Roots West Bookstore

Where Special Interest Reigns

Roots West Bookstore aims to replicate online the kind of place customers congregate because they and the owner share intense interests. In this case, the subject is Jewish roots in the West, and its inescapable determinants, the West itself, real and imagined. Research trips in the early 1980s when my late husband and I were working on Pioneer Jews set the tone for this undertaking. I can't duplicate the hours spent in eager exchanges with booksellers, university and historical society archivists, and pioneers — often followed by tacos at a village Dairy Queen, matzo ball soup at a kitchen table, or salmon at a seaside grill. What I can offer are the books and art we forged of materials gathered and ambience absorbed. Also, fresh copies of dog-eared books in my personal library by authors who dared to tell the truth and bid me to do the same. — Harriet Rochlin

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