"In Mordecai: An Early American Family, Emily Bingham brings to life a compelling family whose struggles illuminate the first century of the American Republic. From the American Revolution to the Civil War and beyond, this 'little faithful band of love and duty' balanced their devotion to each other, their Jewish faith, and their identity as Southerners through periods of intellectual, political, and economic turmoil. Drawing on published writings and thousands of letters by the men and women of this articulate family, Emily Bingham tells a vivid and fascinating story. The Mordecais take their place as one of the great American families in this lively, compassionate, and probing group portrait."—Joy Kasson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"If there is one book Americans should read this winter, it is Amos Elon's The Pity of It All—a meticulous and wrenching history of a people in a place at a moment in time that bears urgently upon our own."—Joan Didion

“To the best of my knowledge no one has left behind so moving a record.” —Alfred Kazin

A New York Times Notable Book
Winner of the Commonwealth Prize

"An authority one usually finds only in more seasoned writers."—Meghan O’Rouke, The New York Times Book Review

"As a researcher and collector of historical source material, Mr. Gilbert has no peer among contemporary historians; a man of awe-inspiring initiative and indefatigable productivity, he will leave no stone unturned in his searches . . . [The Righteous] is a work of deep commitment; more than that, a labor of love. It deserves to be read side by side with the studies claiming that there were no rays of light, no manifestations of humanity and goodness in those dark days . . . One should be grateful for Mr. Gilbert's Herculean labors."—Walter Laqueur, The New York Times

"A transformative work of art . . . As the love affair moves toward its denouement certain passages demand to be reread, as if one can't believe the pure, intuitive truth they contain."—The New York Times Book Review

"One comes away from the book stunned by the remarkable energy and willingness to resist that so many demonstrated but haunted by the recognition of how little that resistance availed."—The New Yorker