War Bonds - Paperback

In War Bonds, Jack Goldman unspools a vivid, tender, humorous portrait of a Depression-era Jewish-American boyhood shaped by the competing energies of tradition, rebellion, assimilation, and war. He recounts life among a spirited cast of characters: a tap-dancing father dodging Orthodox expectations, a bar mitzvah faked for family pride, immigrant grandparents clinging to the old ways, and a Los Angeles childhood that veers from near tragedy to unexpected grace. Through intimate recollections-painful and sweet-he captures the strains of poverty, antisemitism, generational conflict, and the enduring power of family improvisation and resilience. War Bonds weaves memory, history, and identity into a deeply personal narrative of survival and belonging. This is a soulful, richly detailed story of growing up American, Jewish, and fiercely human in the 20th century.