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Kindler of Souls: Rabbi Henry Cohen of Texas. By Rabbi Henry Cohen II. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 978-0-29271-461-8. $24.95, cloth.) London born and educated, Rabbi Henry Cohen (1863–1952) of Galveston became friends with presidents, preachers, and performers, and entertained men such as Clarence Darrow and Sir Harry Lauder in his home. Cohen arrived in Galveston as the city reached its zenith, and for the next six decades (1888–1950), the man known to Galvestonians as Dr. Cohen lived to serve others , Jew and Gentile. In Kindler of Souls, Cohen’s grandson Rabbi Henry Cohen II brings his Grandpa Cohen to life, deepening readers’ understanding of his genuine humanity. Rabbi Cohen II documents many personal anecdotes about his grandfather, recalling how he accompanied his grandfather on visits to hospitals and orphanages . He describes how Grandpa Cohen arrived at the orphanage shouting “icecream for everyone,” eliciting squeals from the children. He also cites circumstantial evidence supporting the story that Rabbi Cohen rushed to see President Taft to gain asylum for a Greek-Orthodox immigrant scheduled for deportation. Additionally, Cohen II explains that Dr. Cohen lobbied the legislature to raise the age of consent for girls from twelve to eighteen, rescued imprisoned call girls from brothels, helped organize the Central Relief Committee after the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and supported the fledgling American Reform Jewish movement. Rabbi Cohen II brings historical background to other events. While recalling Dr. Cohen’s tireless efforts on behalf of immigrants, he illustrates conditions in New York’s Jewish tenements and describes European pogroms. He also details the appalling Texas prison system and then explains how his grandfather worked to improve it. Additionally, he explains that Dr. Cohen toiled as a one-man parole board, finding employment for former inmates and having them report to him weekly, though at one point his good deeds backfired: one evening two ruffian Jews arrived at the rabbi’s house after Cohen obtained their release from jail. They threatened the rabbi, demanding money, but diminutive Rabbi Cohen “knocked one man down the stairs with an upper cut to the chin,” and they both ran off (p. 50). In several instances, Henry Cohen II illustrates his grandfather’s complicated, dichotomous personality. Readers learn that Dr. Cohen opposed Zionism on the grounds that Jews owed allegiance to their homeland, but later he supported the establishment of the state of Israel. He quoted Marx, saying, “from everyone according to his ability: to everyone according to his needs”(p. 99), even though Marx despised religion. He wrote about Talmud, recited Tennyson and researched Texas Jewish history, but regularly imbibed hard liquor and laughed at naughty jokes. Moreover, readers learn that although Grandpa Cohen celebrated Mardi Gras and decorated Easter Eggs, he used the Orthodox Hagaddah (prayer book used at the Seder, the meal held the first night of Passover) at his home Seder and chanted the traditional blessing after the Sabbath meal. This book is a long overdue study of a mensch (Yiddish, meaning a good man), 340 Southwestern Historical Quarterly January *jan 09 11/26/08 12:00 PM Page 340 and uses the author’s memory and academic resources to demythologize a mythic man. However, a conspicuous error exists in Henry Cohen II’s description of his grandfather’s writing about Henry Castro, a Texas empresario. Cohen II wrote; “between 1841–1846” Henry Castro brought “5,000 French Jews” to settle in Texas (p. 34). Although Castro was reared a Jew and was a successful empresario, he did not bring Jews to Texas. Nevertheless, this book is a welcome addition to the meager offerings about a man who embraced Texas culture and who tirelessly worked to help “white or black, Jew or Gentile, aristocrat or plebian” (p. 59). Texas A&M University Kay Goldman Reaping a Greater Harvest: African Americans, the Extension Service, and Rural Reform in Jim Crow Texas. By Debra A. Reid. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2007. Pp. 328. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes, bibliographic essay, archival sources, index. ISBN 978-1-58544-571-4. $39.95, cloth.) In Reaping a Greater Harvest, Debra Reid sheds light on the development and growth...

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