Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok was a Jewish philosophy, religion and fiction author best known for his debut novel “The Chosen.” The author was born in 1929 to Polish Jewish immigrants Mollie Friedman and Benjamin Max Potok. His father had come to the US a decade before the Great Depression and started a stationery selling business. After the Great Depression struck, he changed careers and started selling jewelry.

The best place to start is the Reuven Malther series, the earliest of Chaim Potok's multi-book series: it opens with The Chosen (1966) and runs to 2 books across 1966–1969, ending with The Promise (1969). Chaim Potok's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Chaim Potok has 116 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1966 and 2023. 101 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Asher Lev series with 2 books — and 15 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Chaim Potok's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Reuven Malther (1966–1969, 2 books) and Asher Lev (1972–1990, 2 books).

This guide splits Chaim Potok's 116 books into 3 named series and 15 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Asher Lev (2 books, 1972–1990); Reuven Malther (2 books, 1966–1969); Literary Conversations (97 books, 1969–2023).