Prologue: The Fat Man 1
One
Lansky’s Lady Consigliere 9
Two
Flower Power in Flamingo Park 39
Three
Bullet Bob and the Jew Boy 69
Four
Gimpel of Surfside 99
Five
Munich to Miami in Spitz Seconds 119
Six
To the Moon, Sophie, to the Moon! 143
Seven
The Day Fidel Called Balls and Strikes 175
The Jacketed hardcover edition of How Sweet It Is! generated a
great deal of excitement. The following is a list of the book and
media events and generated a great deal of publicity:
Media, PR and Events for Hardcover Thane Rosenbaum, HOW SWEET IT
IS!
CONFIRMED EVENTS
Temple Solel in Hollywood, FL – Friday, January 15th
David Posnack JCC in Davie, FL – Thursday, January 14, 2016 at
7:30pm
11/4 – Kick-off event for Miami Beach’s One Book, One City
initiative with Thane Rosenbaum at the Jewish Museum of Florida,
7pm.
11/7 – Miami Beach Library Branch Read-A-Thon, 2-4pm in the
auditorium
11/15 – Book reading at the Betsy Hotel with Thane Rosenbaum,
7:30-8:30pm.
11/17 – Miami Beach Library Branch Book Discussion with Thane
Rosenbaum, 6:30pm – 7:30pm.
11/18 – South Shore Library Book Group Discussion, 6:30pm –
7:30pm.
11/21 – Miami Book Fair, 2pm
11/25 – Miami Beach Bandshell, Food Truck Rally, appearance with
Thane Rosenbaum and locals from the 1970s, 7:30 – 8:30pm
The Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, NY – September 3 at
7:30pm
Books & Books in Coral Gables –April 18 at 7pm
Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, MA – April 23 at 7pm
Barnes & Noble in NYC/Upper West Side –April 29 at 7pm
Vroman’s in Pasadena, CA – May 10 at 3pm
CONFIRMED MEDIA
WLRN (NPR) Tropical Currents, Ariel Gonzales – interview on
11/19
Jewish Book Council –included Thane in their special 30 days, 30
authors Facebook promotion to celebrate 90 years of Jewish Books.
Thane’s interview posted on 11/30.
Blogger Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin – 11/12 write-up and interview with
Thane
http://jeffreysalkin.religionnews.com/2015/11/12/miami-beach-how-sweet-it-is-thane-rosenbaum/
Total Education Show with Neil Haley – interview took place on
11/21 at Miami Book Fair. This radio show is syndicated to over 120
radio stations.
Miami’s Community Newspapers – 11/8
http://communitynewspapers.com/city-of-miami-beach-home/miami-beach-launches-one-book-one-city/
Miami Herald’s Beach Buzz column – 10/25
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article40932696.html
Tablet spread the word about One Book, One City on social
media.
Ron Hogan – shared the news about Miami Beach’s One Book, One City
selection on social media.
The Reporter Group (Binghamton, NY area) – review ran 9/11:
http://www.thereportergroup.org/Article.aspx?aID=4043
Times of Israel – review by Renee Ghert-Zand posted 6/27:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/its-not-all-sun-and-fun-in-miami-beach/
The Jewish Book World –
http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/how-sweet-it-is-a-novel
The Jewish Advocate (Boston) – review planned for June 5:
http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/news/2015-06-05/Arts/Fictional_Jews_mix_with_real_celebrities_in_1972_M.html
The Washington Post – review planned for June 7:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/how-sweet-it-is-by-thane-rosenbaum/2015/06/03/ecebd1f2-03c8-11e5-8bda-c7b4e9a8f7ac_story.html
NJ Jewish News –
http://njjewishnews.com/article/27349/miami-blues-israeli-dreamers#.VWYTcjrbLIW
Jewish Journal Los Angeles –
http://www.jewishjournal.com/books/article/book_review_how_sweet_it_is_is_a_gangsters_paradise
Kansas City Jewish Chronicle – mentioned the book in 4/16 issue in
a roundup of Holocaust Fiction in 21st Century:
http://www.kcjc.com/index.php/opinion/3117-holocaust-fiction-in-the-21st-century
Miami Herald – Book Editor, Connie Ogle interviewed Thane; article
ran
4/16:http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/books/article18677712.html
Jewish Week – review:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books/sun-and-fun-capital-world
University of Miami Alumni Bi-Weekly Calendar – included event at
Books & Books in the March 24thnewsletter.
Jewish Book Council – Thane participated in their Visiting Scribe
Series the week of March
30:http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/how-sweet-it-is-a-novel?A=SearchResult&SearchID=14680391&ObjectID=8401752&ObjectType=35
Booktrib – they included the book on their homepage slider for a
giveaway during the week of March 13-20.
Jewish Book World – short write-up on 2/20:
http://jewishbookworld.org/2015/02/how-sweet-it-is-by-thane-rosenbaum/
The Algemeiner (Jewish newspaper) – reviewed April 17:
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/04/17/how-sweet-it-is/
Jewish Week – book was included in the spring preview feature that
ran
2/11:http://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/arts-preview/books-3
Jewishfiction.net –ran an excerpt on March 31 in their
15th/Passover issue:
http://www.jewishfiction.net/index.php/publisher/articleview/frmArticleID/407
Thane Rosenbaum is a one-man marketing machine. He often writes for
New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Huffingtion
Post, among other national media. TAKE A LOOK AT HIS WEBSITE at
http://www.thanerosenbaum.com/
He has promised to promote this first trade paperback with all the
resources at his command.
We received a strong call for a paperback edition from Readers
Clubs all over the country for this book. With this end in mind, we
will join forces with the Jewish Book Council National Jewish Book
Club. They will create a reader's kit--supplementary reading,
discussion questions--and promote it to the 450 clubs around the
country.
We will send 100 readers copies out to all major media, fiction
blogs, and use facebook, Twitter and Tumblr to get the word out
about the availability of this first trade paperback edition.
Thane Rosenbaum is author of the critically acclaimed novels The Stranger Within Sarah Stein, The Golems of Gotham, and Second Hand Smoke, and of the novel-in-stories Elijah Visible, which received the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for the best book of Jewish American fiction. He is a Senior Fellow at New York University School of Law, where he directs the Forum on Law, Culture, and Society. Visit: http://www.thanerosenbaum.com/.
"How Sweet It Is!, brilliantly and hilariously captures the Miami
of 1972."—Huffington Post
"Rosenbaum’s writing is a joy to read . . . The story digs deeper
and parses out that nostalgia in an unflinchingly funny novel . . .
The character of Miami Beach plays a star role in the descriptions
of the mingling cultures of Jews, blacks and Cubans. One can almost
feel the strangling humidity, smell the fresh ocean air, and taste
the babke and onion rolls from the Butterflake Bakery, the sponsor
of Adam’s Little League team. How Sweet It Is takes on geopolitics
while putting a face on white flight and immigration."—Jewish Book
Council
"Florida is on vivid display in How Sweet it Is!, Thane Rosenbaum’s
new novel set in Miami Beach in 1972. This is Miami Beach at the
end of its heyday as a fun-in-the-sun resort and Jewish mecca, and
before its rediscovery as an Art Deco playground for the rich and
buff. Holocaust survivors, Cuban refugees, hasidic Jews, and
transplanted northerners share the steamy streets, where Jackie
Gleason is ending his run as the city’s unofficial ambassador,
Isaac Bashevis Singer is holding court at his favorite cafeteria,
and gangster Meyer Lansky is back home after an aborted attempt to
find sanctuary in Israel."--New Jersey Jewish News
"[T]he literary equivalent of a funhouse ride at Disney World. . .
. [T]his is a book that is perfect summer reading, in that you
could read a chapter, put it aside, and then come back and quickly
pick up the thread. . . . For Rosenbaum, it's exploring those
differences between then and now that makes this both a fun and
thought-provoking romp."—Jewish Advocate Boston
"[A] larger-than-life drama starring Miami Beach, Florida, and the
outsized personalities from the worlds of entertainment,
literature, politics, sports and organized crime who happened to
coincidentally inhabit it in the summer of 1972. . . . “How Sweet
It Is!” is deliberately extreme, surreal and over-the-top comedic,
reflecting the absurdity of renewing life after the Holocaust in
paradisaical Miami Beach. . . . [A] novel in which all of the
Posners’ Holocaust demons have been unleashed onto Miami Beach at
the very moment it temporarily takes the global spotlight."—The
Times of Israel
"Rosenbaum offers a clever, satirical look at Miami, with a
slightly serious undercurrent. . . . The novel made me both chuckle
and laugh out loud. Rosenbaum’s depiction of Miami Beach is astute
and funny, offering everything from Jews kvetching because there
are no good delicatessens to descriptions of the tropical summer
downpours and the mixtures of nationalities and ethnicities within
the city’s borders."—The Reporter Group
"This book is a comic pastiche—highly entertaining, unpredictable,
and an exercise in cross-everything in a multicultural cocoon. .
.[A] funny, enjoyable read, and a nostalgic look at a place and a
time gone by."—Algemeiner
"This very funny novel is another page-turner . . . Rosenbaum is a
very witty writer."—Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
“Selected by the City of Miami Beach as its Centennial Book”
“Fans of the greater Miami megalopolis rejoice! Finally there’s a
novel that nails your part of the world!”—Gary Shteyngart, author
of Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story
“A powerful time capsule . . . in American Jewish history. . . .
It’s all here—gangsters, survivors, flower children, school
integration, Yiddish literature, the Munich Olympics, and the
strange and beautiful possibilities of catastrophe and renewal in
the elephant graveyard of 20th century American Jews, Miami Beach.
Dive in and enjoy! —Dara Horn, author of A Guide for the Perplexed
and The World to Come
“It’s hard to resist raising a toast to a book that shows Lansky,
Frank Sinatra, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Muhammad Ali at a Little
League Baseball game umpired by Fidel Castro. As Gleason would say,
“And awaaaay we go!” —The Washington Post, June 7, 2015
“A smart, funny, rollicking and razor-sharp novel. —Jonathan
Kirsch, Los Angeles Jewish Journal, May 2015
“Rosenbaum strives to balance moral seriousness with outrageous
antic humor as he tries to make sense of . . . the Holocaust. . . .
His character portraits are full of verve and bite. [M]any will
enjoy his take on Miami Beach back in the day. How sweet it all
was—in memory, anyway.” —Jewish Week
"How Sweet It Is!, brilliantly and hilariously captures the Miami
of 1972."Huffington Post
"Rosenbaum’s writing is a joy to read . . . The story digs deeper
and parses out that nostalgia in an unflinchingly funny novel . . .
The character of Miami Beach plays a star role in the descriptions
of the mingling cultures of Jews, blacks and Cubans. One can almost
feel the strangling humidity, smell the fresh ocean air, and taste
the babke and onion rolls from the Butterflake Bakery, the sponsor
of Adam’s Little League team. How Sweet It Is takes on geopolitics
while putting a face on white flight and immigration."Jewish Book
Council
"Florida is on vivid display in How Sweet it Is!, Thane Rosenbaum’s
new novel set in Miami Beach in 1972. This is Miami Beach at the
end of its heyday as a fun-in-the-sun resort and Jewish mecca, and
before its rediscovery as an Art Deco playground for the rich and
buff. Holocaust survivors, Cuban refugees, hasidic Jews, and
transplanted northerners share the steamy streets, where Jackie
Gleason is ending his run as the city’s unofficial ambassador,
Isaac Bashevis Singer is holding court at his favorite cafeteria,
and gangster Meyer Lansky is back home after an aborted attempt to
find sanctuary in Israel."--New Jersey Jewish News
"[T]he literary equivalent of a funhouse ride at Disney World. . .
. [T]his is a book that is perfect summer reading, in that you
could read a chapter, put it aside, and then come back and quickly
pick up the thread. . . . For Rosenbaum, it's exploring those
differences between then and now that makes this both a fun and
thought-provoking romp."Jewish Advocate Boston
"[A] larger-than-life drama starring Miami Beach, Florida, and the
outsized personalities from the worlds of entertainment,
literature, politics, sports and organized crime who happened to
coincidentally inhabit it in the summer of 1972. . . . How Sweet
It Is!” is deliberately extreme, surreal and over-the-top comedic,
reflecting the absurdity of renewing life after the Holocaust in
paradisaical Miami Beach. . . . [A] novel in which all of the
Posners’ Holocaust demons have been unleashed onto Miami Beach at
the very moment it temporarily takes the global spotlight."The
Times of Israel
"Rosenbaum offers a clever, satirical look at Miami, with a
slightly serious undercurrent. . . . The novel made me both chuckle
and laugh out loud. Rosenbaum’s depiction of Miami Beach is astute
and funny, offering everything from Jews kvetching because there
are no good delicatessens to descriptions of the tropical summer
downpours and the mixtures of nationalities and ethnicities within
the city’s borders."The Reporter Group
"This book is a comic pastichehighly entertaining, unpredictable,
and an exercise in cross-everything in a multicultural cocoon. .
.[A] funny, enjoyable read, and a nostalgic look at a place and a
time gone by."Algemeiner
"This very funny novel is another page-turner . . . Rosenbaum is a
very witty writer."Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
Selected by the City of Miami Beach as its Centennial Book”
Fans of the greater Miami megalopolis rejoice! Finally there’s a
novel that nails your part of the world!”Gary Shteyngart, author
of Absurdistan, and Super Sad True Love Story
A powerful time capsule . . . in American Jewish history. . . .
It’s all heregangsters, survivors, flower children, school
integration, Yiddish literature, the Munich Olympics, and the
strange and beautiful possibilities of catastrophe and renewal in
the elephant graveyard of 20th century American Jews, Miami Beach.
Dive in and enjoy! Dara Horn, author of A Guide for the Perplexed
and The World to Come
It’s hard to resist raising a toast to a book that shows Lansky,
Frank Sinatra, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Muhammad Ali at a Little
League Baseball game umpired by Fidel Castro. As Gleason would say,
And awaaaay we go!” The Washington Post, June 7, 2015
A smart, funny, rollicking and razor-sharp novel. Jonathan
Kirsch, Los Angeles Jewish Journal, May 2015
Rosenbaum strives to balance moral seriousness with outrageous
antic humor as he tries to make sense of . . . the Holocaust. . . .
His character portraits are full of verve and bite. [M]any will
enjoy his take on Miami Beach back in the day. How sweet it all
wasin memory, anyway.” Jewish Week
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