In his speeches, Thane Rosenbaum brings the subject of the Jewish experience in America to life with humor, poignancy and passion. A gifted and insightful storyteller, he addresses the fragmentation of the Jewish family, his generation’s weak identification with their faith, and the widening chasm of experience between Holocaust survivors and their descendants. With a commanding presence, dry wit and eloquence, he speaks on topics as diverse as art, culture, law and society, as well as on the most relevant issues of the day.
Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, and law professor, the author of the novels, The Golems of Gotham (Harper Collins 2002) (San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 Book), Second Hand Smoke (St. Martin’s Press 1999), which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, and the novel-in-stories, Elijah Visible (St. Martin’s Press 1996), which received the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for the best book of Jewish-American fiction. His articles, reviews and essays appear frequently in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Jerusalem Post, and the Huffington Post, among other national publications. He appears frequently at the 92nd Street Y where he moderates an annual series of discussions on Jewish culture and politics. He is the John Whelan Distinguished Lecturer in Law at Fordham Law School, where he teaches courses in human rights, legal humanities, and law and literature, and also directs the Forum on Law, Culture & Society. He is the author of The Myth of Moral Justice: Why Our Legal System Fails to Do What’s Right (Harper Collins 2004), which was selected by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the Best Books of 2004. His most recent book is an anthology entitled, Law Lit, from Atticus Finch to "The Practice": A Collection of Great Writing about the Law (The New Press 2007).
