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There are two basic approaches to the history of Jews in America. The historian may tell the story of American Jews as an ethnic group or explain in detail the permutations of the Jewish religion in America. In "Jews in America," Hasia Diner has chosen the history of Jews as an ethnic group, which is certainly the larger story. This approach leaves certain aspects of Judaism strangely out of focus. "Jews in America" mentions, but does not really explain, Passover, dietary laws, and other aspects of Jewish law and ritual. Instead, Diner integrates Jewish religious, cultural, and political history by exploring the issue of Jewish identity. In the process, she addresses political and religious change with an unusual combination of clarity and complexity. The existence of diversity and conflict within a religious tradition is often difficult for students to grasp. The political debates of a past era are frequently just as confusing. Diner's narrative makes the connection between social conditions and religious and political choices clear. Throughout the book, she ties generalization to concrete historical examples. She begins each section with a striking historical figure and uses his or her story to illustrate the broader themes of the chapter. Diner begins her narrative with Peter Stuyvesant's chilly reception of twenty-three Jews in New Amsterdam in 1654. "Many of them [the new arrivals] scattered to other places, and all but one of them disappeared from history," Diner writes. "We know, however, that they had been traveling for a long time." With this simple statement, Diner draws the reader into a brief, but remarkably clear, explanation of the expulsion from Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Jewish presence in Holland. This background material not only introduces the theme of anti-Jewish prejudice, which recurs throughout the narrative, it also leads logically to a simple explanation of the difference between Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry. Diner recounts the immigration of German Jews and the massive immigration from Eastern Europe with the same economy of effort. These chapters are the heart of the book, and they are also the most densely packed. These sections cover the rise of secular Jewish culture, the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements, and the long Jewish engagement with liberal and leftist causes. Diner pays particular attention to the political, cultural, and religious contributions of Jewish women. In the conclusion she returns to the problem of Jewish identity in a country where the barriers between Jews and the general population are very low. A good textbook provides the outlines of a broad history while laying the foundations for more detailed study. "Jews in America" does both very well. The book incorporates most of the figures, and many of the primary texts, that a student would encounter in a college-level survey of American Jewish history, yet it is neither convoluted nor cluttered. "Jews in America" will introduce the student to the varied history of Jews in America from peddlers to social activists to entertainers, and it also explains the major religious changes and controversies. The book would also complement and enrich a more general class on American history or American ethnicity. review © 2000 by Sonja Spear and RSiSS
Religion in American Life Return to Oxford's Religion in American Life Series
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