Rejecting the Idea of “Bad Jews”: American Jewish Identities in History and Non-Fiction

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What does it mean to be a “Bad Jew?” In Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities, Emily Tamkin argues that there is no answer to this timeless question. Drawing on over 150 interviews, she tracks the evolution of Jewishness in American history, exploring and complicating the evolving, nuanced, and varied spectrum of Jewish opinions and perspectives. The work pinpoints perhaps the one truth about American Jewish identity: it is always changing. Tamkin will discuss her book with author and podcast host Mark Oppenheimer. 

Emily Tamkin is the senior editor, US editor at the New Statesman, where she covers US politics, foreign policy, and society. A former staff writer at BuzzFeed News and Foreign Policy Magazine, she has reported on the policies and personalities that make up foreign relations from the United States and across Eastern Europe. Her writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Columbia Journalism Review, Politico, the New Republic, the Washington Post, and Slate, among other publications. 

Mark Oppenheimer is the author of five books, including Knocking on Heaven’s Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture and The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia. He was the religion columnist for The New York Times from 2010 to 2016 and has written for numerous publications. The host of Tablet magazine’s podcast Unorthodox, Oppenheimer has taught at Stanford, Wellesley, and Yale, where since 2006 he has directed the Yale Journalism Initiative.  

Photo Credit: Mark Oppenheimer © Lotta Studio and Emily Tamkin © Joy Asico.