Here Where We Live Is Our Country

A vivid, human and radical history of one of the most powerful revolutionary movements of the twentieth century - told through the lives and in the voices of countless forgotten men and women **THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** ‘Lush, high-tempo, strikingly poignant ... The relevance for our present moment is impossible to ignore’ Guardian ‘Thrillingly energetic, delightful, vivid’ New York Times Book Review ‘Reading it feels revolutionary’ Naomi Klein ‘ I couldn’t put it down … A beautiful part of our history that has largely been erased … Very, very compelling and incredible … Molly is such a great writer and a great person ’ Hannah Einbinder Here Where Live Is Our Country is the story of a revolutionary movement – the Jewish Bund – which played a part in nearly every major conflict in Eastern Europe from 1900-1945, but still remains an almost unknown part of twentieth-century history. The movement’s central philosophy of “herenes” – the belief that Jews had a right to freedom and dignity in the countries where they lived – led them to fight the Tsar, reject Zionism, resist the Nazis, and ultimately help lead the Warsaw ghetto revolt. It is also a philosophy that immediately resonates with the political situation all over the world today. In this book, Molly Crabapple tells the story of the Bund through the lives of the bold and brilliant individuals who were pivotal to carrying out the doctrine, including her own great-grandfather, through whom she first discovered the movement. ‘Crabapple, with this great work, adds to her growing legacy as a unique American genius’ Jason Stanley ‘Recounts, with a novelist’s mastery of detail, one of the most extraordinary rebellions of the human spirit in modern history’ Pankaj Mishra ‘A masterful storyteller who possesses an admirable sense of history and writes with verve and wit … Here Where We Live Is Our Country is a true tour de force’ Jon Lee Anderson

A vivid, human and radical history of one of the most powerful revolutionary movements of the twentieth century - told through the lives and in the voices of countless forgotten men and women **THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** ‘Lush, high-tempo, strikingly poignant ... The relevance for our present moment is impossible to ignore’ Guardian ‘Thrillingly energetic, delightful, vivid’ New York Times Book Review ‘Reading it feels revolutionary’ Naomi Klein ‘ I couldn’t put it down … A beautiful part of our history that has largely been erased … Very, very compelling and incredible … Molly is such a great writer and a great person ’ Hannah Einbinder Here Where Live Is Our Country is the story of a revolutionary movement – the Jewish Bund – which played a part in nearly every major conflict in Eastern Europe from 1900-1945, but still remains an almost unknown part of twentieth-century history. The movement’s central philosophy of “herenes” – the belief that Jews had a right to freedom and dignity in the countries where they lived – led them to fight the Tsar, reject Zionism, resist the Nazis, and ultimately help lead the Warsaw ghetto revolt. It is also a philosophy that immediately resonates with the political situation all over the world today. In this book, Molly Crabapple tells the story of the Bund through the lives of the bold and brilliant individuals who were pivotal to carrying out the doctrine, including her own great-grandfather, through whom she first discovered the movement. ‘Crabapple, with this great work, adds to her growing legacy as a unique American genius’ Jason Stanley ‘Recounts, with a novelist’s mastery of detail, one of the most extraordinary rebellions of the human spirit in modern history’ Pankaj Mishra ‘A masterful storyteller who possesses an admirable sense of history and writes with verve and wit … Here Where We Live Is Our Country is a true tour de force’ Jon Lee Anderson

The dramatic story of the Jewish Bund--a revolutionary movement from a vanished world--and its radical vision of solidarity in an age of division. "Molly Crabapple beckons readers through a portal to an irresistible, lost world, one bound together by passion, solidarity, and a burning hunger for justice."--Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author of No Logo and Doppelganger In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Sam Rothbort created "memory paintings" with the hope of resurrecting the vanished world of his shtetl childhood. Decades later, his great-granddaughter, the award-winning artist Molly Crabapple, discovered these paintings and one stood out: a girl, her dress the color of sky, hurling a rock through a cottage window. Itka the Bundist, Breaking Windows . Itka is how Crabapple met the Jewish Labor Bund. Once the most influential Jewish political force in eastern Europe, the Bund was secular, socialist, and uncompromisingly anti-Zionist. The Bundists fought for dignity and equality, not in an imagined homeland in Palestine but "here where we live." In the first popular history of the Bund, Crabapple re-creates their extraordinary world through dramatic portraits of insurgent poets and antireligious rebels, clandestine revolutionaries and lovers on the barricades. The Bundists live deeply within this violent, volatile, and somehow hopeful period, as their stories interweave with the Russian Revolution and the Holocaust. The Bund's rise and fall raises the vital question: What can we learn from a movement that, for all its toughness, imagination, and moral clarity, was largely destroyed? Here Where We Live Is Our Country reanimates a band of idealists who broadened our global political imagination. As we once again contend with nationalism, repression, and the struggle for belonging, the Bund's remarkable story and message--that liberation, dignity, and solidarity must begin where we stand--reaches across time as a guide to our own urgent moment.

The dramatic story of the Jewish Bund--a revolutionary movement from a vanished world--and its radical vision of solidarity in an age of division. "Molly Crabapple beckons readers through a portal to an irresistible, lost world, one bound together by passion, solidarity, and a burning hunger for justice."--Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author of No Logo and Doppelganger In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Sam Rothbort created "memory paintings" with the hope of resurrecting the vanished world of his shtetl childhood. Decades later, his great-granddaughter, the award-winning artist Molly Crabapple, discovered these paintings and one stood out: a girl, her dress the color of sky, hurling a rock through a cottage window. Itka the Bundist, Breaking Windows . Itka is how Crabapple met the Jewish Labor Bund. Once the most influential Jewish political force in eastern Europe, the Bund was secular, socialist, and uncompromisingly anti-Zionist. The Bundists fought for dignity and equality, not in an imagined homeland in Palestine but "here where we live." In the first popular history of the Bund, Crabapple re-creates their extraordinary world through dramatic portraits of insurgent poets and antireligious rebels, clandestine revolutionaries and lovers on the barricades. The Bundists live deeply within this violent, volatile, and somehow hopeful period, as their stories interweave with the Russian Revolution and the Holocaust. The Bund's rise and fall raises the vital question: What can we learn from a movement that, for all its toughness, imagination, and moral clarity, was largely destroyed? Here Where We Live Is Our Country reanimates a band of idealists who broadened our global political imagination. As we once again contend with nationalism, repression, and the struggle for belonging, the Bund's remarkable story and message--that liberation, dignity, and solidarity must begin where we stand--reaches across time as a guide to our own urgent moment.