Shanda: A Memoir of Shame and Secrecy
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Oct 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Dina Pearlman
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14 hr 5 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
An intimate memoir from a founding editor of Ms. magazine who grew up in a Jewish immigrant family mired in secrets, haunted by their dread of shame and stigma, determined to hide their every imperfection-and in denial or despair when they couldn't. The word "shanda" is defined as shame or disgrace in Yiddish. This book, Shanda, tells the story of three generations of complicated, intense twentieth-century Jews for whom the desire to fit in and the fear of public humiliation either drove their aspirations or crushed their spirit. In her deeply engaging, astonishingly candid memoir, author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin exposes the fiercely-guarded lies and intricate cover-ups woven by dozens of members of her extended family. Beginning with her own long-suppressed secret, the story spirals through the hidden lives of her parents and relatives-revealing the truth about their origins, personal traumas, marital misery, abandoned children, religious transgressions, sexual identity, radical politics, and supposedly embarrassing illnesses. While unmasking their charades and disguises, Pogrebin also showcases her family's remarkable talent for reinvention in a narrative that is, by turns, touching, searing, and surprisingly universal.
About the author
Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a writer, activist, and national lecturer. Her books include Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate, Deborah, Golda, and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America, Getting Over Getting Older, Three Daughters, and How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick.
Dina Pearlman was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, and went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University. Based in New York City, she is an actress, stand-up comic, and the Audie Award-nominated narrator of over 300 audiobooks.
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