Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Editors and Advisers
- Contents
- Polin
- Dedication
- Statement From the Editors
- JEWS IN WARSAW
- ARTICLES
- DOCUMENT
- COMMENTARY
- EXCHANGE
- REPORTS
- REVIEW ESSAYS
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Paul Wexler, Explorations in Judeo-Slavic Linguistics by A. de Vincenz
- Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way: A Thousand-year History of the Poles and their Culture by Michael Hurst
- Michael Brocke, (ed.) Beter und Rebellen. Aus 1000 Jahren Judentum in Polen by Heinz-Dietrich Lowe
- Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, (ed.) Deutsche Polen Juden. lhre Beziehungen von den Anfiingen bis ins 20. Jaharhundert. Beitriige zu einer Tagung by Heinz-Dietrich Lowe
- Jerzy Kloczowski, et al. Histoire religeuse de la Pologne by Robert M. Kingdon
- Jacob Litman, The Economic Role of Jews in Medieval Poland by Jakub Basista
- Isaac Lewin, The Jewish Community in Poland by Jakub Basista
- Arnold Eisen, Galut. Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming by Harvey E. Goldberg
- Calvin Goldschider and Alan S. Zuckerman, The Transformation of the Jews by Harvey E. Goldberg
- Jewish-Polish Coexistence, 1772-1939. A Topical Bibliography compiled by G.]. Lerski and H. T Lerski by Tomasz Gąsowski
- M.A. Ouaknin, Le livre brule - Lire le Talmud by Daniel Tollet
- Daniel Beauvais, Polacy na Ukrainie 1831-1863. Szlachta polska na Wolyniu, Podolu i Kijowszci:.yznie by L. R. Lewitter
- John Doyle Klier, Russia Gathers Her Jews. The Origins of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Russia, 1772-1825 by Eli Lederhendler
- Jacob Katz, by David Sorkin (ed.) Toward Modernity: The European Jewish Model
- Shlomo Avineri, Moses Hess: Prophet of Communism and, Zionism by M. Mishkinsky
- Paul W. Massing, Vorgeschichte des politischen Antisemitismus by Peter Pulzer
- Martin Pollack, Nach Galizien. Von Chassiden, Huzulen, Polen unri Ruthenen by A. de Vincenz
- Robert S. Wistrich, Socialism and the Jews. The Dilemmas of Assimilation in Germany and Austria-Hungary by Jerzy Holzer
- Elzbieta Ettinger, Rosa Luxemburg. A Life by Mark Almond
- Stephen Birmingham, The Rest of Us. The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews by Ewa Morawska
- Miroslav Hroch, Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe. A Comparative Ana(ysis of the Social Composition of Patriotic Groups among the Smaller European Nations by Michael Hurst
- Wolodymyr Kubijovyč, Etnichni hrupy pivdennozakhidnoi Ukrainy (Ha(ychyny) na l.l.1939. Natsionalna statystyka Ha(ychyny by Jerzy Tomaszewski
- Howard Aster and Peter J. Potichnyj, Jewish Ukrainian Relations: Two Solitudes by Michael Hurst
- Edward Prus, Wiadyka Swiftojurski: Rzecz of arcybiskupie Andrze.fu Szeptyckim (1865-1944) by Shimon Redlich
- Christopher R. Browning, Fateful Months. Essays on the Emergence of the Final Solution; Moshe Zimmerman Wilhelm Marr. The Patriarch of Anti-semitism by A. J. Nicholls
- ‘Historikerstreit’. Die Dokumentation der Kontroverse um die Einzigartigkeit der national sozialistischen Judenvernichtung by Peter Pulzer
- John F. Sweets, Choices in Vichy France. The French Under Nazi Occupation by N. J. Atkin
- Janina Bauman, Winter in the Morning. A Young Girl's Life in the Warsaw Ghetto and Beyond, 1939-1945 by Wtadyslaw Bartoszewski
- Joža Karas, Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian FuksJoza Karas Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian Fuks
- John Coutouvidis and Jaime Reynolds, Poland, 1939-1947 by Józef Garliński
- Irena Grudzinska-Gross and Jan Tomasz Gross, (ed.) War Through Children's Eyes. The Soviet Occupation of Poland and the Deportations by Mark Almond
- Richard I. Cohen, The Burden of Conscience. French Jewry 's Response to the Holocaust by N. J. Atkin
- Irena Hurwic-Nowakowska, A Social Ana(ysis of Postwar Polish Jewry by Zygmunt Bauman
- Alexander Scheiber, Essays on Jewish Folklore and Comparative Literature by Raphael Patai
- Maria Brzezina, Polszczyzna Źydów by A. de Vincenz
- LEITER TO THE EDITORS
- CONTRIBUTORS
- OBITUARIES
Stephen Birmingham, The Rest of Us. The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews by Ewa Morawska
from BOOK REVIEWS
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Editors and Advisers
- Contents
- Polin
- Dedication
- Statement From the Editors
- JEWS IN WARSAW
- ARTICLES
- DOCUMENT
- COMMENTARY
- EXCHANGE
- REPORTS
- REVIEW ESSAYS
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Paul Wexler, Explorations in Judeo-Slavic Linguistics by A. de Vincenz
- Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way: A Thousand-year History of the Poles and their Culture by Michael Hurst
- Michael Brocke, (ed.) Beter und Rebellen. Aus 1000 Jahren Judentum in Polen by Heinz-Dietrich Lowe
- Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, (ed.) Deutsche Polen Juden. lhre Beziehungen von den Anfiingen bis ins 20. Jaharhundert. Beitriige zu einer Tagung by Heinz-Dietrich Lowe
- Jerzy Kloczowski, et al. Histoire religeuse de la Pologne by Robert M. Kingdon
- Jacob Litman, The Economic Role of Jews in Medieval Poland by Jakub Basista
- Isaac Lewin, The Jewish Community in Poland by Jakub Basista
- Arnold Eisen, Galut. Modern Jewish Reflection on Homelessness and Homecoming by Harvey E. Goldberg
- Calvin Goldschider and Alan S. Zuckerman, The Transformation of the Jews by Harvey E. Goldberg
- Jewish-Polish Coexistence, 1772-1939. A Topical Bibliography compiled by G.]. Lerski and H. T Lerski by Tomasz Gąsowski
- M.A. Ouaknin, Le livre brule - Lire le Talmud by Daniel Tollet
- Daniel Beauvais, Polacy na Ukrainie 1831-1863. Szlachta polska na Wolyniu, Podolu i Kijowszci:.yznie by L. R. Lewitter
- John Doyle Klier, Russia Gathers Her Jews. The Origins of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Russia, 1772-1825 by Eli Lederhendler
- Jacob Katz, by David Sorkin (ed.) Toward Modernity: The European Jewish Model
- Shlomo Avineri, Moses Hess: Prophet of Communism and, Zionism by M. Mishkinsky
- Paul W. Massing, Vorgeschichte des politischen Antisemitismus by Peter Pulzer
- Martin Pollack, Nach Galizien. Von Chassiden, Huzulen, Polen unri Ruthenen by A. de Vincenz
- Robert S. Wistrich, Socialism and the Jews. The Dilemmas of Assimilation in Germany and Austria-Hungary by Jerzy Holzer
- Elzbieta Ettinger, Rosa Luxemburg. A Life by Mark Almond
- Stephen Birmingham, The Rest of Us. The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews by Ewa Morawska
- Miroslav Hroch, Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe. A Comparative Ana(ysis of the Social Composition of Patriotic Groups among the Smaller European Nations by Michael Hurst
- Wolodymyr Kubijovyč, Etnichni hrupy pivdennozakhidnoi Ukrainy (Ha(ychyny) na l.l.1939. Natsionalna statystyka Ha(ychyny by Jerzy Tomaszewski
- Howard Aster and Peter J. Potichnyj, Jewish Ukrainian Relations: Two Solitudes by Michael Hurst
- Edward Prus, Wiadyka Swiftojurski: Rzecz of arcybiskupie Andrze.fu Szeptyckim (1865-1944) by Shimon Redlich
- Christopher R. Browning, Fateful Months. Essays on the Emergence of the Final Solution; Moshe Zimmerman Wilhelm Marr. The Patriarch of Anti-semitism by A. J. Nicholls
- ‘Historikerstreit’. Die Dokumentation der Kontroverse um die Einzigartigkeit der national sozialistischen Judenvernichtung by Peter Pulzer
- John F. Sweets, Choices in Vichy France. The French Under Nazi Occupation by N. J. Atkin
- Janina Bauman, Winter in the Morning. A Young Girl's Life in the Warsaw Ghetto and Beyond, 1939-1945 by Wtadyslaw Bartoszewski
- Joža Karas, Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian FuksJoza Karas Music in Terezin 1941-1945 by Marian Fuks
- John Coutouvidis and Jaime Reynolds, Poland, 1939-1947 by Józef Garliński
- Irena Grudzinska-Gross and Jan Tomasz Gross, (ed.) War Through Children's Eyes. The Soviet Occupation of Poland and the Deportations by Mark Almond
- Richard I. Cohen, The Burden of Conscience. French Jewry 's Response to the Holocaust by N. J. Atkin
- Irena Hurwic-Nowakowska, A Social Ana(ysis of Postwar Polish Jewry by Zygmunt Bauman
- Alexander Scheiber, Essays on Jewish Folklore and Comparative Literature by Raphael Patai
- Maria Brzezina, Polszczyzna Źydów by A. de Vincenz
- LEITER TO THE EDITORS
- CONTRIBUTORS
- OBITUARIES
Summary
The Rest of Us is Birmingham's third volume on American Jewish history, following The Grandees - about the earliest, Sephardic group (the first immigrants arrived in America in 1654), and Our Crowd - about the fortunes of the next wave, the Jews from Germany (who began coming in increasing numbers from the 1850s on). Devoted to the latest and largest of Jewish immigration to the United States, the book aims to depict ‘the rise of America's Eastern European Jews’ from the time of their arrival (Part I, The Beginnings, 7880- 7979), the period of collective socio-economic advance (Part II, Getting Out, 7920- 7950), up to the present (Part III, 7957-). To illustrate this century-long process of the ‘implantation’ of East European Jews into American economic, social, and cultural life, Birmingham presents sketches of the personalities and careers of a dozen or so prominent individuals in the fields of politics, business, fashion, music, news and communication media.
The book has a popular character, and is clearly addresssd to a mass audience rather than to academic readers. Written in an easy and lively style, and providing several interesting vignettes from the heroes’ various entrepreneurial ventures, their complicated relations with friends and foes, and the vicissitudes of their personal lives, it makes overall for entertaining reading. At times, though - too often, given that the book seeks to provide a historical synthesis - the narrative of particular events becomes tediously drawn-out (for instance, an endless description, with several page-long transcripts from court hearings, of the 1919 trial of Rose Pastor Stokes, accused of Communist sympathies and un-American activities). It is also overloaded with trivia or even sensationalized gossip as, for example, parts of the chapters devoted to the personal and family lives of Sam Goldwyn, the Holywood tycoon, or Sam Bronfman, ‘the liquor king’, owner of Seagram's distilling company. An additional irritation is the chaotic presentation in some chapters, switching from theme to theme or person to person without apparent connections.
With these reservations, the portraits of the people Birmingham has chosen for his book are by and large skilfully and convincingly depicted, and his analysis of their personalities and careers contains many subtle psychological insights - in particular (a recurrent motif in the study), that of the uneasy ambivalence they must have felt toward their ‘Jewishness’ as well as the astonishing success they achieved in a short time.
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- Information
- The Jews of Warsaw , pp. 399 - 400Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2004