A Gender Lens in Memoir

A recent edition to our understanding of the arc of women’s lives is My Songs of Now and Then (iUniverse, $21.95), by Lilith author and early board member Rachel Josefowitz Siegel. Siegel is a therapist and writer whose foundational studies in the field of social work paved the way for a new vision of feminist psychotherapy. Her earlier books include Jewish Women in Therapy: Seen but Not Heard (with Ellen Cole) and the co-edited Women Changing Therapy and Jewish Mothers Tell Their Stories: Acts of Love and Courage. Born in Berlin in 1924 and raised in Switzerland, she escaped from Europe to the United States in 1939. This new book is an engaging collection of deftly written vignettes, covering scenes from her European childhood, then exploring the balance between her work and her family life, and the joys and trials of aging as a Jewish woman and conscious feminist.