JGSC Book Club: Stranger in the Desert by Jordan Salama

Join us for the first meeting of the new quarterly Book Club for JGSC Members!

We'll read books that bring Jewish genealogy to life, including memoirs that explore generations of a family's history, histories that explore Jewish families and make use of genealogical research, and other titles that explore the role of genealogy in our lives.

Format:

Following a moderated discussion of the book, we will have a Q &A with the author, Jordan Salama.  This meeting is limited to 10 people in order to promote active discussion.

Book Synopsis:

One Thanksgiving afternoon at his grandparents’ house, Jordan Salama discovers a large binder stuffed with yellowing papers and old photographs—a five-hundred-year wandering history of his Arab-Jewish family, from Moorish Spain to Ottoman Syria to Argentina and beyond.

One story in particular captures his attention: that of his great-grandfather, a Syrian-born, Arabic-speaking Jewish immigrant to Argentina who in the 1920s worked as a traveling salesman in the Andes—and may have left behind forgotten descendants along the way. Encouraged by his grandfather, Jordan goes in search of these “Lost Salamas,” traveling more than a thousand miles up the spine of South America’s greatest mountain range.

Combining travelog, history, memoir, and reportage, Jordan Salama's Stranger in the Desert transports readers from the lonely plains of Patagonia to the breathtaking altiplano of the high Andes; from the old Jewish quarter of Damascus to today’s vibrant neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It is also a fervent journey of self-discovery as Salama grapples with his own Jewish, Arab, and Latin American identities, interrogating the stories families tell themselves, and to what end.

The Author:

Jordan Salama is a writer covering culture and the environment in the Americas. He is the author of Every Day the River Changes, a journey down Colombia's Río Magdalena, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2021. His essays and stories have appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Scientific American, NPR's All Things Considered and other publications. 

Registration:

Registration is open only to JGSC members and is limited to 10 participants.  There will be a waiting list.  Registration closes on Tuesday, January 21, at which point participants will receive a Zoom link.

Contact:

Email Jane Rothstein at president@jgscleveland.org with any questions.