The Shadow of Death: Letters in Flames is an analytical study of eight major Jewish and Israeli writers who wrote about the experience of the Shoah (Holocaust). The book is divided into two main sections. The first section "The Holocaust Experience from Within" analyzes literary works by the writers Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Ka-tzetnik, and Jerzy Kosinski - who experienced the Holocaust firsthand. The second section is devoted to "After the Holocaust - Experience from Without," concentrating mainly on the literary analysis of works by writers who responded to the Holocaust after the event. They are the Israeli writers Hanoch Bartov, Hayim Gouri, and Yehuda Amichai. The book is literary oriented with a prominent focus on textual and literary analysis of major examples of Holocaust literature. It purports to examine the texts under study and analyze them by pointing out literary devices that indicate the writers' perception of the Holocaust and their attempt to convey the meaning and significance of the Holocaust to the modern reader.

"Pelli's book introduces the commencing evolution of the Hebrew/Jewish Haskalah movement in the late eighteenth century in Prussia with both elucidating attention and penetrating insight. This book casts a valuable light upon the Haskalah's agenda and accomplishments: the rebirth of Hebrew letters, the revival of the Hebrew language, and the rejuvenation of the Jewish people...Pelli's book is a praisworthy work of scholarship that introduces the Haskalah literature in the most fastidious and brilliant. fashion..." - Hebrew Studies

"Pelli's book introduces the commencing evolution of the Hebrew/Jewish Haskalah movement in the late eighteenth century in Prussia with both elucidating attention and penetrating insight. This book casts a valuable light upon the Haskalah's agenda and accomplishments: the rebirth of Hebrew letters, the revival of the Hebrew language, and the rejuvenation of the Jewish people...Pelli's book is a praisworthy work of scholarship that introduces the Haskalah literature in the most fastidious and brilliant. fashion." - Hebrew Studies