In a hundred-year period, a handful of men and women changed the way we see the world. Many of them are well-known – Marx, Freud, Proust, Einstein, Kafka. Others, less prominent, also deserve to be remembered for their enduring contributions: Karl Landsteiner (blood transfusions), Paul Ehrlich (chemotherapy), Rosalind Franklin (x-ray crystallography and the structure of DNA) and Michael Curtiz (director of Casablanca).

In his brilliant survey, writer Norman Lebrecht addresses the question: What do these people have in common? What connects them with Gershwin, Modigliani, Martin Buber, and Sarah Bernhardt, and what accounts for the disproportionate influence of people who in 1847 made up less than a quarter of one percent of the world’s population? Join us as we journey through time with Lebrecht as he attempts to unravel this enigma.

Format: Participants will read the text and lead a discussion of any of the remarkable individuals whom Lebrecht explores with nuance and humor. Participants are encouraged to use supplementary materials and media they feel will bring additional life to their selected person.

Resources/Expenses: Genius and Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, Norman Lebrecht, New York: Scribner, 2019. The book is available in hardcover from Amazon for about $20 and in paperback for about $16, and at varying prices, both new and used, from other booksellers.