Sure, some people say that one is either Jewish or not, there's nothing in-between -- but the authors emphatically disagree. They say half-Jews are a unique subculture of unusually talented, intellectually multi-faceted, and remarkably attractive people. And that it's time we acknowledged them as one of the most intriguing new "Double Cultures".

"The Half-Jewish Book" celebrates everything from half-Jewish humor (half-Jewish/half-Catholic Bill Maher: "I come from a mixed religious background -- when I went to confession I brought a lawyer with me") to half-Jewish Beauty (Gwyneth Paltrow, Joan Collins, Jane Seymour -- just for starters). From half-Jewish writers (Proust, Salinger) to half-Jewish characters in fiction by writers ranging from Philip Roth to Alan Alda, and including that half-Jewish cartoon phenomenon, Tommy Pickles, of Rugrats. From half-Jewish politicians (LaGuardia, Goldwater) to people like General Wesley Clark, who discovered as adults that they were hall-Jewish and embraced their new-found half-heritage. From an eye-opening essay on half-Jewish identity to the often-misunderstood history of half-Jews in the Holocaust.

Original interviews, half-Jewish holiday cards and menus, poetry and song lyrics, paintings and photographs. Intelligent, exuberant, entertaining, and thought-provoking, "The Half-Jewish Book" a fascinating celebration of a cultural mix that is far greater than the sum of its parts.