Jewish Americans (Immigrant Experience) [Hardcover]

Hasia Diner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2002 | Series: Immigrant Experience (Book 4)

Jewish immigrants — from the first Spanish and Portuguese refugees from Brazil who stepped ashore in 1654 to the millions who emigrated from Russia, Poland, and other Eastern European countries from 1880 to 1920 — have come to America to escape persecution and hardship, and to make a better life for their families. Through insightful prose and 200 dramatic photographs, Jewish Americans: The Immigrant Experience presents the history of Jewish culture and communities in American cities and rural towns. The author explores how the immigrants adjusted to their new lives, blending Jewish traditions with American ideals, and how their presence contributed immeasurably to America’s politics, arts, commerce, and culture.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Universe (April 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883631296
• ISBN-13: 978-0883631294
• Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 10 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,184,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scrapbook of memories....., June 1, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jewish Americans (Immigrant Experience) (Hardcover)

JEWISH AMERICANS is a big fat wonderful book filled with hundreds of photographs of native and foreign-born Jewish Americans. The book is coffee-table sized so if you want to start a conversation this is the book that will do it. You'll need an ovesized book shelf to store it.

Although most American Jews were born in the U.S., many were immigrants. Jews began settling in the U.S. when it was a collection of colonies over 300 years ago, and were participants in the American Revolution, the western expansion and all the other historical events which define who is American.

Some Jews came to the U.S. when Spain expelled the Jews from it's territories (convert, leave, or die). Some came to the U.S. from Europe following pogroms and other cruel efforts designed to eradicate Jews and Jewish life. Many came to the U.S. during and after WWII. Today, many Jews have fled areas where Muslim extremists make life difficult for all non-believers.

Jews can be of any race and are both Hispanic and not. Jews have come from Africa, Europe, Asia, and all points on the globe. As the historian Simon Schama says, 'Jews don't have roots, they have feet.' Records of the Jewish diaspora can be found in the Christian Bible, Jewish holy books, and Latin and other sources. In the 1st Century C.E. the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, but even that awful event has not prevented return migration to the homeland.

Jews in the U.S. (Freud went to London when he fled Vienna) have ranged from Louis Brandeis and Ruth Bader Ginsberg of the Supreme Court, Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve, Albert Einstein the physicist, and Drs. Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin who found a way to beat polio. Without Jewish performers, the U.S. would have been a sad place during the 20th Century. These entertainers have included Irving Berlin who wrote 'White Christmas', George M. Cohen who wrote 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', George Gershwin who wrote 'An American in Paris', Oscar Hammerstein who wrote the lyrics to "South Pacific" and "Okalahoma", Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Isaac Stern, and Sandy Koufax the baseball player. Mathew Broderick, Mel Brooks, Barbara Streisand and many song and dance people are Jewish. The list of commedians, including Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Rose Ann, producers, directors, and folks working in theatre and films is astonishing.

Most Jews are not famous. Many of them or their ancestors fled Europe during the Nazi buildup and after WWII. As a result of their own persecution, the Jews have worked against the persecution of others. For example, although this book provides a rough idea of the number of Jews living in the U.S., the U.S. government does not publish an official number for Jews or Muslims or Christians. Various religious groups, including the Jews, worked hard to keep a question on religion off the U.S. Census forms because religious identity on government records has been used in the past to persecute people.