Post Hill Press has launched an imprint, Wicked Son, that will publish "sharp-edged political and cultural commentary as well as history, fiction, philosophy and other books of Jewish interest." Wicked Son will feature "authors from across the Jewish world," particularly the U.S., Israel and Europe, and non-Jewish voices. The books aim to have appeal "beyond the Jewish readership."
Adam Bellow is publisher of Wicked Son, David S. Bernstein is executive editor and David Hazony, an independent editor in Tel Aviv, is acquiring books by Israeli authors. Wicked Son is particularly interested in "bringing the vibrancy of Israel's thriving literary and intellectual culture to American readers."
Bellow said that Wicked Son aims "to restore a level of cosmopolitan seriousness about the ideas and issues that was the norm during the heyday of postwar Jewish intellectual and literary culture." He continued: "The Wicked Son is everyone's favorite character in the Passover Haggadah, and it is easy to see why. He is irreverent, witty and sly, and while he reserves the right to evaluate Jewish tradition by his own lights, he also asks the most challenging question. Wicked Son will embody this contrarian spirit by publishing books that grapple with big questions, advance unconventional views, and promote greater Jewish engagement with history, culture, and ideas."
Wicked Son has already published several titles and will release a dozen more next year. Its first offerings include The Night Archer and Other Stories by historian and diplomat Michael Oren; Holocaust Holiday: One Family's Descent into Genocide Memory Hell by Shmuley Boteach; Free as a Jew, a memoir by Ruth R. Wisse; Isaac's Beacon, a novel of Israel's founding by David L. Robbins; Yossi Shain's The Israeli Century; Hesh Kestin's The Wrong Jew; Georgette Bennett's Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By; and A Jew of Color by Hen Mazzig.