From Publishers Weekly
How have Americans come to define the vague notion of "the pursuit of happiness" enumerated as a basic right in the Declaration of Independence? This groundbreaking, wonderfully researched and consistently provocative book suggests that while traditional Protestant values formed the foundation of the nation's prescription for happiness, after 1900 Jewish thinkers—from Freud and Adler, to the 1950s popular psychology of Dr. Joyce Brothers and Ann Landers—provided a framework to shape the American psyche and "individual development." Through these thinkers and writers "Jewish concerns and values... entered into American popular thought."Heinze states his case judiciously—he makes it clear that he's not speaking of all Jewish thinkers, but rather popularizers of psychology, who came from various religious and secular Jewish traditions; these men and women shaped American ideas about "intelligence, personality, race, the subconscious mind, and mass behavior and evil." Readers will be familiar with some of Heinze's examples—Erik Erickson, Erich Fromm, Harold Kushner—but there's plenty of material that is explored in this context for the first time. Heinze, a professor of American history and Jewish studies at the University of San Francisco, looks at Hugo Münsterberg, who taught at Harvard in the early 1900s and was one of the first popularizers of psychology; Otto Kleinberg, who in the mid-1930s published influential works exploding racist theories of intelligence; and Rabbi Joshua Liebman, whose bestselling 1946
Peace of Mind argued, from a clearly Jewish perspective, that "spiritual growth depended on psychological maturity."Heinze has a fluid, readable style and supports his larger arguments and history with an abundance of compelling anecdotes and facts. When he's at his best—as in discussing a 1950s response to popular Freudianism, led by TV star Bishop Fulton J. Sheen (whose
Peace of Soul was a counterpoint to Leibman's book) and Clare Boothe Luce, both of whom Henize calls "the two most charismatic leaders of American Catholicism" of the era—Heinze writes splendid social history. This is an important addition not only to Jewish studies, but to American cultural studies as well. 20 b&w photos.
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Review
[M]asterfully weaves together several strands of American and Jewish intellectual, cultural and social history . . . this important book succeeds brilliantly. -- Paul Lerner, Times Literary Supplement
[A] groundbreaking, wonderfully researched and consistently provocative book. . . . Heinze has a fluid, readable style and supports his larger arguments and history with an abundance of compelling anecdotes and facts. . . . [He] writes splendid social history. This is an important addition not only to Jewish studies, but to American cultural studies as well. -- Publishers Weekly
Indeed, it is difficult to imagine the full history of [the] psychologization of American ideas about the psyche and human nature without considering the vast influence of Jewish writers. . . . This is a sharply argued contribution to American cultural and intellectual history that will deservedly be cited for decades to come. -- Robert C. Fuller, American Historical Review
Heinze's argument is that Christian America doesn't realize how Jewish it is. And while it would have been simple enough to round up the usual suspects . . . Heinze's choices are refreshing. -- Joel Yanofsky, National Post
[This] fascinating and innovative book could not have arrived at a better time. . . . The book deserves a wide readership. -- Elaine Margolin, Jerusalem Post
[O]utstanding . . . . Heinze cogently and elegantly traces the flow of Jewish values, attitudes, and arguments into the mainstream of American thought. -- Ilana Mercer, Jewish Chronicle
This ambitious undertaking raises many very interesting questions about the role of Jewish thinkers in exploring the American mind. Andrew Heinze presents 20th-century Jewish psychiatrists, psychologists, and rabbis who have never been included in discussions of this topic before. -- Choice
One of the more remarkable revelations of Andrew Heinze's
Jews and the American Soul is . . . The interpenetration of the American and the Jewish outlook . . . Ranging from the thunderous impact of Freudianism through the popular ministrations and down-to-earth advice of Dr. Joyce Brothers. . . . Heinze writes well and often colorfully. -- Charles Morris, Commonweal
A major contribution. . . . Anyone interested in the afterlife of European psychology in America; anyone interested in the difference between Jewish and non-Jewish attitudes towards psychological structures needs to read this book. . . . You will find it a pleasure to read and you will learn something new on every page (and in virtually every footnote). -- Sander L. Gilman, American Jewish History
Andrew R. Heinze's
Jews and the American Soul: Human Nature in the Twentieth Century is a sweeping, ambitious study of Jewish contributions to Americans' self-understanding. . . . In his chronicle of Jews who have aided Americans in their search for meaning, Heinze has provided us with fascinating insights into the cultural work of many of these conversations. -- Marjorie N. Feld, American Studies
