- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press; 1st edition (3 Oct 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0300112297
- ISBN-13: 978-0300112290
- Product Dimensions: 18.4 x 14.7 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 899,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread
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Review
"Balinska offers a kind of history of and love-letter to Jewish culture through a series of bread-based snapshots." --Steven Poole, Guardian, 17th January 2009
`[Balinska's] eclectic, engaging and sympathetic account offers plenty to savour.'
--JU, Financial Times, 17th October 2009
`[Balinska's] eclectic, engaging and sympathetic account offers plenty to savour.'
--JU, Financial Times, 17th October 2009
Review
`... a fresh and lively chronicle ... Light and piquant, and yet ... seriously satisfying, The Bagel is anything but stodgy fare.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
WOW.... where do i start? This book was bought as a present for my mother at the end of what was a very traumatic year for the both of us , One thing however that has kept us together is out love for all things bagel.If you or someone you love is a bagelist like me then this is the ideal gift. This book gives you a real insight into a world in which many of us are secluded from entering. The world of the bagel , the title suggests modest bread but after a few chapters you will find it hard to call the bagel anything but spectacular. The bagel scented pages offer something different for the reader aswell and you really get a sense of being there in some of the passages. This book not only made my year but its also become the bible i live by. Thanks alot amazon for hooking me up with this sweet deal.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
History-Lite.
27 Nov 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This short book (195 pages) does not purport to be a definitive history of the bagel. As the author notes, the bagel is a modest bread made of commonly available ingredients, flour, water and eggs. It should not be surprising that many people throughout history have mixed these ingredients into a dough that is boiled and then baked in a circular shape with a hole in the middle. Similar foodstuffs have been found in many places, including China and Italy. This book focuses on the bagels of the Jewish bakers in Poland and in the United States. It is history-lite.
Actually, it is "histories-lite." It presents a series of summary histories. It tells the story of Jan Sobieski's military victory, lifting the siege of Vienna in 1683. It tells the story of the hard-working bakers and the impoverished peddlers of bagels in the cities of Poland for more than two centuries. It tells the story of the Jewish immigrant bakers in the lower east side of New York City. It tells the role of the Polish Jews in the labor movement in the first half of the 1900s, a movement that pitted capitalism against socialism. And it tells how the Lender brothers guided their bagel baking company into a multi-million dollar business.
Together, these summary histories provide clear snapshots of the lives of people who are not usually mentioned in traditional history books. The book is well written and well worth reading.
Actually, it is "histories-lite." It presents a series of summary histories. It tells the story of Jan Sobieski's military victory, lifting the siege of Vienna in 1683. It tells the story of the hard-working bakers and the impoverished peddlers of bagels in the cities of Poland for more than two centuries. It tells the story of the Jewish immigrant bakers in the lower east side of New York City. It tells the role of the Polish Jews in the labor movement in the first half of the 1900s, a movement that pitted capitalism against socialism. And it tells how the Lender brothers guided their bagel baking company into a multi-million dollar business.
Together, these summary histories provide clear snapshots of the lives of people who are not usually mentioned in traditional history books. The book is well written and well worth reading.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A Bagel's Eye View of Cultural Change With Humor and Some Memorable Lines
17 Dec 2008
Format:Hardcover
Let me respectfully add a word of context to the "History-Lite" review on this page. Maria Balinska, a veteran journalist with the BBC, is the first to admit that her bagel book is not an exhaustive history of all elements related to the bagel. There's an important scholarly tradition now of pursuing such threads through the centuries. If you're looking for such a study, one of the classics in the field is Fernand Braudel's still awesome "Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, Vol. I: The Structure of Everyday Life (Civilization and Capitalism : 15th-18th Century)." (And, yes, Braudel does write a lot about bread.)
That's not the point of "The Bagel." This slim and fascinating volume is aimed at reminding readers that -- as surprising as it may seem to many men and women -- something as simple as a bagel can become a colorful window into the evolving nature of Jewish culture especially in Europe and North America.
And more than that, what's so great about exploring threads of religious and ethnic identity like this? Well, the story of bagels in America also is a part of American Baby Boomer experience, whatever your faith may be. Like a lot of other Baby Boomers, I vividly recall discovering the exotic delight of bagels in the early 1970s and watching this distinctive treat go mainstream throughout my own adult life. Similarly, Jewish Americans have moved more prominently into the American mainstream during those decades.
The author is well aware of the scholarly giants in the field of cultural history and culinary evolution. She readily points out that she's not trying to outdo the Braudels in this field. Rather, her book is a talented journalist's tribute to the enlightenment we all can find in exploring the stuff of everyday life that we all too often take for granted.
Plus, as a lifelong journalist myself, I can tell you that I finished the book with a dozen corners of pages folded over, marking anecdotes and great lines that I plan to share with others. This book is that fun.
That's not the point of "The Bagel." This slim and fascinating volume is aimed at reminding readers that -- as surprising as it may seem to many men and women -- something as simple as a bagel can become a colorful window into the evolving nature of Jewish culture especially in Europe and North America.
And more than that, what's so great about exploring threads of religious and ethnic identity like this? Well, the story of bagels in America also is a part of American Baby Boomer experience, whatever your faith may be. Like a lot of other Baby Boomers, I vividly recall discovering the exotic delight of bagels in the early 1970s and watching this distinctive treat go mainstream throughout my own adult life. Similarly, Jewish Americans have moved more prominently into the American mainstream during those decades.
The author is well aware of the scholarly giants in the field of cultural history and culinary evolution. She readily points out that she's not trying to outdo the Braudels in this field. Rather, her book is a talented journalist's tribute to the enlightenment we all can find in exploring the stuff of everyday life that we all too often take for granted.
Plus, as a lifelong journalist myself, I can tell you that I finished the book with a dozen corners of pages folded over, marking anecdotes and great lines that I plan to share with others. This book is that fun.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Yummy!
24 Feb 2009
Format:Hardcover
My daughter, who was a classmate of the author at college, gave me this book for Christmas and I promptly devoured it. It is extraordinary for its breadth and depth of scope, running from the Middle Ages in Poland to New York in the mid-twentieth century. It is as delightful to read as it is erudite; I particularly savored (I can't think of a more appropriate word) the chapters about New York's lower East Side. I bought it as a gift for a Jewish colleague and she concurs with this judgement.
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