If Only You Could Bottle It: Memoirs of a Radical Son

Told through essays, memoirs, and other musings, this is the story of a radical Jew, academic, and educator from his birth in Ukraine during the Holocaust through the radical 60s and 70s, to the present day as he fights anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, xenophobia, and hate. Internationally known in Holocaust, genocide, and Jewish studies, Jack Nusan Porter was born in Maniewicz, Ukraine to Jewish Partisans in the 1940s. Through this engaging and thoughtful memoir, we follow Porter as he recounts his personal journey from a DP camp in Linz, Austria to an idyllic childhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he attended Hebrew day school under Reb Twersk. Porter masterfully details his radicalism in the politically and sociologically turbulent 1960s which would later influence his academic work on genocide, Holocaust studies, and international human rights. Constantly re-inventing himself, readers are treated to engaging anecdotes as they navigate through Porter's highs, lows, and in-betweens.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Preface Part One: 1946-1963—Coming to America From Maniewicze to Milwaukee—the Making of a Writer/Activist Milwaukee in the 1940s and 1950s / Diary, 1959 LA in the 1950s and 1960s Habonim/Dror, 1956-1964 Israel, 1962-1963 / Diary, 1963 Golda and Me Part Two: 1962-1971—The Radical Years University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee: Becoming an Activist/Intellectual, 1963-1967; the Milwaukee Riots and Father Groppi; the Beginning of the Counterculture for Me; Hippies, Acid Trips, and Communes Activism Continued, 1967-1971: The 1968 Chicago Convention Riot; the Chicago 8 Rrial; My Relationship to Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Paul Krasner, and Lee Weiner; the Black Student Sit-In at NYU; the Founding of the Radical Jewish Student Movement; the 1960s (Civil Rights, Hippies, Grass, Acid, the Israeli-Arab Six-Day War, Vietnam, Woodstock) My Days and Nights in the Jewish Defense League Northwestern: The Making of a Sociologist Academic Follies Reunions Part Three: 1971-1991—The Transitional Years My Grove Press Days My Nazi-Hunting Days My Native American Days and Nights (Sun Dances, Sweat Lodges, Dealing with Death) Marriage and Settling Down / The Almuly Family / A Jittery Decade, the 1970s—the First Half of the Radical Decade; the Second Half—We Grow Up, Settle Down, and Get Married The Death of a Father The Founding of the IAGS/International Association of Genocide Scholars / Trips to Sarajevo, Iraq, and Other Zones of Conflict A Jew at the Ukrainian Institute No Tenure: The Switch to Real Estate: Hello, Harold Brown and Other Billionaires The Landlord: Dealing with Weirdoes (Crazy Tenants), Wise Guys (Italian, Russian, African American), and Community Organizers (Chuck Turner, Mel King, Ray Flynn) Part Four: 1991-2020—The Stabilizing Years The Death of My Mother Running for Office—Skakes, Fitzie, and Other Kennedys The New Yorker Article The Lost, Confused, and Yet Somehow Productive Years of 1990-2010 (Divorce, Stress—the Mallory-Weiss Syndrome—Death of Second Wife, Alienation from Family yet Traveling the World Lecturing on Genocide and Its Prevention) Rabbi in Paradise (“Key West Rabbi”) Finding Love Again, with Raya, 2011-2017 Back to Harvard and Stability, 2011-2020—Renewed Productivity, Especially with Help from World-Famed Designer and Cousin Allen Porter, Support from My Mentor and Genocide Guide Greg Stanton, and Spiritual and Communal Support from My Sephardic Shul) Toward the Future / Miracles / Mormons / Mahayana Meditation / Finding Peace and Love Again Glossary of Terms Appendix My Contribution to Knowledge Famous People I Have Met or Who Have Influenced Me Jack Nusan Porter’s Family Tree Sources and Permissions About the Author

About the Author :
Jack Nusan Porterfounded the Jewish Student Movement in the 1960s and was editor of the classic movement anthology Jewish Radicalism. He is currently an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and a former associate of Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute. His run for US Congress in the 12th District of Massachusetts was the subject of a profile in an April 2012 issue of "Talk of the Town" in The New Yorker. In 2015, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the prediction and eradication of genocide.

Review :
“This remarkable and compelling book, a combination of memoir and articles by and about the author, provides an in-depth portrait of Jack Porter, a committed Jewish radical who has also retained his commitment to his very specific Jewish faith. It is a unique and highly readable account of his ongoing search for how Jews should relate to the modern world.” – Antony Polonsky, Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies, Brandeis University; Chief Historian, Global Education Outreach Project, Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw “One of the most admired and thoughtful heroes of the Jewish left, Jack Nusan Porter offers a remarkable memoir of his life and work. Vividly recounting mid-century Jewish life in middle America, along with travel to the new State of Israel, Porter gives us a thoughtful window into an extraordinary era that reconstituted Jewish identity after the Shoah.” – Professor Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College