Pruth River to Romania—or did he? Then there are stories of another grandfather who kept a lifelong mistress; grandmothers who were ignored except in the kitchen; migrations legal and illegal from Eastern Europe to Canada to California; racketeers on one side of the family and Communists on the other; and a West Coast adolescence in the McCarthy years. All of these (mostly true) stories form a Jewish family's history, a tale of dislocation and assimilation. But in the hands of award-winning historian Robert Rosenstone, they become much more. The fragments of memory so beautifully preserved in The Man Who Swam into History add unforgettable, human characters to the now familiar story of the Jewish diaspora in the twentieth century.This combination memoir/short story collection recounts the Rosenstone family's passage from Romania to America. Robert Rosenstone tells the story not as a single, linear narrative, but through "tales, sequences, windows, moments, and fragments resurrected from the lives of three generations in my two parental families, set in five countries on two continents over the period of almost a century." This more literary and personal approach allows Rosenstone's relatives to emerge as distinct personalities, voices who quarrel and gossip, share their dreams and fears, and maintain the ties of a loving, if eccentric, family. Among the genre of "coming to America" tales, The Man Who Swam into History is a work of unique vision, one that both records and reconstructs the past even as it continuously—and humorously—questions the truth of its own assertions.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Another Steven Soderbergh Experience by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Social Science in America by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book German Seed in Texas Soil by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Alexander Watkins Terrell by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Three Authors of Alienation by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book American Flintknappers by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book The Texas Book Two by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Profiles in Power by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Nuevo South by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Meyerhold at Work by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Remarkable Plants of Texas by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book On the Edge of the Law by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Struggle in the Andes by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 9 by Robert A. Rosenstone
Cover of the book Current Thought in Musicology by Robert A. Rosenstone
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy