Customer Reviews

Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women (Modern Jewish Experience)

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I have finished reading your latest book and it has certainly fulfilled what it promised. I learned a great deal from it about the women whom you chose to discuss in your work, about the issues which moved them, about the problems which they had to struggle against and about the historical background of their lives. It also confirmed a suspicion of mine, namely that anti-Semitism was a lesser obstacle than bias against women. So many of the women you write about are fascinating characters and have led colorful lives. I found your presentation lively, entertaining, your scholarship thorough and most impressive. You also show remarkable empathy toward these women.

Transcending two strikes against them, being Jewish, and being female, a group of Central European Jewish university women of the early 20th century -- who often opted not to marry -- defied conventional expectations when they sought personal self-fulfillment in higher education and then invaded traditional male professions. In a clear, fascinating work, Harriet Freidenreich breaks new ground in her examination of the ramifications of religion and gender in a relatively new research field: Jewish Women's History. The text structures around life cycles and personal in experiences tracking these pioneers as they overcame significant obstacles. Freidenreich skillfully weaves primary sources, incorporating highly revelatory material from personal interviews, questionnaires, published and unpublished memoirs, enhanced by the haunting faces of the subjects in 20 pages of photographs. Some of the women, like Hanna Arendt, became famous. Others, less well known, still made significant contributions. Reading this highly intelligent, scholarly work about our professional foremothers -- intended for educated women to learn about educated women -- provides a most gratifying experience!