Dara Horn’s new nov­el about a Jew­ish sol­dier and spy for the Union army dur­ing the Civ­il War cap­tured my atten­tion imme­di­ate­ly. Jacob Rappaport’s mis­sions lead him to vivid­ly por­tray meet­ings with Judah P. Ben­jamin, the first Jew­ish Cab­i­net mem­ber in U.S. his­to­ry and close advi­sor to Con­fed­er­ate Pres­i­dent Jef­fer­son Davis. Rappaport’s assign­ment — to get involved with his father’s busi­ness asso­ciate Philip Levy and his Rebel spy daugh­ters — brings humor and romance to the sto­ry. Repeat­ed­ly, Rap­pa­port must choose between fam­i­ly loy­al­ty and polit­i­cal ide­ol­o­gy. The author doesn’t shy away from describ­ing the grue­some grit of war and the bru­tal­i­ty of slav­ery. Much Jew­ish cul­ture is woven into the tale as well. We wit­ness the para­dox of a Passover Seder in the home of Jew­ish slave own­ers, as well as the ram­pant anti-Semi­tism of this time. This well researched book should appeal to Jew­ish his­to­ry buffs as well as read­ers who enjoy an intel­li­gent love sto­ry.

Twit­ter Book Club

Read a tran­script from the Twit­ter Book Club for All Oth­er Nights