First pub­lished in 1966, after a report­ing trip behind the Iron Cur­tain for an Israeli paper, this is Elie Wiesel’s call to action on the plight of Sovi­et Jews. A large­ly anec­do­tal account, Weisel talks both of the slow, spir­i­tu­al star­va­tion of Judaism and of his sur­prise at the many efforts he wit­nessed to keep Jew­ish cul­ture and his­to­ry alive (includ­ing an ille­gal under­ground trans­la­tion of Night which he was shown). While the urgency sounds dat­ed to con­tem­po­rary ears, The Jews of Silence is par­tic­u­lar­ly sig­nif­i­cant for its impact as the ral­ly­ing cry which turned Amer­i­can Jew­ish atten­tion to the Sovi­et situation.