My Life as a Jew

Michael Gawenda

‘My Life as a Jew is a bold, fearless, unapologetic, deeply personal and deeply intelligent exploration of Jewishness, of what it is like to be a Jew in today’s world of rampant antisemitism … In the age of disinformation and instant opinions, it is precious to have this book whose author does not believe in euphemisms nor platitudes nor any other pseudointellectual shortcuts. Gawenda’s considered tone, backed by a lifetime of research experience and natural curiosity, his humility and his writerly possession of what Hemingway so aptly called “a built-in, shockproof, shit detector” all make Gawenda’s writing feel like a breath of fresh air in the contemporary literary landscape.’

Judges’ comments for the Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction at the 2024 Shalom Australian Jewish Book Awards

‘I thought I understood everything there was to understand about my own life as a Jew. But Michael Gawenda’s fearless, magisterial book, tracing an arc from Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” to the casual dinner-party anti-Semitism of contemporary leftists, cracked me open, and nothing has been the same for me since.’

Julie Szego, writer and journalist

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‘A great book — an enthralling and luminous journey, a love letter to the Jewish people, and a courageous statement of belief, brilliantly written.’

Sam Lipski, former editor-in-chief, Australian Jewish News

‘Michael Gawenda has gifted us a book of rare honesty that lays bare a social democrat’s personal and intellectual life journey. It stands as a challenge to those open to difficult conversations — about heritage and identity, empathy and its erasure, and the point where friendship ends.’

Emeritus Professor Andrew Markus

‘Michael Gwenda’s book is searingly candid and a very good read, though it’s pretty confronting for Gentiles to grasp fully the divisions that characterise Jewish communities. He has neither spared himself nor others in examining what it means to celebrate being a modern Jew in Australia.’

Geraldine Doogue, journalist and broadcaster

‘Like many Jewish intellectuals today, Gawenda feels forced to reconsider the very essence of his Jewish identity. Where should he stand on Israel and on anti-Zionism? What does Zionism mean today? Is it a national liberation movement or a form of colonialism? How close is anti-Zionism to antisemitism? These questions are dominating conversations among Jews everywhere. Gawenda’s autobiography can serve as a useful guide for these discussions.’

Mikhail Krutikov, Forward

‘Audacious, pained, heartfelt: I couldn’t put it down.’

Helen Garner

A multi-award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of a major Australian newspaper searingly explores his Jewish identity at a time when a substantial — and growing — part of the left is opposed to the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state.

Born in a displaced persons’ camp two years after the end of the Holocaust, Michael Gawenda spent his childhood and teenage years in a left-wing non-Zionist Jewish youth group in Melbourne. This shaped the sort of Jew he became — a secular Jew who loved the Yiddish language and Yiddish culture.

Gawenda went on to become a public figure during his 40 years as a journalist, including his role as editor-in-chief of The Age — the only Jewish editor-in-chief in the newspaper’s history. Throughout this time, and since, he became dismayed and pained by the growing hostility of the left to Israel and to Jews like him who were not prepared to declare themselves as anti-Zionists. This has also forced him to examine his own Jewish identity and his relationships with his Jewish friends, and to forensically examine the basis of the critiques of Israel.

At a time of rising anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, My Life as a Jew is a controversial book. It is also a vital book. It should be read by activists for Israel and Zionism, as well as for the Palestinians. It should be read by readers of all political stripes. It should be read by journalists, as it is in part about journalism and its failings. And it should also be read by people interested in the remarkable life and career of its author, Michael Gawenda.

Judges’ comments for the Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction at the 2024 Shalom Australian Jewish Book Awards

Julie Szego, writer and journalist

View all reviews

‘A great book — an enthralling and luminous journey, a love letter to the Jewish people, and a courageous statement of belief, brilliantly written.’

Sam Lipski, former editor-in-chief, Australian Jewish News

Emeritus Professor Andrew Markus

Geraldine Doogue, journalist and broadcaster

Mikhail Krutikov, Forward

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:288pp

ISBN (13):9781761380471

RRP:$35.00

Pub date:3 Oct 2023

Rights Held: World

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

2024 Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction at the Shalom Australian Jewish Book Awards - Winner

CATEGORIES / tags

Autobiography: general BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Jewish Memoirs Judaism Social discrimination & inequality BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Editors, Journalists, Publishers BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination

AUTHOR

Michael Gawenda

Michael Gawenda is one of Australia’s best-known journalists and authors. In a career spanning four decades, he was a political reporter, a foreign correspondent based in London and in Washington, a columnist, a feature writer, and a senior editor at Time Magazine. He was editor and editor-in-chief of The Age from 1997 to 2004.
Michael Gawenda has won numerous journalism awards, including three Walkley awards. He was the inaugural director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne, and is the author of four books.

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My Life as a Jew

Michael Gawenda

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