Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. We tend to gravitate toward the memoirs of public figures whose lives are already of significance to us. However, as in the case of two new memoirs, I often find the memoirs of people I’ve never heard of most compelling,…
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Culture
Art
S.F. firm wins bid to remove historic Zakheim murals at UCSF
UCSF announced Oct. 20 that it has awarded a $1.8 million contract for the removal of historic murals by renowned Jewish artist Bernard Zakheim from a…
Film
Documentary questions WWII-era pope’s ‘Holy Silence’
As a documentary filmmaker, Steven Pressman avoids asking historians “what-if” questions, since they prefer dealing with known facts. Still, with his new…
TV
Borat mocks antisemitic coronavirus conspiracy theories on Jimmy Kimmel
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest appearance in character as Borat was heavy on the bathroom humor — and on satirizing conspiracy theories that target Jews. On…
Talking With ...
Q&A: He’s served presidents, and now he’s serving democracy
Arthur Blaustein, 87, is passionate about community service. Now retired after a long tenure as professor of community development, politics and public…
Books
One Bay One Book program tackles ‘The Book of V.’
Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. The Jewish Community Library has chosen Anna Solomon’s new novel…
TV
HBO Max nabs 'Valley of Tears,' Israel’s biggest-budget TV series ever
The HBO Max streaming service has bought the rights to “Valley of Tears,” a drama about the 1973 Yom Kippur War that is being touted as Israel’s…
Books
Going ‘beneath the sidewalk’ to reveal the Bay Area’s untold history
Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. Bring up towns like Petaluma and Sebastopol, and many of us think…
Film
Long before Gal Gadot, Elizabeth Taylor caused a stir as Cleopatra
After Israeli actress Gal Gadot announced this weekend that she would play the legendary Egyptian queen in a blockbuster movie, it didn’t take long for…