The book begins with a short introduction that looks a the question of how are Jewish characters defined and who gets to make the definition. The first of the five plays examines how the modern age sees Shylock. The remaining four plays are all based on Jewish real people ranging from a screenwriters who help Jews threatened by the Nazis come to the U.S., to Harry Houdini, to the last queen of Tahiti. To put it all another way, there is no such thing as a stereotypical Jewish character.
Showing diversity is the best way to undermine the negative stereotyping of Jewish people. The five plays in this book illustrate why stereotypes of any description don’t work.
In Shylock Revisited, the main character won’t give up his efforts to make the merchant of Venice, Antonio, pay what he owes. In “Good Deeds” a screen writer, Salka Viertel, pays the price for helping Nazi era Jewish artists escape from Europe.
Harry Houdini takes on a reluctant con woman in Margery Meets Harry. Educating Henry Adams has the queen of Tahiti convince the U.S. historian, Henry Adams, to help her write a family history that leaves out her Jewish heritage. And finally, in The Optimist, a Jewish college professor discovers that the world goes beyond the logical solutions he thinks will solve all problems.