Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.
He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.
Books to his credit, available on Amazon, include:
Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema
The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema
The eclectic anarchism of Erich Muhsam (Men & movements in the history & philosophy of anarchism)
His most recent articles are:
“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.
“The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.
“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.
“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ As the world spins out of control, these new reality shows are being readied for broadcast. * Survivor: Three contestants will be parachuted into areas ISIS occupies. One will be wearing a cross and an American flag lapel pin; the second will be wearing a Jewish star and an Israeli […]
Humoring the headlines: October 26, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireSAN DIEGO (SDJW)– Prof. Lawrence “Laurie” Baron, emeritus professor of history at San Diego State University and a regular contributor to San Diego Jewish World, has been appointed the Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust Studies by the Richard Stockton College in Galloway, New Jersey. In the fall semester of 2015 at the college
Baron to teach at Richard Stockton College Read More »
Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ President Obama chose Ron Klain as the country’s Ebola Czar. Carried away with his new title, Klain plans to instigate a pogrom against the epidemic. * Eric Duncan was the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and die from the disease. Two more Americans subsequently
Humoring the Headlines: October 21, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — While visiting cousins in Philadelphia last weekend, I mentioned I was a big fan of Homeland and wondered if they liked it too. They replied affirmatively, but questioned whether counterterrorism was conducted as brutally and unscrupulously as portrayed in the series. By coincidence I had a preview link for
The Wandering Review: ‘The Green Prince’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Middle EastBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ The Clinton Presidential Library released 10,000 documents this week related to Bill Clinton’s two terms as president. One of them was an email asserting that “acording to classical Jewish law, President Clinton did not commit adultery; adultery is defined as a married man having intercourse with a married woman, and
Humoring the headlines: October 16, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize for championing the right of girls to attend school in Pakistan. Unfortunately, 60 % of the girls in Pakistan are unable to read the news story about her award. * According to a recent Pew poll on religion in the United States, 72
Humoring the headlines: October 12, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Vice-President Joe Biden accused Saud Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey of aiding and abetting jihadist groups fighting against Assad in Syria. He was reprimanded by President Obama for his undiplomatic behavior of telling the truth to allies. * The Chairwoman of the High Point University College Republicans in
Humoring the Headlines: October 7, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron Every night I watch the news Seeing many frightful clips. What’s the danger I must choose To dodge the next apocalypse? For Israelis it’s a bomb Developed by an ayatollah West Africans cannot be calm Until they’ve stopped Ebola. In Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Rage civil wars and crisis. Al Qaeda, Assad,
Versifying The Headlines: October 4, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ The sentencing retrial of Jodi Arias will begin this week because Nancy Grace needs another story to outrage her on her television show. * Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong against China’s decision to only allow only candidates it has approved to appear on the ballot in the upcoming election for
Humoring the Headlines: September 30, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ The first female pilot from the United Arab Emirates participated in the bombing sorties against ISIS in Syria. The UAE news agency refers to her as the country’s veiled threat. * Dick Cheney criticized President Obama for mentioning the racial tension in Ferguson during his UN speech this week. According
Humoring the Headlines: September 26, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ The United States and coalition countries like Saudi Arabia bombed ISIS targets in Syria. A spokesperson for the Saudis explained, “We find the beheadings of Western journalists abhorrent. Beheadings should be reserved only for the gravest of crimes like witchcraft.” * Questions are being raised about how a man with
Humoring the Headlines: September 23, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ San Diego Unified School District returned the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle it had received from the Department of Defense. In the letter to the DOD, it explained that it had rescinded its “spare the tank, spoil the child” disciplinary policy. * Vice-President Biden apologized to the Jewish community for calling predatory
Humoring the headlines: September 20, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Chairman of the joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey testified to the Senate on Tuesday, Sept. 16, that he couldn’t rule out dispatching boots on the ground to Iraq if circumstances warranted. President Obama continues to insist that he will never reintroduce boots on the ground there. Technically, the President might not
Humoring the Headlines: September 17, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO- Even though ISIS held Steven Sotloff captive for over a year before it beheaded him, the group apparently had no idea that he was Jewish or held Israeli Citizenship because he went under the alias of Moshe Cohen. *
Humoring the headlines: September 13, 2014 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire