Legends of the Hasidim: An Introduction to Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World

This book was first published back in 1968, and I have referred to my old, worn, second-hand copy again and again in my own writing about Hasidic stories. One of the earliest studies of Hasidism in America, it includes material collected right after WWII, from the last generation of Jews to actually experience the pre-Holocaust Hasidic culture in Eastern Europe. There are Hasidic stories in this book that appear nowhere else, including some about the Holocaust that would be considered "politically incorrect" today -- which is one of the things that makes the book so valuable. Mintz did not attempt to censor his subjects, nor did he try to polish up their storytelling styles. These are field-collected stories in all their original candor. The result is a book that speaks to us across the decades.