Stories passed along from generation to generation often serve less as a portal to the past than as a mirror for the world in which the audience lives. The Hebrew Scroll of Esther—better known as the Book of Esther to Christians—is one such story. The new essay collection Esther in America shows that the lessons Americans have drawn from the ancient tale of Mordecai and Queen Esther say far more about the scroll’s readers than they do about the story’s internal content. By investigating how they read Esther, we can learn how they saw themselves and their own challenges.
