PHILADELPHIA— The winner of the 2014 Sophie Brody Medal is Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation by Yossi Klein Halevi, published by HarperCollins.
The Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) awards the Sophie Brody Medal to the author of the most distinguished contribution to Jewish literature for adults published in the United States in the preceding year. The award is a tribute to Sophie Brody established by her husband, Arthur, founder of the Brodart Foundation.
Using interviews with seven surviving members of the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the author traces the history of Israel and the diverse political and religious ideologies that shape the nation.
The committee also selected two honor books: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit, an intensely personal narrative history of the state of Israel published by Spiegel & Grau; and The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem: The Remarkable Life and Afterlife of the Man Who Created Tevye by Jeremy Dauber, a biography of one of the giants of Yiddish literature, published by Schocken.
The winners were selected by the Sophie Brody Medal Committee, whose members include chair Barbara Bibel, Oakland CA Public Library; Donald Altschiller, Boston University; Emily A. Bergman, University of Southern California; Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa College; Kathleen Gallagher, University City Library, MO; Elliot H. Gertel, University of Michigan; Danise G. Hoover, Hunter College; Edward Kownslar, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christie; Mary M.D. Parker, University of Minnesota; Adela Peskorz; Barry Trott, Williamsburg Regional Library, VA.
The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a Division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Not a member, but interested in being part of a member community and enjoying discounted registration rates on conference, preconferences and other events? Join, renew or add RUSA to your ALA membership at www.ala.org/membership. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.