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From Michael Chabon, Noir and Niftorim in the North

Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his novel, <em>The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay</em>.
Steven Henry
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Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Writer Michael Chabon won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, in which he imagined the lives of people working on some of the earliest superhero comics. He rewrote another chapter of history in The Yiddish Policemen's Union-- a novel Publishers Weekly described as a "murder-mystery speculative-history Jewish-identity noir chess thriller."

It's based on an eye-opening premise: What if the fledgling state of Israel had collapsed in 1948 — and in the wake of the Holocaust, part of Alaska had been set aside as a temporary refuge for Jews?

The novel is set 60 years later; Jewish rights to the district are running out, and it's about to revert to Alaskan control. Main character Meyer Landsman is a homicide detective, living in this temporary Jewish homeland and investigating a murder.

Chabon joins Terry Gross to read briefly from the book, and to talk about the inspiration for the novel — an asylum proposal (requires a PDF reader) that, in the real world, died in a Congressional committee.

This broadcast originally aired on May 3, 2007.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.