About Melvin Konner

MELVIN KONNER, Ph.D., M.D., is the author of nine books and is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he teaches in the anthropology, human biology, and Jewish studies programs. He has written for the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Science, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Jewish Body, Part 5: The Warriors

By Melvin Konner February 27, 2009

Dr. Max Nordau, the apostle of muscle-Jewry, was also an avid Zionist and friend of Theodor Herzl, but they differed on how long it would take to get the Jews in shape for independence. As Herzl wrote in his diary … Read More

The Jewish Body, Part 4: The Muscle-Jews

By Melvin Konner February 26, 2009

In the 1800s, Jews in Europe became a bit obsessed with Jewish "softness" and developed theories about how to change the Jewish body through physical labor, activity, and sports. One call for change came from a young Sephardic Jewish woman … Read More

The Jewish Body, Part 3: The Nose Jobs

By Melvin Konner February 25, 2009

So, we know that Gentile men have long been drawn to exotic Jewish beauty, the lure of the other. But what about the reverse? From Samson’s fatal attraction to Delilah to Seinfeld and his (all Jewish) buddies nattering on about … Read More

Jewish Body Part 2: The Sex

By Melvin Konner February 24, 2009

Whatever we say about women and men being equal now and tomorrow – I have three daughters who I want to see beat the world – throughout the whole human past, including the Jewish past, men and women have had … Read More

Jewish Body Part 1: The Circs

By Melvin Konner February 23, 2009

Melvin Konner is the author of The Jewish Body: An Anatomical History of the Jewish People (Shocken, January 2009). He will be guest blogging on Jewcy all week. Jewish Bod 1: The Circs Have you seen the picture bouncing around … Read More