Worst Book of the Week: Alan Nadler Pans Burnt Books by Rodger Kamenetz

See this negative review of some depth, "The Mad Mystic of Bratslav" of the new book, Burnt Books by Rodger Kamenetz. The review by an expert in the field, Alan Nadler, professor of religious studies and director of the program in Jewish studies at Drew University, goes into the serious flaws of Kamenetz' book.

We've read bad reviews and good reviews and we've written both kinds too. This one has legs and it stomps on the book, concluding with these swift kicks in the groin about the author Kamenetz himself,

...had he himself heeded Scholem's and Kafka's shared endorsement of serious preparation before delving into difficult and arcane matters, Kamenetz—who cannot read, let alone decipher, either Hebrew or Yiddish—might have spared the world a great deal of self-indulgent twaddle. Instead, he has insulted his readers and the memory of both Nahman of Bratslav and Franz Kafka, two great men who shared so finicky an obsession with their written words that they burned many of them.

One wonders, Where oh where was the editor of this book?