133 Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future by Robert Cherry and Annamaria Orla-Bukowska (eds.) (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), 230 pages Reviewed by Witold Medykowski Senior Specialist, Yad Vashem Archives Two American authors have undertaken a formidable, if not impossible, task— to examine the tortured Polish–Jewish past, in a way that will help clarify the problems in achieving a reconciliation between Jews and Poles today. In order to break the patterns of the past and bring the two ethnic groups closer, they aspire to understand how, for decades, these problems festered. The burden of history is tremendous, but it seems unreasonable that that past, however gloomy, should forever play a dominant role in Polish–Jewish relations. That is especially so when there are new generations whose attitudes are not tainted by stereotypes, and who are open and willing to learn about one another. The editors of this work are American, although their origins are very different. Robert Cherry, a professor of economics at Brooklyn College, is an American Jew and has grappled with the issues of the Holocaust for many years. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska is a Polish–American who teaches at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. The book they edited is a collection of articles by several well-known researchers and authors from various fields—historians, sociologists, professors of philosophy and ethics, but also journalists and even a rabbi. The key theme permeating the book is the “difficult past,” with the goal of a “brighter future” in Polish–Jewish relations. Essentially, the book is divided into three sections, which are, despite the editors’ desire to achieve a certain symmetry, rather imbalanced. The first section of the book presents the widespread anti-Polish stereotypes prevailing among American Jewry. Anti-Jewish stereotypes are described in a very concise introduction written jointly by Cherry and Orla-Bukowska. The authors’ portrayal of this subject is balanced and does not require more elaborate presentation. Paradoxically, for most of those whose work is published in this book, the main theater of Polish–Jewish dialogue is America. Both groups—Americans of Polish and Jewish origin—are well represented, which substantially neutralizes the advantage that might accrue to either group. Before the Holocaust, both Poles and Jews lived side by side in Poland and, to a lesser extent, in the US. Relations between these communities were difficult and painful, and characterized by high tension, and, at times, even hatred. However, cooperation, respect and friendship were also evident. The two communities lived in Poland for centuries—together, but apart. Despite the uneasy coexistence,