In Which a Reader Asks a Question, and I Go Searching for the Answer

One of the delights of writing this blog is correspondence with like-minded people who have questions or thoughts about my posts. It is always a treat. In response to my last post, a reader with whom I often correspond asked a question I had never even considered: If Jewish American or Jewish British or Jewish…

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Champion’s Day: The End of Old Shanghai

I will admit that I approached historian James Carter’s book Champion’s Day: The End of Old Shanghai with seriously mixed feelings. On the one hand, I spent some time last year reading about the International Settlement in Shanghai in the 1930s while I was working on a piece on self-styled “girl reporter” Peggy Hull  I…

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