On March 10, 2026, Judy Blume: A Life, my definitive biography of the legendary author, will be published. I look forward to speaking about the book across the country—please let me know if I can come to your community. You can pre-order the book here or here.
My last book was Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood, about Pittsburgh after the 2018 synagogue massacre. It was reviewed in the Times (“propulsive”), the Post (“powerful”), the Journal (“compelling”), and elsewhere.
I have also written a book about American religion in the late 1960s, a book about the bar and bat mitzvah in contemporary America, and a memoir of my years as a high school debater. And I co-authored The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia. I’m working on a history of the great Princeton antisemitism scandal of 1958. I hold a Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale, but I believe only medical doctors should be called “Doctor.”
My radio work includes including pieces for This American Life, Snap Judgment, and other bigshot shows, and I created and, for eight years and 360 episodes, hosted Unorthodox, a podcast about Jewish life and culture. It became the most popular English-language podcast about Jewish life and culture ever, and you can find all the episodes here. I also co-created and hosted a podcast called Gatecrashers: The Hidden History of Jews in the Ivy League. I was the host of two more limited-run podcasts, Antisemitism USA and LBI Presents, from the Leo Baeck Institute, which studies the history of German Jewry and its diaspora.
I live in the Westville neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, with my wife, five children, and two dogs. I love Westville, but I do leave it: sometimes to report, sometimes to do live shows of the podcast, sometimes to talk about a book I have written, and sometimes to speak or lecture at a college, university, synagogue, community center, or public event of some sort. (I taught at Yale for fifteen years, and I’ve also taught at Stanford, NYU, and many other schools worthy of admission scandals.) I am not on social media; I prefer meeting people in person. If you’d like to reach me, please refer to that Gmail account at the top of the page, and do use my middle initial (the “e” distinguishes me from the South African barrister and the South Dakota Scrabble champion who share my name).
I believe in paid family leave, local ice cream, the 30-hour work week, original Coca-Cola, the one-handed backhand, the Oxford comma, and animal rights. Lately I have read Ian McEwan’s new novel, Cameron Crowe’s memoir, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, as well as Adam Becker’s book debunking AI hype. I’ve been listening to albums bought at this great neighborhood vinyl shop and watching the television show Overcompensating. Last summer, I saw concerts by The Heavy Heavy, HAIM, and Willie Nelson. Coffee ice cream—there’s always that.
