Book Notes

158 SHOFAR Summer 1998 Vol. 16, No.4 Book Notes Annotations ofGennan books written by Dean Bell of DePaul University are identified by the initials D.B.; those written by Joseph Haberer of Purdue University carry the initials J.H. American Jewish Life The Quiet Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights, 1880s to 1990s, edited by Mark K. Bauman and Berkley Kalin. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1997. 456 pp. $29.95 (c). ISBN 0-8173-0892-X. At one extreme, Southern Jewish religious leaders have been criticized for succumbing to silence and inaction. At the other extreme are those who claim that black-Jewish relations have traditionally been more supportive of one another against a white backdrop of discrimination. The editors ofthis volume cite research to suggest that about 75 percent of the 200,000 Southern Jews (or seven-tenths of one percent of Southerners) tended to be ambivalent about civil rights for blacks, tended toward sympathy, but remained silent out of fear. This book focuses on some of the hundred-plus Conservative and Orthodox rabbis counted among those who took principled stands and bore criticism in the Southern civil rights movement. Ancient World and Archaeology The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, edited by Geza Vermes. New York: Allen Lane, 1997. 688 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-713-99131-3. This edition contains translations of every text preserved well enough to be rendered into English. Previously unpublished texts are included as well, among them documents relating to the Essene Community's liturgical calendar, its rules and observances, further sections of the Genesis Apocrypha, much Wisdom literature and an inscription discovered among the Qumran ruins in 1996. The editor includes brief introductions to each document and at the beginning of each chapter detailed historical, cultural, and religious background. The Dead Sea Scrolls: Understanding Their Spiritual Message, by Steven Fisdel. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1997. 246 pp. $30.00. ISBN 1-56821-973-3. This work elucidates the religious and spiritual content of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which represent the views of three generations of Jews. Within the writings is a Book Notes 159 deep spiritual perspective that speaks ofIsrael's relationship to God, the nature of the Covenant, and the future of humanity. Art, Music, and Film Felix Nussbaum: Art Defamed. Art in Exile. Art in Resistance, by Karl Georg Kaster. New York: Overlook Press, 1998. 480 pp. $79.95. ISBN 0-87951-789-1. Like his contemporaries Otto Dix and George Grosz, Felix Nussbaum is an artist who documented the persecution he witnessed in Nazi Germany. His political paintings were acts of resistance featured as part of the Paris exhibition, "Free German Art," organized as a protest to the Nazi propaganda show "Degenerate Art. This book covers all ofNussbaum's work, including the representative collection of Nussbaum's most important paintings, on permanent display at the Cultural History Museum in Osnabriick, Germany, as well as works by the artist that have come to light in the last five years. Treasures of Jewish Art: The Collection of Jacobo and Asea Furman, by Jacobo Furman. Southport, CT: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1997. 288 pp. $100.00. ISBN 0-88363-047-8. One ofthe finest private collections of Judaica is to be found in Santiago, Chile. Its prized pieces are the result of a lifetime of traveling, collecting, and scholarly research by Jacobo Furman. This deluxe book features the best of his collection. More than 120 objects, along with essays on each piece, are gathered into this edition. Biblical and Rabbinic Literature Biblical Women in the Midrash: A Sourcebook, by Naomi M. Hyman. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1997. 240 pp. $25.00. ISBN 1-56821-950-4. A contribution to the growing literature that seeks to add women's voices to the written Jewish tradition, this book opens with an introduction to the Bible, midrash, and Jewish text study in general. The author then provides translations of the biblical text, relevant rabbinic midrashim, and modem midrashim in the form of poems and stories by Jewish women. The Burden ofProphecy: Poetic Utterance in the Prophets ofthe Old Testament, by Albert Cook. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1998. 164 pp. $29.95...