Seattle Public Library
Indecent Reading List
Indecent: Beyond the Theater
Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of books and films to enhance your experience of the show!
Indecent
A Play
by Vogel, Paula
Book - 2017
The script of Indecent, for your reading pleasure.
God Of Vengeance
by Asch, Sholem
Book - 2019
Read the play that started it all. Sholem Asch’s 1906 drama about an Orthodox Jewish rabbi whose daughter falls in love with a prostitute in the brothel he owns caused a major scandal when it opened on Broadway in 1923.
Inseparable
Desire Between Women in Literature
by Donoghue, Emma
Book - 2010
God of Vengeance is notable for its early sympathetic depiction of a romance between two women. Learn more about the evolving portrayals of same-sex female desire in Donoghue’s provocative survey of Western literature.
Girl Unwrapped
by Goliger, Gabriella
eBook - 2010
In this powerful coming-of-age story set in 1960s Montreal, a Jewish girl living under the stifling expectations of her Holocaust-survivor parents realizes she is a lesbian.
ha-Sodot
The Secrets
DVD - 2008
After her mother dies, Naomi, the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, entreats her father to postpone her expected marriage so she can attend a women’s religious seminary, where she develops a close friendship with Michelle, a headstrong and rebellious student.
2.5 Minute Ride
And, 101 Humiliating Stories
by Kron, Lisa
Book - 2001
The work of Jewish lesbian playwright Kron explores her personal and family history with candor, humor and insight. Discover her unique voice in this collection of two of her most intimate solo performance works.
Unclean Lips
Obscenity, Jews, and American Culture
by Lambert, Joshua N.
Book - 2014
Indecent was originally inspired by the 1923 obscenity trial of God of Vengeance in New York. Professor Lambert locates this controversy within a broader analysis of Jews and the history of obscenity in America.
God of Vengeance
by Margulies, Donald
Book - 2003
Margulies’ adaptation of Asch’s play changes the time and setting of the original, from 1906 Poland to the Lower East Side of New York City in 1923.
Murder Under the Fig Tree
A Palestine Mystery
by Raphael, Kate Jessica
Book - 2017
In the second installment of Raphael’s Palestine Mysteries series, a Palestinian policewoman and a Jewish American lesbian feminist team up to solve the murder of a gay Palestinian.
Fingersmith
by Waters, Sarah
Book - 2002
Like God of Vengeance, Fingersmith depicts an unlikely romance between two women from utterly different worlds. Street urchin and thief Sue Trinder participates in a con to steal the fortune of Maud Lilly, a naive gentlewoman who Sue unexpectedly develops feelings for. 
Yiddishkeit
Jewish Vernacular & the New Land
Graphic Novel - 2011
This comics anthology explores the history of the Yiddish language and its enduring influence through four themes -- culture, performance, assimilation, and the revival of the language.
Yiśmaḥ ḥatani
The women's balcony
DVD - 2017
An accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a gender rift in a devout Orthodox community in Jerusalem, in this rousing, good-hearted tale about women speaking truth to patriarchal power.
