A Bintel Brief by Liana Finck

A Bintel Brief

Love and Longing in Old New York

Liana Finck

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · April 15, 2014

In an illustrative style that is a thrilling mash-up of Art Spiegelman's deft emotionality, Roz Chast's hilarious neuroses, and the magical spirit of Marc Chagall, A Bintel Brief is Liana Finck’s evocative, elegiac love letter to the turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants who transformed New York City and America itself.

Buy on Amazon

We earn from qualifying purchases.

Who it’s for
A nimble, intimate read about longing, wit, and the pleasures of close attention.
Genres
Historical Graphic Nonfiction, Jewish History, Jewish Studies
Published
HarperCollins, April 15, 2014

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.

  1. Everything in ColorStephanie Stalvey46% match
  2. Smut Peddler Presents: Sordid PastTzor Edery, Lucy Bellwood41% match
  3. AdversaryBlue Delliquanti43% match
  4. Everything Is an EmergencyJason Adam Katzenstein47% match
  5. PersepolisMarjane Satrapi, Mattias Ripa37% matchShares Historical Graphic Nonfiction
  6. What to Do When I'm GoneSuzy Hopkins43% match
  7. My Alcoholic Escape From RealityNagata Kabi38% match

Start with three books, and this one can be the first.

Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.

Start with this book

About this book

In an illustrative style that is a thrilling mash-up of Art Spiegelman's deft emotionality, Roz Chast's hilarious neuroses, and the magical spirit of Marc Chagall, A Bintel Brief is Liana Finck’s evocative, elegiac love letter to the turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants who transformed New York City and America itself.

Continue reading

A Bintel Brief "A Bundle of Letters"—was the enormously popular advice column of The Forward, the widely read Yiddish language newspaper begun in 1906 New York. Written by a diverse community of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, these letters spoke to the daily heartbreaks and comedies of their new lives, capturing the hope, isolation, and confusion of assimilation. Drawn from these letters—selected and adapted by Liana Finck and brought to life in her appealing two-color illustrations—A Bintel Brief is a tour of Lower East Side New York, and includes an imaginative conversation with the Yiddish "Dear Abby," Abraham Cahan, The Forward's legendary editor and creator of the Bintel Brief column. From premarital sex to family politics to struggles with jobs and money, A Bintel Brief is an enlightening look at a segment of America's rich cultural past that offers fresh insights for our own lives as well.

Letters and Longing

A nimble, intimate read about longing, wit, and the pleasures of close attention.

Come here for

  • Jewish letters, old New York, and the ache of ordinary life
  • Playful, reflective pages that still keep their footing

Expect

  • History braided with literary criticism
  • Short-story textures, not tidy answers

Where it sits

Historical Graphic Nonfiction78%
Jewish History73%
Jewish Studies32%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Lives in History
  • Comics & Graphic Novels
  • Romance Comics
  • Nonfiction Comics
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Graphic Biography & Memoir
  • Historical Graphic Nonfiction
  • Historical Fiction Comics
  • Adapted Comics
Authors
Liana Finck
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
April 15, 2014
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Lives in History