The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America [Paperback]

Joyce Antler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1998

Throughout the twentieth century, American Jewish women have made history, challenging the political and cultural constraints facing women in every aspect of American life. From suffrage to birth control, from trade unionism to civil rights and feminism, from education to literature and the arts, Jewish women have been in the vanguard, leading key social movements and shaping cultural consciousness.
        Interweaving social history with lively biographical portraits, Joyce Antler profiles women ranging from Emma Goldman, Sophie Tucker, and Golda Meir to Bella Abzug, Gertrude Stein, and Wendy Wasserstein, examining the political conflicts and personal tensions that have animated their lives as they made their mark on American society. Meticulously researched and fascinating to read, The Journey Home is a valuable resource that will inspire all women.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jewish identity is proved by motherhood, and it's a fairly well-founded stereotype that women are the most powerful people in American Jewish families. (Think of Rhoda's mother or Woody Allen's Mother-in-the-Sky.) Yet many Jewish communities still view women as second-class citizens, which exacerbates the social alienation that immigration and assimilation have wrought on many American Jewish women. The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America is Joyce Antler's attempt to find common ground among American Jewish women in the 20th century. The book interweaves social history, including Antler's memories of her own mother and grandmother, with the stories of Jewish women who have been influential in the vanguard of social and cultural movements such as suffrage, civil rights, birth control, trade unionism, and feminism. Bella Abzug, Edna Ferber, Gertrude Stein, Betty Friedan, and Barbra Streisand are among the leading characters in Antler's narrative, which is an impressive monument to Jewish women's achievements so far--and will be an indispensable comfort and guide to Jewish women in the future. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Inside Flap

Throughout the twentieth century, American Jewish women have made history, challenging the political and cultural constraints facing women in every aspect of American life. From suffrage to birth control, from trade unionism to civil rights and feminism, from education to literature and the arts, Jewish women have been in the vanguard, leading key social movements and shaping cultural consciousness.
        Interweaving social history with lively biographical portraits, Joyce Antler profiles women ranging from Emma Goldman, Sophie Tucker, and Golda Meir to Bella Abzug, Gertrude Stein, and Wendy Wasserstein, examining the political conflicts and personal tensions that have animated their lives as they made their mark on American society. Meticulously researched and fascinating to read, The Journey Home is a valuable resource that will inspire all women.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Schocken; 1st pbk. ed edition (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805211012
• ISBN-13: 978-0805211016
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for all Women's History Fans, July 5, 2000

By 

Martha Katzeff (Bronx, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America (Paperback)

This book is a wealth of information for ANYONE who enjoys women's history, as well as labor, entertainment and political history. The author of the book, Joyce Antler, has done a phenomenal amount of research to bring all these women to life. The only criticism I have is that the title might put off some readers, thinking that religion is the main theme. In fact, although religion plays an important role in all these women's lives, thier personal histories are fascinating regardless of their religious background. This book made me want to get full biographies of all the women mentioned in the book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding history of American Jewish women, May 8, 2010

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America (Paperback)

This book reads in a very interesting way. The idea of telling the history of American Jewish women by writing a series of biographical sketches works very well. For me a great part of the pleasure of the work was in reading the stories of people like Emma Lazarus, and Mary Antin whose work I had known in some way but did not know the real stories of. One strong element in this work is the relating of the hardships many strong creative Jewish- American women suffered as women. The work tells exemplary tales about pioneering women who opened up new areas for women, while suffering because of this in their own personal lives. One is given in this work a sense of how truly remarkable many of these women were.

I enjoyed reading the book and recommend it highly.