Reviews
"Scholars and citizens with an interest in modern literature and the struggle for frank expression and publication of candid material in a free society will be captivated by Samuel Roth: Infamous Modernist. For those fascinated by the shadow world of clandestine publishing and modern lit. in the U.S. it's must-read."
--Booktryst (blog)
"The story of an era that stretches back to the early days of the 20th century, when the lower East side of New York was a haven for Jewish immigrants-poets, Yiddish actors, trade unionists, journalists, with more than its fare share of anarchists, socialist and Marxists."
--Woody Haut's blog
"A full biography of a publisher who challenged American censorship laws by printing some of the greatest banned books of his time"
--American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (blog)
"A fascinating look at the Jewish experience, censorship, government repression and conflicts between Christianity, Jewish religion and the American dream."
--Huffington Post
“It is once a piece of pure scholarship, while at the same time being an analysis of why Eros threatens and when.
--Richard Godwin's blog
“Jay Gertzman is to be congratulated for writing a lively biography of a kind of life so often neglected.”
--Jewish Daily Forward
“A fascinating and highly detailed biography of one of the strangest characters in American literary history.”
--Journal of American Culture
“Samuel Roth: Infamous Modernist makes a very valuable contribution to the history of censorship in twentieth-century America, to the publishing history of modernism and indeed to book history more generally.”
--Literature & History
Gertzman neither obscures nor apologizes for Roth’s eccentricities of the vile aspect of his character...Gretzman’s assiduousness in attending to even the bizarre literary side-lights of Roth’s career is admirable.
--Michigan Quarterly Review
The first comprehensive biography of [Samuel Roth]. Gertzman brings to the task plentiful relevant experience.
--James Joyce Quarterly