Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century

Join us with Jeremy Dauber, author of the new Jewish Lives biography Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew, as we explore how Brooks’s American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.

Born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz, Jerome Robbins (1918–1998) was a master choreographer, dancer, and stage director, most famous for his stage productions of West Side Story, Peter Pan, and Fiddler on the Roof.

Join us with Wendy Lesser, author of the Jewish Lives biography Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance, as we explore Robbins’s life through his major dances in ballet, Broadway, and film.

Music in this episode: 

Claude Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun

The Warner Brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack—arrived in America as unschooled Jewish immigrants, yet they founded a movie studio that became the smartest, toughest, and most radical in all of Hollywood.

Join us with celebrated film critic David Thomson, author of Warner Bros.: The Making of an American Movie Studio, as we explore how four immigrant brothers transformed themselves into the moguls and masters of American fantasy.

Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein in southern Ukraine, Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was a revolutionary figure who led an upheaval that helped define the contours of twentieth-century politics.

Join us with Joshua Rubenstein, author of the Jewish Lives biography Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary’s Life, as we uncover the brilliant and brilliantly flawed man who was both a world-class intellectual and a man capable of the most narrow-minded ideological dogmatism.

Most famous for All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible, Arthur Miller (1915–2005) was a playwright who almost single-handedly propelled twentieth-century American theater into a new level of cultural sophistication.

Join us with distinguished theater critic John Lahr, author of the new Jewish Lives biography Arthur Miller: American Witness, as we explore the fault lines of Miller’s life—his family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, and the rise and fall of Miller’s role as a public intellectual.

Said to be the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s iconic James Bond character, Sidney Reilly (c. 1873–1925) is one of the most colorful and best–known spies of the 20th century.

Join us with historian Benny Morris, author of the new Jewish Lives biography Sidney Reilly: Master Spy, as we sift through the reality and the myth of Reilly’s life and uncover a fascinating portrait of one of the most intriguing figures from the golden age of spies.

The Book of Ruth offers a vibrant portrait of a foreigner who became the founding mother of the Davidic dynasty.

Join us with Ilana Pardes, author of the new Jewish Lives biography Ruth: A Migrant’s Tale, as we explore the ever-changing perspectives on Ruth’s foreignness beginning in the Hebrew bible and rabbinic literature through Zionism and the modern world.

Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) was an enormously influential photographer and champion of other artists.

Join us with Phyllis Rose, acclaimed critic, biographer, and author of Alfred Stieglitz: Taking Pictures, Making Painters, as we explore Stieglitz’s role as a revolutionary force in the history of American art.

Martin Buber (1878–1965) was a seminal modern Jewish thinker.

Join us with Paul Mendes-Flohr, an authority on the 20th-century philosopher and author of Martin Buber: A Life of Faith and Dissent, as we explore Buber’s contributions to Jewish thought, philosophy, biblical studies, political theory, and Zionism.

Join us with composer Allen Shawn, author of Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician, for an appreciation of the great musical genius who stood at the epicenter of 20th-century American musical life.

Music in this episode: 

Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim - "Cool" from West Side Story 

Leonard Bernstein - Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety 

Leonard Bernstein - Symphony No 3., Kaddish 

 Leonard Bernstein - Chichester Psalms