Coalition SPEAKER SERIES: “Culture, Yiddishkeit and Politics in the Catskills,” presented by Prof. Phil Brown

The Catskills are remembered as an idyllic vacationland of yesteryear, but they were also a site for

Jewish culture and political activism. Professor Brown will explore this lively aspect of the Borscht

belt history and culture. He will examine the community culture of hotel and bungalow communities,

Yiddishist colonies, leftist and union hotels, labor organizing and local activism.

Prof. Brown is the founder of the Catskills Institute, an organization that works to record and remember the history of

the Catskills through conferences, public speaking and support of scholarships. Phil Brown is a

Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at Northeastern University. He is the founding member

of the Committee of Science, and Technology and an Associate Member of the Program of Judaic

Studies. His books include “Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat’s Memories of the Great Jewish Resort

Area” and “In the Catskills: A Century of the Jewish Experience in “The Mountains”.

Phil played piano in the now-defunct klezmer band Too Klez for Comfort.

With gratitude to the generous support of Gloria and Martin Greenstein and the Rene Bloch Foundation.

Join us!