An Orphan in History: One Man's Triumphant Search for His Roots

Paul Cowan was born in New York City on September 21, 1940. His Jewish ancestry had been largely kept from him by his parents, who were eager to assimilate into the society around them. As a child, he celebrated Christmas and was educated at Choate, an Episcopal school. He graduated from Harvard University in 1963 and married Rachel Cowan in 1965. Together they registered black voters in Mississippi and served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador. They began exploring Judaism in their mid-30s. He wrote several books during his lifetime including The Making of an Un-American, An Orphan in History, and Mixed Blessings: Overcoming the Stumbling Blocks in an Interfaith Marriage written with his wife. He was a staff writer for The Village Voice for more than 20 years. A collection of his articles for The Voice were collected in a book titled The Tribes of America. He died of complications from leukemia on September 26, 1988 at the age of 48.