Chester N. Aaron

Jewish Chronicle (July 21, 1967)
Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Chester Norman Aaron (1923-2019) was an author from Butler County.

Albert and Celia (Charleson) Aaron immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century and settled on a small farm in North Butler with their seven children. Chester Aaron graduated from Butler High School in 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Upon returning from the war, he studied at the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of California-Berkeley. He later earned a Masters Degree from San Francisco State University. He became a writing instructor and an X-ray technician and then a garlic farmer. He wrote 18 books, including fiction, young adult fiction, and non-fiction.

Aaron’s first novel, “About Us” (1967), told the semi-autobiographical story of the Kahns, a Jewish family in the fictional coal-mining town of Sundown, Pa. on Connoquenessing Creek. He returned to the characters for his final novel “About Them” (2011).

Bibliography

Rauh Jewish Archives

  • Aaron, Chester. “About Us: A Novel,” New York, McGraw-Hill [1967] [PS3551 .A57 A65 1967] (catalog record).
  • Aaron, Chester. “About Them: A Novel,” Berkeley [Calif.] : El León Literary Arts ; Honolulu [Hawaii] : Måanoa Books ; Berkeley, CA : Distributed by Small Press Distribution, 2011. [PS3551 .A57 A64 2011] (catalog record).
  • Aaron, Chester. “Black and Blue Jew: A Novel,” Berkeley, Calif.: Creative Arts Book Co., 2002. [PS3551 .A57 B57 2002] (catalog record).

Butler Area Public Library

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

  • Hirschil, Bee. “Kinship Kindles Kahn Clan, Captures Charm ‘About Us,” Jewish Chronicle, July 21, 1967 (online).

Jewish Chronicle

  • Lidji, Eric. “Searching for facts and truth in historic fiction,” Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, Dec. 16, 2020 (online).

YouTube

  • Young, Andrea. “Clove,” 2013 (online).

Exhibit history

  • Author: Eric Lidji
  • Original: September 25, 2025
  • Current: September 25, 2025

Acknowledgements

  • This entry was created through a Jewish Community Priorities grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.