Angels in America, Jewish Liberalism, and Trump's New Order
It is no wonder that Jews tend to be intensely patriotic Americans, or that our reading of American history is generally optimistic. We tell ourselves that there was anti-Semitism in America, but it went away; that America hesitated to fight Hitler, but eventually defeated him. When Jewish liberals are critical of America, it is usually in a spirit of disappointed love: we want the success of our American experience to be extended to everyone. The great American Jewish liberal question is Allen Ginsberg’s: “America when will you be angelic?” We want America to be angelic because we know it can be.
That is why one of the most authentic works of the American Jewish spirit is Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America, which is currently having a moment in the spotlight, thanks to the 25th anniversary of its original Broadway production. There is a revival now playing, a production imported from London’s National Theater; and there is a new book, The World Only Spins Forward, an oral history of the play’s genesis and later career.
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