I SEEK MY BRETHREN: Ralph Goldman and "The Joint": Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction—The Work of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Billed as "the biography of a remarkable man" and "the story of an organization sponsoring humanitarian aid throughout the world," this is more a collection of often dry facts interspersed with a glowing and frustratingly one-sided portrait of Ralph Goldman, who was executive vice-president of the Joint Distribution Committee from 1976 to 1987. The JDC was founded in 1914, but its pre-Goldman history is skimmed briefly. Goldman, a Boston-bred social worker, comes across not so much as an administrator but as a savior, responsible for bringing disenfranchised Jews from such countries as Romania and Iran everything from a hot meal to a copy of the Talmud (the JDC helped underwrite the Hebrew edition of the Steinsaltz Talmud). Certainly, Goldman deserves credit for his work with the JDC, which included bringing the organization back into the Soviet Union in 1988, 50 years after it was expelled. But by skirting or glossing over what little controversy he bothers to mention, journalist and filmmaker Shachtman raises questions about his objectivity. More balance as well as input from the people who benefited from Goldman's work would have made this effort more interesting and, equally important, a more useful look at an organization that has long existed in the shadows of Jewish philanthropy. 30 photos. (Dec.)

The review of Robert I. Sutton's Weird Ideas That Work that appeared in Forecasts, Oct. 8, contained errors. The correct version appears below.