The new biography of Anzia Yezierska is now available!

From Hester Street to Hollywood:  The Life and Work of Anzia Yezierska is now available for purchase. 

Here's the real story of that writer they called the Sweatshop Cinderella, the woman they said was just an illiterate tenement worker so fired up to tell America her story that she just dipped her pen in her heart and wrote...Bread Givers, Arrogant Beggar, Hungry Hearts, Salome of the Tenements, and many other fine books which defined the 'immigrant' for twentieth century readers.

Here's the story behind the romance of this fiery young woman and philosopher John Dewey...her friendships with writers Zona Gale, Mary Austin, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and others.

Based on extensive research into Yezierska's letters, her published and unpublished writings, this book tells the story of her life--the story she didn't tell in her fiction.

This book can be ordered from the author at bb52550@live.com--just drop me a note.  It's $15.95 plus $3.00 shipping.

Read what the reviewers are saying:
Publishers Weekly, April 20, 2009

From Hester Street to Hollywood: The Life and Work of Anzia Yezierska
Bettina Berch. Sefer International (www.bettinaberch.com), $15.95 paper (274p) ISBN 9781607251842
Author Berch (The Woman Behind the Lens, The Endless Day) reviews the life of Anzia Yezierska (1880?-1970), the celebrated Jewish-American writer dubbed the “Sweatshop Cinderella” for her fictional portrayal of immigrant Jewish women in novels and stories. Having emigrated from Poland in 1893, Yezierska went on to land a scholarship to Columbia Univ.’s Teacher’s College and a job teaching “domestic science” in New York City schools. She became active in bohemian NYC socialist circles, where she met her first husband Jacob Gordon, as well as Arnold Levitas, who would father her illegitimate child. Her 1917 affair with eminent philosopher John Dewey (then a Dean at Columbia) opened the doors of the literary world to her. Based largely on her own experiences, Yezierska’s stories are written in idiomatic English, artfully constructed to maintain the Yiddish flavor of her immigrant characters; her first story, published in 1919, launched a long and groundbreaking career (many of Yezierska’s books, including story collection How I Found America and Hungry Hearts, are still studied in academia). Berch’s faithful biography captures well this “surprisingly modern woman,” as well as her lasting influence and importance. (Mar.)



Or consider what Jewish Book World had to say:


“This book—part biography, part literary analysis—is an excellent study of the life and work of Anzia Yezierska.  Yezierska, who emigrated from Poland to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, led a complicated and interesting life.  Berch covers the facts in great detail, from marital strife to Yezierska’s often stormy relationships with colleagues and friends.
But the strongest feature of From Hester Street to Hollywood is Berch’s study of the divergence between Yezierska’s life and the subjects and themes of the author’s literary works.  This study in contrasts is what makes Berch’s work a unique and important contribution to that intersection of the fields of history, women’s studies, and Jewish studies.  Indeed, Berch keeps Yezierska’s life story moving forward, yet grounded in the writings with which readers will be most familiar.
From Hester Street to Hollywood offers a well-researched portrait of a lesser known Jewish author who lived through many important events in 20th century history.  With its breadth and depth, this book will fascinate any bookworm or historian interested in the writing and life experiences of American Jewish immigrants, particularly women.  Bibliography, index, notes, timeline.”
--Jewish Book World, Winter 2009

Pease contact me at bb52550@live.com for more information.