Customer Reviews

Mordecai: An Early American Family

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I picked up Emily Bingham's book Mordecai An Early American Family while visiting my son and daughter-in-law. My intent was to give the book a quick glance and set it aside. By the end of the first chapter I was engrossed in the story of the Mordecai family, its hopes, its dreams, its successes, its failures. The family was depicted as tightly knit unit. Daughters were as well educated as sons. All worked together for the good of the family. Ms. Bingham's discussion of the family's struggles to maintain their Jewish faith and worship in the absence of a supportive Jewish community challenged me to reflect upon my response given similar circumstances. Rachel's conflict between Judaism and Christianity was poignant. From start to finish I found Mordecai absorbing and thought provoking.

Emily Bingham's biography of the Mordecais is beautifully researched and written. Thanks to the family's voluminous journals, letters, books, and diaries--and to Bingham's graceful style--we have a family history that compels us to keep turning the pages.
Three generations of Mordecais come alive, shedding light upon the complex history of the Southern Jewish experience. Among many individuals who stand out, perhaps the most unforgettable are Alfred, accepted at West Point at a time (the mid 1800s) when few Jews even applied, and Rachel, whose story would itself be a fascinating biography. Their relationship to their Jewish heritage--and the uses they put it to--are important additions to the story of other ethnic groups and their struggle to assimilate while still maintaining their identity.
Emily Bingham's solid scholarship and broad knowledge of the era she writes about make MORDECAI a fascinating biography of a people and a time.

While others have been captured by their story, there is no other scholar who has put as much time and thought into the fascinating lives of the Mordecai family, nor is there anyone else who has written about them with such care and obvious attention to detail. This is, indeed, an American family, and through their lives Bingham escorts the reader through many of nineteenth century America's most divisive and troubling dilemmas, while demonstrating the power of kinship to unite loved ones through such a whirlwind of influences.

Mordecai is a well- crafted and engaging novel centered around a very interesting aspect of U.S. history. Ms. Bingman artfully recounts the tale of an immigrant family struggling to seek religious truth in the antebellum south. This story of the Old South's Jewish experience is an important glimpse into our understanding of how the United States was formed. An indelible tale that makes a great read for all interested in understanding ideas about family, nation-making, truth, freedom and tolerance.

This rather dry but well documented history of a Jewish family starts with the patriarch Jacob who moved from New York to a small southern town and ends with his grandchildren many of whom make their homes in the south. While the reader may be curious to know the family's situation in society at the end, this book is not a gripping page turner. If the reader wants a page turner, he/she should read The Other Boleyn Girl. Both books are historically accurate. One wonders why Bingham could not make this history come alive as Phillipa Gregory did in her effort. The author uses the extensive letters, journal entries, photographs, portraits,bills of sale, promissory notes and other documents preserved by the members of this family and various historical societies to craft a cohesive history. However, it is a history and should be read as such. The author provides a detailed generational chart in the front of the book to help the reader keep the characters straight. The author niether embellishes nor seeks to invest the reader in the characters' outcome. Thus, it is dry. However, it is informative. We watch as an evangelical wave similar to the one now gripping our nation successfully converts some family members while other members resist conversion. The anti-Jewish sentiments of the day forced the family to seek companionship and solace among each other. Thus they were quite insular. The family which owned a few slaves became seriously divided by the civil war. Major Alfred Mordecai graduated 1st in his class at West Point and served in high positions in the U.S. military. He declined to side with the south during the civil war. However, he declined to fight against his family for the north and sat out the war as a civilian in Philadalphia. This was seen as a betrayal by other family members. This history would have been more lively had the author told their story from Rachel, Alfred and Solomon's point of view. This is an immigrant's tale. I really wanted to love this book, but alas I cannot. Sadly, only five of the members of the family were still practicing Jews in the end.