In Search: An autobiography

by Meyer Levin

Acclaimed as “the most significant American Jewish writer of his time” by the Los Angeles Times, Meyer Levin amassed an astonishing and diverse body of work before his death in 1981. The first of two autobiographies, In Search was originally published in 1950. Raised in the notorious Bloody Nineteenth Ward in Chicago, Levin landed a job at the Chicago Daily News at eighteen. Reporting was to be the means to support his real writing. Yet it was as a war correspondent that Levin found his voice. One of the first Americans to enter the concentration camps during World War II and record the horrors there, Levin also helped smuggle Jews from Poland to Palestine, capturing the events in his now classic film “The Illegals.” Levin traverses America, France, Spain, Eastern Europe and Palestine, incisively documenting some of the most important historical events of the 20th century. Yet In Search is equally the story of Levin’s quest to define his Jewishness to himself and to the world. Both personal and universal, it affords a glimpse into a singular life and career and is, as Levin puts it, “more than a book about the Jews; it seeks to touch the human spirit.”

547 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Lester Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very old book and at times, slow and plodding. Not a big fan of Levin's writing style. Some of it was interesting, other parts were not. Glad I'm done with it, and moving on to something better.