Summary

Jewish Immigrants opens with a discussion of Jewish immigrants as a group, their place in American society, and highlights of their history. The book then goes on to explore the conditions under which they lived in central and western Europe and their reasons for emigration, and traces their history. A closing chapter features recent census figures, the contributions of Jewish Americans in a variety of fields, the effect of Jewish organizations with divergent ideologies, current attempts to hold onto Jewish identity and cultural traditions despite the pull toward assimilation, and ties among Jewish Americans worldwide.

History covered includes:

• Jews in the American colonies
• The hardships of life in the “shtel”
• The economic rise of Jews in America following the Civil War, including anti-Semitism due in part to the belief that Jews "controlled" the stock market
• The admittance of refugees from Nazi Germany
• Jewish-American attitudes during World War II
• New challenges presented to a second generation of immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s
• How greater economic security for Jewish Americans in the late 1900s brought further changes
• Jewish Americans in the present day.

Specifications

20-30 black-and-white photographs and illustrations. Approximately 2 maps. Index. Bibliography. Glossary. Timeline. Further reading. Box features.

About the Author(s)

Richard Worth holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Trinity College where he studied colonial American history, and he is currently a volunteer teacher of writing to third and fourth graders. His book, Gangs and Crime, was included on the New York Public Library’s 2003 Best Book for the Teen Age list. Worth is the author of several books for middle-grade readers and young adults including Henry VIII, Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny, The Spanish Inquisition, American Slave Trade, and Plantation life.

Reviews and Awards

"...an interesting book for middle school through the high school studies."
Lorgnette