The Colonial American Jew, 1492-1776

The Colonial American Jew, 1492-1776
Author: Jacob Rader Marcus
Publisher: Detroit : Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 572
Release: 1970
Genre: Jews
ISBN:

In The Colonial American Jew, Jacob Rader Marcus tells of the distinctive and significant history of American Jews. His basic premise is that the Jews constitute a "people"-united by common institutions, traditions, beliefs, an inspiring past, and an unusually strong sense of kinship. Marcus traces Jewish life in the western world from 1492 when the first Jews came to America with Columbus. He sketches a history of settlements in South America and the Caribbean and follows the move of organized Jewry to New Amsterdam in North America and on to other communities in many of the fourteen colonies. After discussing the founding of these significant settlements, Marcus's approach becomes topical. He has included sections on the legal status and the economic development of the early settlers and on the social welfare and educational practices of the Jewish communities. In the final section he analyzes the Jews' integration into the larger American community.

United States Jewry, 1776-1985

United States Jewry, 1776-1985
Author: Jacob Rader Marcus
Publisher:
Total Pages: 952
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814321898

In United States Jewry, 1776-1985, the dean of American Jewish historians, Jacob Rader Marcus, unfolds the history of Jewish immigration, segregation, and integration; of Jewry's cultural exclusiveness and assimilation; of its internal division and indivisible unity; and of its role in the making of America. Characterized by Marcus's impeccable scholarship, meticulous documentation, and readable style, this landmark four-volume set completes the history Marcus began in The Colonial American Jew, 1492-1776. In the fourth and final volume of this set, Marcus deals with the coming and challenge of the East European Jews from 1852 to 1920. He explores settlement and colonization, dispersal to rural areas, life in large cities, the proletarians, the garment industry, the unions, and socialism. He also describes the life of the middle and upper class East European Jew. Special attention is paid to the growth of Zionism. In the epilogue, Marcus writes about the evolution of the "American Jew."