The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed in 1948. The novel is set in Sitka, which it depicts as a large, Yiddish-speaking metropolis. The Yiddish Policemen's Union won a number of science fiction awards: the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best SF Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Best Novel. It was shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel.
Themes & atmosphere
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What you might want to know about The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Homicide detective Meyer Landsman lives in a flophouse in the Federal District of Sitka, Alaska, where two million Yiddish-speaking Jews have lived since the 1948 collapse of Israel. Two months before the district reverts to America, a heroin-addict chess prodigy is shot in the room down the hall.
Yes. The Yiddish Policemen's Union won the Hugo, Nebula, and Sidewise Awards in 2008. Michael Chabon also won the Pulitzer Prize for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
Yes. The novel is set in an alternate-history Sitka, Alaska, where Jewish refugees were settled in 1941 instead of forming Israel. The detective-noir plot unfolds against this fictional Yiddish-speaking territory.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union was written by Michael Chabon, published in 2006 by 10-18.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is 427 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Yiddish Policemen's Union takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a standalone novel by Michael Chabon, not part of a series.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.