Walter Roth, Everyday Heroic Lives: Portraits from Chicago’s Jewish Past. Chicago, Walter Roth (2016).

This is a treasure house of writings by Walter Roth, who ended his remarkable twenty-two-year term as president of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society in 2010. At the heart of the book are portraits of fifteen individuals, such as political leader Abner Mikva, Alderman Leon Despres, and suffragist and pacifist Rosika Schwimmer. It also includes reviews by the author and studies of topics in Chicago history, such as the story of the Jewish community during the Great Chicago Fire. Chicago history and Jewish history in America owe Walter Roth a great debt of thanks.

In his Author! Author! blog series, Museum president Gary T. Johnson highlights works that draw on our collection.