Customer Reviews

Memories of Migration: Gender, Ethnicity, and Work in the Lives of Jewish and Italian Women in New York, 1870-1924 (S U N Y Series on Women and Work) (Suny Series in Women and Work)

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Memories covers a fairly complex topic with a good sense of organization. The author communicates using a balance of academic level wording, but without the blatent 'My vocabulary is bigger then yours' attitude that so many books of this kind fall prey to. Of all the books for my migration course I had to read, this is the only one I looked forward to sitting down with. It's quite interesting reading.

Kathie Friedman-Kasaba's study offers new data and original analysis in a unique blend of family narrative, historical imagination, and scholarly acumen. While trenchantly informed by contemporary theory, the study never succumbs to the temptation of conflating incoherence with expertise: Friedman-Kasaba wears her learning lightly and with grace. The book has appeal for scholars in a range of fields, including Comparative Sociology, Women's Studies, and American History. Yet the book has earned a richly diverse general audience, too: recent immigrants or great-grandchildren of immigrants; lovers of history and of New York; travellers and the rest of us. So beautifully written, too! Friedman-Kasaba blends the skills of a scholar with those of a wonderful novelist. I recommend the book highly.