Growing up Jewish in America: An Oral History - Softcover

"The most compelling reason to study twentieth-century Jewish life in America is to hear and read the wealth of amazing stories, vivid anecdotes, memories, and wisdom, a diverse array of which the Frommers have collected... Some of those who discuss their lives are well known, such as media critic Neil Postman, but each person's stories enlighten. An account of riding freight cars as a teenager during the Great Depression and another about farming in South Dakota during the 1950s are as revealing as more common descriptions of New York's Lower East Side. There's even a story about the discovery of Ivory Soap. Moreover, the Frommers find several intriguing threads that link the contributors' outlooks... Chapters about the Holocaust, communal ties, and rituals reveal that traditions have been maintained amid the temptations of comfortable assimilation."-Booklist Booklist "An accessible introduction to the varieties of the American Jewish experience."-Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly "One comes away from this book with a heightened sense of how wide the American Jewish spectrum can be."-Washington Post Washington Post

These childhood memories of one hundred men and women, ranging in age from twenty-two to ninety-nine, create a vivid portrait of American Jewish life in the twentieth century.