A Corner of the Tapestry: A History of the Jewish Experience in Arkansas, 1820s-1990s (review)

Book Reviews 141 root is pulled from the ground. Josephus used various medical metaphors for dramatic effect, especially as a way of illuminating disturbances in the political order. Among such medical metaphors Kottek has selected images of disease, infection and contagion, purging, surgery, anatomical descriptions , and psychiatric terminology, especially madness. The first appendix compares the writings ofThueydides on the plague ofAthens with accounts of plagues provided byJosephus. Thueydides was a politician, a historian, and a learned man, but he had no specific medical training. The same could be said of Flavius Josephus who lived six centuries later. The second appendix examines hygiene and healing among the Essenes. Josephus notes that the Essenes were especially interested in the ancient writings, particularly those that dealt with the treatment of diseases and the art of prognosis, and that they conducted studies of medicinal roots and stones. Having lived with the Essenes, Josephus knew their customs and had considerable respect for their dietary habits. The third appendix surveys biblical and post-biblical suicides in the writings of Josephus, a man who had rejected his comrades' call for suicide in the cave at Jotapata. The fourth appendix examines accounts of King Herod's diseases and peculiar behaviors. Kottek is especially interested in using the writings of]osephus to draw a psychological portrait ofHerod and his final illness. The fifth appendix analyzes medieval legends concerningJosephus as a successful healer. The reader may find that too much of the text consists of lists of examples with very brief explanations, but Kottek's analyses of the cases he believes are of special interest are very valuable. Lois N. Magner History Department Purdue University A Corner of the Tapestry: A History of the Jewish Experience in Arkansas, 1820s-1990s, by Carolyn Gray LeMaster. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994. 622 pp. $60.00. This is obviously a labor of love on the part of the author. In response, every library, not only those in Arkansas or with special holdings in AmericanJewish history, should acquire this book. But library catalogers will have an awful time determining its most appropriate niche. For, despite the sub-title claim that this is a history of the Jewish experience in Arkansas, in the manner of an encyclopedia or a biographical dictionary, 142 SHOFAR Summer 1995 Vol. 13, No. 4 A Corner of the Tapestry is many histories. So many, in fact, that as I totalled the people and places attended to by LeMaster, I reached several score, but then I lost count. Which is irrelevant to LeMaster's major purposes. They include her felt necessity further to illuminate relevant life stories that were played out by Jewish Arkansans far from the intensely and repetitively studied urban coastal centers. The fact that she resides in Little Rock probably affected her decision to deal with Arkansas rather than with other inadequately studied neighboring states like Texas (its "Galveston Plan" for diverting European Jewish immigrants inland shaped Arkansas Jewry more than leMaster acknowledges). Whatever the reasons for her wise decision to cope with Arkansas statewide, I praise both the concept and certain of its results. Arkansas is a state that is blessed or burdened with a relatively sparse population and no metropolises. Therefore it remains possible for a scholar to embark on a statewide canvas and not drown in data. LeMaster proceeded both chronologically and, as it were, topically, considering each community as a topic and, while advancing through time, describing each community'S resident Jews through capsule histories. Which brings me to results. I lifted as many corners ofA Corner ofthe Tapestry as I could. This big book is not an analytical narrative to be read through in one sitting or in many sittings. Instead it is likely to be used as a starting-point research resource as occasions and interests inspire pursuit of information about a single family, place, trade, or event. Therefore, as it would likely be through any encyclopedia or biographical dictionary, my progress through this weighty volume was more staccato than smooth. This jagged rhythm was evoked by the innately repetitive speed-bumps the author created by dealing with each community seriatim. Information accumulates. But apart from the theme of coreligionists in...