If This Is True with Chris Hall

Award-winning author Jane Rubin’s powerful new novel Over There—the final installment in her best-selling Gilded City trilogy—illuminates a little-known chapter of Jewish-American history with striking relevance for today. Set during World War I, Over There follows a family of Jewish doctors and nurses who serve with courage and compassion amid the horrors of trench warfare, advancing medicine while grappling with displacement, rising antisemitism, and questions of identity in a country they were still learning to call home.

“More than 250,000 Jewish Americans answered the call to serve in 1917,” says Rubin. “Their stories deserve to be remembered—not just as history, but as inspiration.”

The novel speaks directly to today’s climate of global conflict, xenophobia, and renewed antisemitism, offering a deeply human portrait of Jewish resilience and patriotism. Rubin’s characters, drawn from earlier books Threadbare and In the Hands of Women, reflect the immigrant journey from arrival to assimilation, service, and sacrifice—stories that echo in Jewish communities to this day.

With Over There, Rubin brings Jewish heritage, wartime service, and untold family narratives into sharp, urgent focus—offering a timely conversation for Jewish listeners today.

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This episode, like all episodes of If This Is True, brings forth what drives creatives to do what they do. For more of this content and interaction, you can also go to my substack, coolmite25.substack.com.

A proudly queer comedian and artist, Louie Pearlman has been fueling the NYC comedy scene since 2002.

Bethany Hall is Creative Director of Comedy Initiatives at the Center for Media & Social Impact. Additionally, she serves as the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of GoodLaugh at CMSI where she leads the Comedy ThinkTanks and is the comedy architect for creative comedy initiatives. Hall is also proud to be the Creative Director of the Yes, And...Laughter Lab. She is a writer, producer, and comedian who spent years as a cast member on ‘The Chris Gethard Show’ on TruTV. She co-created and EP’d the series, ‘Thanksgiving’ now on Amazon Prime. In 2023 Hall made her staged works directorial debut at the Kennedy Center in DC. She Executive Produced ‘By Us For Us,’ an original comedy by Color of Change, has performed at Bonnaroo, SXSW, ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien’ and as the TGS writer, Bethany, on NBC’s ‘30 Rock’.

She has done so much and has a great story to tell. Don't miss this one!

This episode, like all episodes of If This Is True, brings forth what drives creatives to do what they do. For more of this content and interaction, you can also go to my substack, coolmite25.substack.com.

A native Rhode Islander, Amy is a mild-mannered health data analyst by day, shamelessly bold improviser by night Her educational background includes a bachelor's degree in Mathematics, a Master of Library and Information Science, and a multitude of classes and workshops with Groundlings School, Impro Theatre, Freestyle Love Supreme Academy, and numerous other instructors from London to Los Angeles. Currently, she can be found coaching and performing at Kismet Improv in Pawtucket, playing on stage in the fast-paced high energy games of The Bit Players in Newport, and taking tarot-inspired improv to various festival stages with Whatever Fate Decides.

For the past 15 years, George has served as the Dean of the Orthodox Church in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Earlier in his career he was senior engineer at the National Research Nuclear University and a manager in the research laboratory for Russia Research Institute of Information Technologies, in Moscow.

How does a scientist become a man of the cloth? You can find out through this episode!  Atomic Shepherd is his newest book, his 20th. He has had nine novels and 11 books on theology published. He is a member of the Writer’s Union of Russia, and has had over 100 journal or newspaper articles published. Atomic Shepherd was shortlisted by the Dostoyevskiy Literary Award. He has been interviewed by Russian TV’s First Channel, Spas, and Culture, as well as numerous Moscow radio shows.