The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identity for the Next Century (September 1998): Many people know of high-profile lawyer and Harvard Law School professor Dershowitz from the well-mined stories of his defense of celebrities from Claus von Bulow to O.J. Simpson. In this work, Dershowitz switches gears and talks about a subject closer to home: Jewish identity and destiny, previously touched on in his autobiography, Chutzpah (LJ 6/1/91). Dershowitz feels that Jewish identity is slowly dissolving in our American culture. Jews have been busy defining themselves in too negative a sense: anti-Semitism has been a rallying cry. He feels that American Jews, even agnostics like himself, have to reawaken to the treasures of Jewish culture and tradition. His call to action has some echoes of an earlier book, Leonard J. Fein's Where Are We?: The Inner Life of American Jews (LJ 5/15/88). What makes this offering so compulsively readable is Dershowitz's clear writing style and bountiful use of Jewish humor to illustrate his points. His prescription for change is likely to provoke disagreement and debate. Libraries serving a Jewish clientele should be sure to purchase.