Liberty Street

"A revealing prism through which to examine a dark period of American history."—Publishers Weekly

"A thrilling mystery, fearless reimagining, and fresh historical portrait that lives and breathes. I could not put it down. And neither will you."—Andrew Sean Greer, 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner for Less

"By blending memoir, history (through the eyes of place as character), and social commentary, Liberty Street provides a strange and fully compelling bildungsroman."—Jonathan Rabb, author of several novels including Among the Living and other novels

"Written with clarity, intelligence, precision, and a healthy dose of sultry Southern detail."—Aaron Hamburger, author of Hotel Cuba

"Ironically titled, Liberty Street takes an incisive dive into the life and times of Jewish Confederate Gratz Cohen, a scion of two legendary families that straddled the Mason–Dixon line."—Dr. Dale Rosengarten, Founding curator of the Jewish Heritage Collection, College of Charleston

"The insightful product of years of research."—Savannah Morning News

"[A]n engrossing and thoughtful investigation of a slave owning Jewish family in the American South, with all of its attendant contradictions, self-justifications, and cognitive dissonances."—Lauren Gilbert, Jewish Book council

"With a seamless blend between first-person narrative style and historical examination, Liberty Street proves that the past is both personal and intensely present."—Hannah Bone, Southern Review of Books

"Intricate and well wrought, like the iron balconies of old Savannah townhouses, Liberty Street is a welcome contribution to the literature on the varieties of Jewish experience in the nineteenth-century American South as well as proof of the benefits of attending carefully to the shadows the past casts on the present."—Richard Kreitner, Jewish Review of Books

"Liberty Street is a notable addition to gay literature of the South."—Donna Meredith, Southern Literary Review

"Liberty Street's gifts are abundant. Friedman has developed a well-written history with original perspectives, often from the most unexpected of places."—Rain Taxi

"Liberty Street's gifts are abundant. Friedman has developed a well-written history with original perspectives, often from the most unexpected of places."—Mike McClelland, Rain Taxi