Lowenthal, Marvin
LOWENTHAL, MARVIN
LOWENTHAL, MARVIN (1890–1969), U.S. Zionist writer. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Lowenthal was sent by Louis *D. Brandeis to the West Coast to organize the Zionist movement there (1916–18). From 1924 to 1929 he traveled abroad as European editor of the Menorah Journal, and for part of this time also represented the American Jewish Congress. During these years he wrote extensively on literature, politics, and Zionism, evincing affection for the secular elements in Jewish culture. He became widely known in the United States through his essays and lectures, but his most enduring works are his travel and historical books. His craftsmanship and urbanity of style appear at their best in The Jews of Germany (1936; includes bibliography of his works). Lowenthal served on the Zionist Advisory Commission (1946–49) and was editor of The American Zionist (1952–54). His works include a book on Jews in Europe and North Africa, A World Passed By (1933); and he edited Henrietta Szold: Life and Letters (1942) and the one-volume precis of the Diaries of Theodor Herzl (1956). He translated and edited Memoirs of Glueckel of Hameln (1932) and a one-volume abridgment of Montaigne's Autobiography (1935).
bibliography:
C. Madison, in: jbl, 28 (1970/71).
[Leo W. Schwarz]