In Bernard Kops: Fantasist, London Jew, Apocalyptic Humorist, William Baker and Jeanette Roberts Shumaker offer an astute, comprehensive, and thorough literary biography of the prolific post-war playwright, novelist, and poet Bernard Kops, a contemporary of Harold Pinter. Baker and Shumaker's writing is infused with admiration and affection, both for Kops himself and for an entire community—the one-time vibrant Jewish immigrant community in London's East End in the 1950s and 60s—which now only exists in people's memories. This is, in a sense, an extended elegy: a book that mourns the dissolution of an East End defined by defying poverty, prejudice, and the grief of the Holocaust. At the same time, the book also celebrates the longevity of Kops (still writing successful plays in his 80s) and of this very community. The circumstances and identity of London Jewry have changed substantially over the last decades, and yet Jews continue to thrive...
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