Customer Reviews

Jews of Brooklyn (Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture and Life)

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"Jews of Brooklyn," ably edited by Ilana Abramovitch and Sean Galvin, paints a picture of a community that has been a major force of vitality and change in one of America's most diverse cities (Considered as separate from New York, Brooklyn would be the fourth largest city in terms of population.). The variety of memoirs, essays and vivid photos of life among immigrants arriving at the turn of the last century, the neighborhood life from Crown Heights to Borough Park and Park Slope, the lives of the religious and the secular: all give a broad, rich and high-quality profile of the cultural and intellectual climate of this fascinating borough. (As a native Bronxite, I only discovered Brooklyn recently and regret not having known of its abundant existence sooner.) This is a must-read for anyone interested not only in Brooklyn, but the history of the Jewish immigrants and their assimilation--or, in the case of the ultra-Orthodox separation--into the "Melting Pot." Of particular note are essays by Louis Menashe on his Sephardic background, Laura Greenberg's on "Street Games," the visual feast of "A Tour of Jewish Coney Island Avenue," by one of the editors, Sean Galvin, and the excellent series of interviews of Brooklynites by the other editor, Ilana Abramovitch.