"REMARKABLE . . . A WONDERFUL STORY." –The Boston Globe
The father is a high-ranking Communist officer, a Jew who survived Stalin’s purges. The son is a "refusenik," who risked his life and happiness to protest everything his father held dear. Now, Chaim Potok, beloved author of the award-winning novels The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev, unfolds the gripping true story of a father, a son, and a conflict that spans Soviet history. Drawing on taped interviews and his harrowing visits to Russia, Potok traces the public and privates lives of the Slepak family: Their passions and ideologies, their struggles to reconcile their identities as Russians and as Jews, their willingness to fight–and die–for diametrically opposed political beliefs.
"[A] vivid account . . . [Potok] brings a novelist’s passion and eye for detail to a gripping story that possesses many of the elements of fiction–except that it’s all too true." –San Francisco Chronicle
About The Gates of November
"REMARKABLE . . . A WONDERFUL STORY." –The Boston Globe
The father is a high-ranking Communist officer, a Jew who survived Stalin’s purges. The son is a "refusenik," who risked his life and happiness to protest everything his father held dear. Now, Chaim Potok, beloved author of the award-winning novels The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev, unfolds the gripping true story of a father, a son, and a conflict that spans Soviet history. Drawing on taped interviews and his harrowing visits to Russia, Potok traces the public and privates lives of the Slepak family: Their passions and ideologies, their struggles to reconcile their identities as Russians and as Jews, their willingness to fight–and die–for diametrically opposed political beliefs.
"[A] vivid account . . . [Potok] brings a novelist’s passion and eye for detail to a gripping story that possesses many of the elements of fiction–except that it’s all too true." –San Francisco Chronicle
Chaim Potok was born in New York City in 1929. He graduated from Yeshiva University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was ordained as a rabbi, and earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He also… More about Chaim Potok
About Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok was born in New York City in 1929. He graduated from Yeshiva University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was ordained as a rabbi, and earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. He also… More about Chaim Potok
It was my sincere priviledge to work on the hardcover edition of this book. Chaim Potok is an amazingly gifted man, not just his writing, which is extraordinary, but in how he approaches being human. The story of a father and son divided by a faith that would not be supressed, not even in Communist Russia, is heart-breaking. A must read. A. Scheibe, editorial
