The History of the Catskills' Resorts
Writer Stefan Kanfer's latest book is called "A Summer World," about the Borscht Belt -- a Jewish enclave in the Catskills that nurtured a generation of comics. Kanfer talks about the lives of some of the resorts' regulars, and why some the community is now in decline.
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Other segments from the episode on July 16, 1990
Spiritual Leader Ram Dass
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The History of the Catskills' Resorts.
Writer Stefan Kanfer. Kanfer's latest book is called "A Summer World: The Attempt to Build a Jewish Eden in the Catskills, from the Days of the Ghetto to the Rise and Decline of the Borscht Belt." The Borsht Belt nurtured a generation of comics and defined a culture. Kanfer talks about the lives of the people who frequented the Catskill resorts, and the reason those resorts are now in decline.
Writer Stefan Kanfer on 'Stardust Lost.'
Writer Stefan Kanfer. His new book is âStardust Lost: The Triumph, Tragedy, and Mishugas of the Yiddish Theater in America.â Itâs about the glory days of Yiddish theater in the late 19th and early 20th century. Kanfer was a writer and editor at Time magazine for 20 years and is the author of many books including biographies of Lucille Ball and Groucho Marx.
A History of New York State's Legendary Resorts
Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the book "It Happened in the Catskills," an oral history of the resorts that made up what was known as the Borsht Belt.