Books
Family Papers: a Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century
(Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2019)
Named a Best Book of 2019 by the Economist and Mosaic Magazine, and an Editors’ Choice by the New York Times.
National Jewish Book Award Finalist (2019)
“The account of this one Mediterranean clan, like the best micro-histories, contains much more than a family story, illuminating the forces that shaped the world we live in now… Stein, a UCLA historian, has ferocious research talents [...] and a writing voice that is admirably light and human… All of this has produced a superb and touching book about the frailty of ties that hold together places and people.”
—Matti Friedman, New York Times
Extraterritorial Dreams: European Citizenship, Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century
(University of Chicago Press, 2016).
National Jewish Book Award Winner (2016)
“[Extraterritorial Dreams] rivets the reader. One normally finds such arresting writing at the beginning of novels, not studies of Ottoman or Jewish history. It is to Stein’s great credit that she has recovered remarkable characters buried in history, and brought them to life in such artful prose.”
—Marc Baer, International Journal of Middle East Studies
Saharan Jews and the Fate of French Algeria
(University of Chicago Press, 2014)
“An indispensable exploration of the history of indigeneity in Algeria under French rule... These fascinating stories can only emerge under the high-resolution magnifying glass that Stein has so impressively brought to this part of the globe and their significance will be readily apparent to all who read this finely wrought book.”
—Joshua Cole, H-France
Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce
(Yale University Press, 2008)
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (2010)
“Assorted histories—world, fashion, economic, Jewish—converge in this fluent account of an esoteric trade and its far-flung principals.”
—The Atlantic
Making Jews Modern: the Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires
(Indiana University Press, 2004)
Salo Wittmayer Baron Prize Winner (2004)
“This sensitive and imaginative monograph impressively combines linguistic acumen, historical and analytical skill, and a broad familiarity with contemporary cultural studies… this book is a valuable addition to the literature on Jewish social and cultural transformation in the modern era.”
—Norman A. Stillman, Shofar
Co-edited Collections
Wartime North Africa: A Documentary History, 1934-1950
Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, editors
(Stanford University Press, 2022)
Winner, Best Historical Materials (2023), American Library Association
Winner, AJL Judaica Reference Award (2023), Association for Jewish Libraries
The Holocaust and North Africa
Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, editors
(Stanford University Press, 2018)
Ninette of Sin Street
Lia Brozgal and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, editors
(Stanford University Press, 2018)
Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950
Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, editors
(Stanford University Press, 2014)
National Jewish Book Award Winner (2014)
Honorable Mention, AJL Judaica Reference Award (2015), Association for Jewish Libraries
A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica: The Ladino Memoir of Sa’adi Besalel a-Levi
Aron Rodrigue and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, co-editors, translation and glossary by Isaac Jerusalmi
(Stanford University Press, 2012)