In her recent memoir Mixed Messages, Eleanor Foa recounts her and her sister’s quest to uncover their family’s history in Italy following their mother’s death. Born in that country just before World War II, Foa had left with her parents for the U.S. as infant—just before it was too late for Jews like them to escape. Diane Cole, calling the book a “charming . . . jumble of family and historical research, emotional introspection, and convivial travelogue,” describes what they found:

In the past few decades, the Jewish state has vastly expanded its diplomatic, economic, and sometimes military ties with South and East Asia, while doing its best to stay away from the conflicts that divide the countries in the region. Daniel Samet surveys the potential for these relationships, urging Jerusalem to avoid deepening cooperation with China and instead to focus on cultivating further its alliances-in-the-making with China’s competitors: