"In Returning, [ Lemann] has turned his considerable investigative skills on his family, its antebellum past, its connection to Germany, and above all its complicated and ambivalent relation to Judaism. . . . Adept at separating the unseen from the seen, Lemann here chronicles his familys accumulation of wealth, whatever the moral costs or compromises, and their subsequent acculturation and partial deracination. But he is also writing a Thoreauvian spiritual autobiography whose aim is the shucking off of any vestige of quiet desperation, which, in his case, is something felt but unnamed for many yearsexcept his progenitors arent New England Transcendentalists." -- Brenda Wineapple - New York Review of Books "The search for identity and community does give this sprawling, ruminative memoir a thematic unity. Its narrative, as signaled by the title, depicts Mr. Lemanns metaphorical progress from a Southern heritage in which Jewish descent was a mild social embarrassment to an enthusiastic embrace of Jewish rituals and beliefs. . . . After his assessment of his familys triumphs and missteps, Mr. Lemanns own commitment to Judaismreinforced by his second marriage, to the writer Judith Shulevitzis genuinely moving." -- Julia M. Klein - Wall Street Journal "Lemanns book is his fifth and his most personal, reaching back in time to uncover how his aristocratic, well-established life in Louisiana was a relatively modern development following decades of assimilation. It is a family portrait in a unique milieu Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren meets Irving Howes World of Our Fathers that follows the rough contours of the Torah: the original sins of slavery, Exodus and the conflicted push towards a promised land with political Zionism and a codification of life as Lemann reclaims tradition. Its a compelling read, all the more so for how its personal investigation brushes up against American history." -- PJ Grisar - The Forward "Written with the keen eye of a journalist, the perspective of a historian, and the love of a grandchild, Lemann charts the course of five of his familys generations in America. . . . Returning: A Search for Home Across Three Centuries is for anyone who wants an intimate story with universal themes that will challenge and inspire us, and make us think about our own families stories." -- Marc Katz - Jewish Book Council "New Yorker staff writer Lemann (High Admissions) offers a personal take on the history of Jews in America in this powerful family portrait . . . a stirring saga." -- Publishers Weekly "In this anguished, uncertain, moving, and driven memoir of his pursuit of personal reclamation, Nicholas Lemann writes as the historian of a family, a people, and an idea. How he comesthrough love and introspection, and rising finally to a kind of (biblical?) poetryto the restoration of purpose and integrity may not be intended as a guide for the perplexed, but it will not be surprising if it achieves exactly this." -- Cynthia Ozick, author of Antiquities "Returning is a beautifully rendered history, at once highly personal and very broadly cast, and it is a soul-baring story that must?touch us all." -- Steven Hahn, author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning A Nation Under Our Feet "Lemann sets off on an extraordinary pilgrimage, one that touches on caste systems and ethnic prisons, on civil rights, family rifts, and immigration policy. The doors open, the doors close; I lost count of the bruising number of times. But I remain haunted by this clear-eyed, literature-rich, original, entirely dazzling memoir." -- Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Revolutionary "This is a book that sheds insight on difficult historical truths while wrestling with some of the most important issues of our own times as well. A family history, yes, but also a beautifully and courageously written literary memoir that leads its author on the road to self-knowledge." -- Farah Griffin, author of Read Until You Understand "Lemann takes readers on an intimate, gripping journey through his own roots, vividly bringing to life generations of Jewish ancestry who struggled to find their place in America." -- Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton University "What does it mean to belong? Returning offers a profound mediation on family, Jewish identity, and the meaning of home in a world constantly shaken by economic, social, and cultural change." -- Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University "What begins as an exploration of Lemanns family history becomes, quite unexpectedly, a gorgeous statement of devotionone of the most moving meditations on Jewishness in recent memory." -- Franklin Foer, author of World Without Mind and The Last Politician
