[1] The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in 1941, and that the fledgling State of Israel was destroyed in 1948.

One of the city's landmarks is the 'Safety Pin', a tall building erected for the 1977 World Fair held in Sitka and a source of pride for its inhabitants.

President John F. Kennedy was not assassinated and married Marilyn Monroe, and Orson Welles succeeded in making his film of Heart of Darkness.

Landsman's only other living family member is Berko's father Hertz, a war veteran and former federal agent who performed missions on behalf of the United States government before they burned him.

Landsman's chess-addicted father and cancer-stricken mother died before the events of the novel, as did his sister Naomi, a bush pilot who lost her life in a plane crash.

Mendel was addicted to heroin and both of his parents abandoned him; despite this, the family decides to throw a public funeral with the help of the Verbover lawyer, Aryeh Baronshteyn.

Back in Sitka, they learn that the mysterious complex is operated by a paramilitary group who wants to build a new Temple in Jerusalem after destroying the Dome of the Rock, hoping to speed the birth of the Messiah.

The reader is left wondering if Landsman is planning to expose Hertz's involvement in Shpilman's murder or the complex messianic conspiracy.

While researching hypothetical Yiddish-speaking countries, Chabon learned of "this proposal once that Jewish refugees be allowed to settle in Alaska during World War II...

"[6] Vitriolic public response to the essay, which was seen as controversial for "prematurely announcing [Yiddish's] demise," also spurred Chabon to develop the idea.

[7] In December 2005, Chabon announced a second delay to the novel's release, claiming that the manuscript was complete but that he felt that HarperCollins was rushing the novel into publication.

The front page of The New York Times' Arts & Leisure section featured a "big, splashy"[12] profile of Chabon in which he flew to Sitka and discussed the book while walking around the city.

[13] Library Journal called it "bloody brilliant"[14] and Michiko Kakutani wrote in The New York Times that the novel "builds upon the achievement of Kavalier & Clay... a gripping murder mystery [with] one of the most appealing detective heroes to come along since Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe.

[17] Producer Scott Rudin purchased the film rights to The Yiddish Policemen's Union in 2002, based on a one-and-a-half page proposal.

[18][19] In February 2008, Rudin told The Guardian that a film adaptation of The Yiddish Policemen's Union was in pre-production, to be written and directed by the Coen brothers.

"[22] In the fall of 2012, however, Chabon told Mother Jones that "the Coen brothers wrote a draft of a script and then they seemed to move on," and that the film rights had "lapsed back to me.