Alongside his career as a dealer in used books andrecords, Corenthal built an eclectic catalog as a publisher since the 1980s.One of his early books, Cohen on theTelephone, explored Jewish comedy recordings from the early 20th century.In recent years, he turned his hand to fiction. Jewish Stories is a sometimes serious, mostly humorous body oftales written within a challenging framework: Each story is no more than asingle page in length. Former MilwaukeeJournal artist Kendall Baer illustrated JewishStories. Full disclosure: I wrote thebook’s introduction.
The reception for Jewish Stories will serve as a fund-raiser for the plannedCorenthal Jewish Cultural Center at the Lubavitch House on Milwaukee’sEast Side. The Center, which Corenthal hopesto open next year, will be built around his collection of thousands of Jewishbooks and sound recordings. “I would like to hold concerts there, art exhibitions,anything to encourage musicians, artists and writers on Jewish themes,”Corenthal says. The reception will be held 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Uncle Trotsky’s (1604 Franklin Place). The $50 admissionincludes a copy of Jewish Stories and,in a whimsical touch, a 45 R.P.M. recording by “Milwaukee’s singing mayor,” Henry Maier.
With TheMaking of Milwaukee, adapted into an Emmy-winning series by MilwaukeePublic Television in 2006, John Gurda cemented his standing as our city’shistorian. But for years he had already been the go-to guy for Milwaukee’s past with books on everythingfrom the local Greek community to studies of specific neighborhoods.
In One People,Many Paths, Gurda excels at the complicated task of writing a fair-mindednarrative about a community united in diversity. Milwaukee’s first Jews were mostlyenterprising businessmen who came with the great German immigration after 1848.The community changed with the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe with distinctly different customs. Gurda discusses religionand secularism, socialism and Zionism and the various movements with Judaism inthe overall context of Milwaukeehistory and the situation of Jews worldwide. One People, Many Paths also shows how the entrepreneurial,intellectual and cultural contributions by the city’s Jewish residents over thepast have made Milwaukeea richer place.
Gurda will sign copies of One People, Many Paths 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, 1360 N. Prospect Ave.Admission is free. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
