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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million
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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books Paperback - 2005

by Aaron Lansky

The man who spearheaded what has been called "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history" recounts his poignant, intrepid, and often riotous quest to safeguard a vanishing civilization.


First line

The phone rang at midnight.

From the rear cover

As a twenty-three-year-old graduate student, Aaron Lanskey set out to save the world's abandoned Yiddish books before it was too late. Today, twenty-five years and one and a half million books later, he has accomplished what has been called "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history." In "Outwitting History," Lansky shares his adventures as well as the poignant and often laugh-out-loud stories he heard as he traveled the country collecting books. Introducing us to a dazzling array of writers, he shows us how an almost-lost culture is the bridge between the old world and the future--and how the written word can unite everyone who believes in the power of great literature.

Details

  • Title Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
  • Author Aaron Lansky
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 328
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.
  • Date 2005-09-02
  • Features Bibliography, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9781565125131 / 1565125134
  • Weight 0.6 lbs (0.27 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 in (20.83 x 13.72 x 2.29 cm)
  • Themes
    • Ethnic Orientation: Jewish
  • Library of Congress subjects Book collecting, Language revival
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2004051587
  • Dewey Decimal Code 002.075

Media reviews

Citations

  • Ingram Advance, 10/01/2005, Page 115
  • New York Times, 11/20/2005, Page 28
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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

by Aaron Lansky

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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
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Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

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Outwitting History : The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

by Lansky, Aaron

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Outwitting History : The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books
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Outwitting History : The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books

by Lansky, Aaron

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781565125131 / 1565125134
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