In a compelling history of the Jewish community in New York during four decades of mass immigration, the author examines the defining role of the Yiddish socialist movement in the American Jewish experience. Founded in the 1880s and dominated by Russian-speaking intellectuals such as Abraham Cahan, Mikhail Zametkin, and Chaim Zhitlovsky, the movement recognized the importance of Yiddish in communicating with the immigrant community. They cultivated a vibrant public culture through lectures, social events, workers' education societies, Yiddish schools, and a press exemplified by the mass-circulation newspaper Forverts. Challenging the notion that socialism and Yiddish culture were merely Old World remnants, the author argues they emerged in New York as responses to local conditions, thriving due to Americanization rather than in spite of it. The movement's influence extended beyond the Lower East Side, fostering a transnational culture where individuals, ideas, and institutions crossed the Atlantic. Initially, New York Jews exported Yiddish socialism to Russia, not the reverse. This movement shaped Jewish communities across the U.S. into the twentieth century and left a significant political legacy that contributed to the rise of neoconservatism. The narrative captures both the hopeful successes and bitter disappointments of this formative period for American Jews and the American left.
Tony Michels Reihenfolge der Bücher (Chronologisch)
In a compelling history of the Jewish community in New York during four decades of mass immigration, Tony Michels examines the defining role of the Yiddish socialist movement in the American Jewish experience. The movement, founded in the 1880s, was dominated by Russian-speaking intellectuals, including Abraham Cahan, Mikhail Zametkin, and Chaim Zhitlovsky. Socialist leaders quickly found Yiddish essential to convey their message to the Jewish immigrant community, and they developed a remarkable public culture through lectures and social events, workers' education societies, Yiddish schools, and a press that found its strongest voice in the mass-circulation newspaper Forverts. Arguing against the view that socialism and Yiddish culture arrived as Old World holdovers, Michels demonstrates that they arose in New York in response to local conditions and thrived not despite Americanization, but because of it. And the influence of the movement swirled far beyond the Lower East Side, to a transnational culture in which individuals, ideas, and institutions crossed the Atlantic. New York Jews, in the beginning, exported Yiddish socialism to Russia, not the other way around. The Yiddish socialist movement shaped Jewish communities across the United States well into the twentieth century and left an important political legacy that extends to the rise of neoconservatism. A story of hopeful successes and bitter disappointments, A Fire in Their Hearts brings to vivid life this formative period for American Jews and the American left.