Growing up Jewish in an Appalachian environment where the Ku Klux Klan was influential and "Jews, Catholics, and the very few blacks on the outskirts of town ... served as ritualistic enemies" helped shape him.
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Among his better-known works are The Rise and Fall of Paradise (a history of al-Andalus), A Time for Angels: A Tragicomic History of the League of Nations, The Bowery Man, The Virgin Diplomats, Biographical Dictionary of Medicine (cowritten with his daughter Jessica), and The Fall of Fortresses.
Elmer Fudd | Elmer Snowden | Elmer Gantry | Elmer Gantry (film) | Elmer Bischoff | Elmer's Pet Rabbit | Elmer Rice | Elmer Livingston MacRae | Elmer Lach | Elmer Bernstein | James Elmer Mitchell | Elmer Woggon | Elmer Thomas | Elmer Keith | Elmer Grey | Elmer "Gloomy Gus" Henderson | Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer | Paul Elmer More | Elmer Wexler | Elmer Towns | Elmer the Great Dane | Elmer Scipio Dundy | Elmer Robinson | Elmer Kelton | Elmer Iseler Singers | Elmer E. Ellsworth | Elmer Dessens | Elmer C. Nelson | Elmer Batters | Elmer A. Sperry Award |