Social and cultural history Books

Book SynopsisThrough a case study of one imperial institution, the community school, this book examines the primary sources we use to study it, the role it has played in debates over history and politics, and the nature of the Ming state.Trade Review"... a substantial, refined, and very readable analysis of the development and significance of village elementary schools, called 'community schools' shexue, in Ming China (1368-1644)." -- New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies"Sarah Schneewind must be thanked for producing a clearly argued, comprehensive, and up-to-date study on the subject. This book will be most useful for anyone interested in Ming political and social history."--Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies"..meticulously researched and eloquently written..." -- American Historical ReviewTable of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Ming Reign Periods One: Introduction Two: Shaky Foundations: the Early Ming The Myth of the Ming Founder Invention? Abolition? Obeying the Law? Preserving the Laws? The Early Ming in the Historiography of Community Schools Three: Borders and Bureaucrats: the Middle Ming Memorials The Civilizing Mission Revising the Founder's Vision Testing the Impact of Edicts Four: Heros of the High Ming Whose Responsibility? The Rhetoric of Commemorative Records Wo Pan, 1481: A Gazetteer Records Adaption of Hongwu Institutions Zhang Bi, 1478: Idols Consigned to Water and Fire The Attack on Improper Shrines Intolerance and Syncretism Explaining Heroism Xu Jie, 1533: Exploiting Heroism Two poems on community schools. Five: Philosophy and Politics in Community School Curricula The Basic Curriculum Wang Yangming: Moral Development Gui E: The Separate Hall System Wei Jiao: The Compound System No Family Left Behind The Unity of Knowledge and Practice Education and Autocracy Six: Community Schools in Ming Society Pupils Teachers Funding Buildings A Mixed Blessing Seven: The Locality Fights Back: the Late Ming Localizing Gazetteers Reviving Temples Taking Charge The Complex of Local Institutions Local History and Ming State Institutions Eight: Conclusion Community Schools and Ming Autocracy The Ming State Appendices Eight books included in Great Instruction Records analyzed in chapter four, in chronological order Translations of three commemorative records Tables Glossary Bibliographies Gazetteers Other works cited Gazetteers consulted by Wang Lanyin Index

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Book SynopsisBetween Foreigners and Shi'is addresses nineteenth-century Iranian Jews' standing as influenced by the interplay between intervening foreigners, sectors of the Shi'i majority, and local Jews.Trade Review"Tsadik recaptures the history of their everyday life, along with that of the Muslim majority and other minority communities. This approach makes significant departure from the existing scholarship and is thus praiseworthy. Tsadik skillfully integrates a wide range of sources, written in Persian, English, Hebrew, and French." -- Lior Sternfeld * H-Net Reviews *"...Daniel Tsadik has written an excellent book, illuminating the complexities of the social dynamics of Iranian cities in the late nineteenth century." -- Moojan Momen * Baha'i Studies Review *"Tsadik weaves the story of Iranian Jews within the larger context of the vicissitudes of reform attempts in Iran, its widening and problematic ties with Europe, and within the broader Jewish story of the period. In providing this rich and multifaceted picture, Tsadik's book is a welcome addition to the field, and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the nineteenth century history of Iran, in the history of Middle Eastern Jewish communities and all Middle Eastern religious minorities." -- Meir Litvak * Middle Eastern Studies *"Between Foreigners and Shiis is an engagingly written and meticulously documented account of the dynamics of Jewish life in Qajar Iran. With linguistic skill, first-hand cultural familiarity, and impressive analytical acumen, Daniel Tsadik has mined a wide range of archival and printed sources in various Middle Eastern and European languages. The historical tableau that he has painted is carefully nuanced and shaded. He shows the complex interplay of different internal attitudes and trends, outside intervention by western Jewish elites and European governments, and the coping strategies of Iranian Jews themselves. Tsadik is careful to show the vicissitudes of Jewish life in a pre-modern, traditional Shiite state while always pointing out that attitudes of Muslim clerics and theologians were by no means monolithic. This book could not have appeared at a more opportune time. First, it fills in a major gap in the history of Jews in the Persian-speaking world. Second, it provides much needed background to understanding the theological and socio-legal framework of today's Islamic Republic of Iran which is home to the largest Jewish community remaining in the entire Islamic world. This is a major contribution to both Judaic and Islamic historical studies and will—I believe—remain the standard work on the subject for a long time to come." -- Norman A. Stillman * University of Oklahoma *"Daniel Tsadik's impressive study of the Iranian Jewry in the 19th century utilizes extensive archival and other Persian, Hebrew, and European sources to narrate the multifaceted story of Jewish community's interaction with the Qajar state, the Shii clerical establishment, the European powers and the Iranian society at large. This is an original and timely study that fills an important gap in historiography of modern Iran." -- Abbas Amanat * Yale University *"Daniel Tsadik has effectively mined and assessed the sources in this readable book on the trials of the Jewish community in nineteenth century Iran and on the efforts of Iranian rulers, under Western pressure, to assure them better treatment. This is an important book for all interested in Jewish, Iranian, and Middle Eastern history." -- Nikki Keddie, University of California * Los Angeles *"Daniel Tsadik's thorough, essential, and ground-breaking study enriches significantly our knowledge of Iran's Jewry in the nineteenth century. It sheds critical light on the tensions between the Shiite hierocracy and the secularizing pressures without which it is impossible to understand contemporary Iran." -- Vera B. Moreen, Fellow, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies * University of Pennsylvania *"Focusing on the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (1848-1896) in Iran, Daniel Tsadik examines developments in the position of Jews as a minority in Iran during the nineteenth century. This thorough study is an important contribution to our knowledge of Iranian Jews as well as for the study of Middle Eastern Jews, Iran, the Middle East, minorities, and relations between the Middle East and foreign powers, and should be in academic libraries with collections on these topics." -- Association of Jewish Libraries"Between Foreigners and Shi'is is an important addition to the library of those interested in Iranian or Jewish history. Hopefully, Tsadik will produce a sequel continuing his narrative through the twentieth century to the present day." -- Michael Rubin * Middle East Quarterly *"Between Foreigners and Shi'is, a ground-breaking work that will henceforth prove indispensible to any researcher of modern Judeo-Persian studies, is a meticulous piece of scholarship that brings as much novelty to its own field as it does to modern Iranian historiography, Middle Eastern political studies, and Islamic studies." -- Houman Sarshar * American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences *"Daniel Tsadik's detailed and abundantly-sourced study certainly goes a long way to furthering knowledge in regard to the position of Iran's Jewish community in the mid-to-late nineteenth century.... Tsadik's excellent study... not only sheds light on the plight of the Jews in Qajar Iran, it also provides valuable insights into issues facing other religious minorities in the country, and into Qajar society in the Nasiri period as a whole." -- Dominic Parviz Brookshaw * Iranian Studies *"This is an important, pioneering historical study of the Jewish minority of Persia, using the canons of contemporary Western academic scholarship .... Highly recommended." -- L. D Loeb * Choice *"Based on numerous sources... a thoroughly documented and original critical essay... up to this day, this is the most exhaustive research on the fate of Jews in Iran in the 19th century... a noteworthy work." -- Jean Calmard * Studia Iranica *"Using an impressive range of archival, manuscript, and published primary and secondary sources, Tsadik describes the internal societal tensions and the mounting external pressures that contributed [. . .] to anti-Jewish reactions on the part of the Shi'ite clerical establishment and the populace [. . .] and to modest improvements in the Jews' civil status . . . [The book is a] major and timely contribution[] to Jewish, Iranian, and Middle Eastern studies." -- Norman A. Stillman * Studies in Contemporary Jewry *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:Abbreviations iii Note on Transliteration and Style iii Glossary iii Acknowledgments iii Map of Nineteenth-Century Iran iii @toc2:Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Shii Legal Attitudes Toward the Jews 000 Chapter 2: "Justice and Kindness" (18481866) 000 Chapter 3: Vacillating Steps Toward Change (18661873) 000 Chapter 4: Fragile and Erratic Amelioration (18741883) 000 Chapter 5: Reassertion of the Dhimmah (18841896) 000 Conclusions 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisAlthough Irene Nemirovsky was Jewish, she frequented authors and politicians on the extreme right. This biography analyzes the discrepancy between Nemirovsky's real and imagined identities, and explores a literary work that revisits in a different way Jewish identity, exile, betrayal, and the solidarity of persecuted people.Trade Review"In Némirovsky's search to reconcile national, religious, and cultural identities, Weiss recognizes the struggle of many immigrants in France today. For this reason, more general readers may enjoy this biography as much for the fresh perspectives it bring to questions of national and cultural identity currently under debate in the Francophone world as for the insights it brings to Némirovsky's life and literature. Scholars will value the complete bibliography of her published and unpublished works, Weiss's attention to the present controversy regarding Némirovsky's anti-Semitism, and his sensitive and well informed readings of her work, including Suite française. This critical volume provides solid evidence that Némirovsky should be included among the most important writers of twentieth-century French fiction." -- Hollie Markland Harder * French Review *"[An] informative work, neatly structured to bring out the dramatic and tragic fate of a woman who, as [Weiss] puts it, 'died without ever having resolved the question of where she belonged.' It is a book well worth reading." -- Australian Book Review"This short critical biography by Weiss, an expert on contemporary French literature, is a fine introduction to her work." -- Publishers Weekly"Immensely clarifying . . . As Weiss's important and prodigiously researched biography makes clear, Némirovsky was the very definition of a self-hating Jew." -- The New Republic"Jonathan Weiss's imaginative exploration of the complexities and ambiguities of this enigmatic writer are a commendable attempt to return to Irène Némirovsky some of the dignity that such reductive portraits have denied her." -- The Times Literary Supplement"[A] brief, but intensely thought-provoking biography by Jonathan Weiss." -- The San Francisco ChronicleTable of ContentsContents @toc2:Acknowledgments xx Preface xxx[TK] Introduction 1 1. From Kiev to Paris 00 2. The Promised Land 000 3. David Golder 000 4. Profession: Woman of Letters 000 5. The Writer's Craft 000 6. The Temptation of Christianity and the Persistence of Judaism 000 7. Issy-L'Eveque 000 8. "What is this country doing to me?" 000 9. "Irene gone today" 000 Conclusion 000 Notes 000 Bibiography of Irene Nemirovsky's Works 000

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Book SynopsisThe nineteenth century, a time of cultural, political, and socio-economic transformation in Europe, brought about fundamental changes in the role of women. Women achieved this by fighting for their rights in the legal, economic, and political spheres. This volume provides a context to the movement by including countries from all regions of Europe.Trade Review"...This volume...is an excellent introduction to early women's movements."—Choice"This is a welcome addition to the field, and one that scholars will find particularly useful in their efforts to move their understanding beyond the well-known examples of British, French, or German feminism."—American Historical Review" . . . [T]his book makes significant contributions to the project of understanding the history of the socio-political movements to improve women's condition in Europe as well as making a persuasive argument for the centrality of this history in the portrait of the Continent in the nineteenth-century."—H-France Review"[T]he anthology as a whole is a worthy contribution both to women's history in general and to the European history of late nineteenth-century feminism in particular. It fills a big gap in our knowledge and should be purchased by every college library and by any scholar in the field."—Journal of Modern History

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Book SynopsisConfronting the Bomb tells the dramatic, inspiring story of how citizen activism helped curb the nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war. This abbreviated version of Lawrence Wittner''s award-winning trilogy, The Struggle Against the Bomb, shows how a worldwide, grassroots campaignthe largest social movement of modern timeschallenged the nuclear priorities of the great powers and, ultimately, thwarted their nuclear ambitions. Based on massive research in the files of peace and disarmament organizations and in formerly top secret government records, extensive interviews with antinuclear activists and government officials, and memoirs and other published materials, Confronting the Bomb opens a unique window on one of the most important issues of the modern era: survival in the nuclear age. It covers the entire period of significant opposition to the bomb, from the final stages of the Second World War up to the present. Along the way, it provides fascinating glimTrade Review"Wittner retains the impressive breadth of focus from [his] earlier works—and rightly so in the history of a global phenomenon . . . Wittner expertly anatomizes not only the various phases of protest and the different national organizations but also the suspicion with which these activities were regarded in official circles on both sides of the Cold War divide." -- Andrew G. Bone * Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies *"Wittner's book offers two great contributions to the literature of war and peace. First, he demonstrates that the nuclear disarmament movement has played enormously influential roles, both in holding back the most worrisome policies, postures, and deployments, and in preventing global thermonuclear war. Second, Wittner unearths a long-forgotten but indisputable history: political thinkers and activists at the dawn of the nuclear age offered a comprehensive and wonderful vision—not only a world without nuclear weapons, but a world without armies, and a world without war." -- Tad Daley * Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists *"Lawrence Wittner has done the world a favor by condensing his award-winning comprehensive three-volume history, The Struggle Against the Bomb, into this compact text." -- Eddy MacGregor * Fellowship *"Anyone serious about world federalism and the peace movement cannot afford to miss this book . . . It would be ideal for adoption as a course book in any college courses on the peace issue." -- Jame T. Ranney * Minerva: World Federalist Institute. *"In his latest book, Wittner gives us something no one has ever shown us. He chronicles how global civil society grew its own capacity to stop the rulers—in democracies and dictatorships alike—from firing the omnicidal weaponry the rulers developed. If you've ever signed a petition, voted against nukes in a referendum, been to an anti-nuclear demonstration, written a letter opposing any piece of the nuclear arsenal, gone to visit a politician to lobby against any atomic bomb component, or been arrested for your nonviolent refusal to let them do this bad business in your name, this book is for you." -- The Peaceworker"This abbreviated version of the author's award-winning trilogy, The Struggle Against the Bomb, shows how a worldwide grassroots campaign challenged the nuclear priorities of great powers. Based on the files of peace and disarmament organizations, formerly top secret government records, interviews with antinuclear activists and government officials, and memoirs and other published materials, the book provides fascinating glimpses of interactions among key activists and policymakers including Albert Einstein, Harry Truman, and Linus Pauling." -- Book News"Wittner's outstanding book employs massive research . . . to show how concerned citizens . . . have altered the course of history . . . Monumental." -- Journal of American History"Wittner's impressively researched, clearly written, and balanced assessment of the antinuclear weapons movement belongs on the shelf not only of every serious student of the nuclear arms race but also of everyone who is concerned about the safety of humanity." -- American Historical Review"The saga of the world disarmament movement, whose complex strands Lawrence Wittner has brilliantly woven together . . . deserves the widest possible readership." —Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

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Book SynopsisConfronting the Bomb tells the dramatic, inspiring story of how citizen activism helped curb the nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war.Trade Review"Wittner retains the impressive breadth of focus from [his] earlier works—and rightly so in the history of a global phenomenon . . . Wittner expertly anatomizes not only the various phases of protest and the different national organizations but also the suspicion with which these activities were regarded in official circles on both sides of the Cold War divide." -- Andrew G. Bone * Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies *"Wittner's book offers two great contributions to the literature of war and peace. First, he demonstrates that the nuclear disarmament movement has played enormously influential roles, both in holding back the most worrisome policies, postures, and deployments, and in preventing global thermonuclear war. Second, Wittner unearths a long-forgotten but indisputable history: political thinkers and activists at the dawn of the nuclear age offered a comprehensive and wonderful vision—not only a world without nuclear weapons, but a world without armies, and a world without war." -- Tad Daley * Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists *"Lawrence Wittner has done the world a favor by condensing his award-winning comprehensive three-volume history, The Struggle Against the Bomb, into this compact text." -- Eddy MacGregor * Fellowship *"Anyone serious about world federalism and the peace movement cannot afford to miss this book . . . It would be ideal for adoption as a course book in any college courses on the peace issue." -- Jame T. Ranney * Minerva: World Federalist Institute. *"In his latest book, Wittner gives us something no one has ever shown us. He chronicles how global civil society grew its own capacity to stop the rulers—in democracies and dictatorships alike—from firing the omnicidal weaponry the rulers developed. If you've ever signed a petition, voted against nukes in a referendum, been to an anti-nuclear demonstration, written a letter opposing any piece of the nuclear arsenal, gone to visit a politician to lobby against any atomic bomb component, or been arrested for your nonviolent refusal to let them do this bad business in your name, this book is for you." -- The Peaceworker"This abbreviated version of the author's award-winning trilogy, The Struggle Against the Bomb, shows how a worldwide grassroots campaign challenged the nuclear priorities of great powers. Based on the files of peace and disarmament organizations, formerly top secret government records, interviews with antinuclear activists and government officials, and memoirs and other published materials, the book provides fascinating glimpses of interactions among key activists and policymakers including Albert Einstein, Harry Truman, and Linus Pauling." -- Book News"Wittner's outstanding book employs massive research . . . to show how concerned citizens . . . have altered the course of history . . . Monumental." -- Journal of American History"Wittner's impressively researched, clearly written, and balanced assessment of the antinuclear weapons movement belongs on the shelf not only of every serious student of the nuclear arms race but also of everyone who is concerned about the safety of humanity." -- American Historical Review"The saga of the world disarmament movement, whose complex strands Lawrence Wittner has brilliantly woven together . . . deserves the widest possible readership." —Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

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Book SynopsisGermans into Jews turns to an often overlooked and misunderstood period of German and Jewish historythe years between the world wars. It has been assumed that the Jewish community in Germany was in decline during the Weimar Republic. But, Sharon Gillerman demonstrates that Weimar Jews sought to rejuvenate and reconfigure their community as a means both of strengthening the German nation and of creating a more expansive and autonomous Jewish entity within the German state. These ambitious projects to increase fertility, expand welfare, and strengthen the family transcended the ideological and religious divisions that have traditionally characterized Jewish communal life. Integrating Jewish history, German history, gender history, and social history, this book highlights the experimental and contingent nature of efforts by Weimar Jews to reassert a new Jewish particularism while simultaneously reinforcing their commitment to Germanness.Trade Review"Gillerman's book uncovers in fascinating manner the extent to which the renaissance of Jewish cultures overlapped with equally decisive social welfare activities to rejuvenate the body of the Jewish community." -- Nils H. Roemer * American Historical Review *"[Gillerman's] detailed work does justice to its subject by unraveling the complexities of newly arising Jewish identities, their challenges, the debates in the Jewish community, and the contradictions, as well as options available to Weimar Jews. With this work, Gillerman has done justice to a crucial topic of German and Jewish history; her choice to focus on social welfare policy was a clever one." -- Dani Kranz * German Studies Review *"Recommended for university and German Jewish collections." -- Ellen Share * AJL *"Sharon Gillerman has produced a stunning analysis of a dimension of Jewish history that is little-known and deserves recognition: the attempt by Jews to re-image, reconfigure, energize and rejuvenate themselves as a component of the greater German body politic, and as a community in its own right, in the Weimar Republic. She succeeds brilliantly in integrating Jewish history into German history, women's history, and social history; this may be the advent of the next generation of history." -- Michael Berkowitz * University College London *"Gillerman's sophisticated analysis of the 'Jewish social body' in Weimar Germany joins an increasing number of works that treat German history as it was (not as a stepping-stone to the collapse of liberalism and the rise of National Socialism), and the history of German Jewry apart from the Holocaust. Specifically, the author presents the interesting story of how Jewish social workers during Weimar worked to revitalize the country's Jewish community after the Great War by transforming individuals' health, facilitating reproduction and child care, and rehabilitating endangered youth . . . Recommended." -- J. D. Smith * Choice *

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Book SynopsisAmericans believe strongly in their ethnicity and use it in self-promoting ways. The Ethnic Project shows how destructive ethnic thinking can be in a society that has not let go of racism.Trade Review"I think that The Ethnic Project is an outstanding work that makes an important contribution to our understanding of the past and present racial history of the United States. The book is very well written (Bashi Treitler's prose is a delight to read) and meticulously researched . . . The Ethnic Project should definitely be part of the conversation as we press forward with the task of understanding race in the United States."—Ashley "Woody" Doane, American Journal of Sociology"Treitler offers a succinct history and diagnosis of racial grouping in the U.S., from the nation's origin to the contemporary moment . . . The text has solid promise as an introductory ethnic studies course reading . . . Highly recommended."—N. B. Barnd, CHOICE"With her ingenious concept of 'ethnic projects,' Vilna Bashi Treitler brings a new optic to the study of race. She shows that, despite their oppression—indeed, because of it—minorities develop collective agency. Not only do they mobilize to overcome barriers of discrimination and to remedy past wrongs, but through their activism and cultural production they also transform how they are perceived and treated by their oppressors. Treitler reveals why some ethnic projects are successful, others less so, and thus her book provides an authoritative answer to those who ask the tired question, 'We made it, why haven't they?'"—Stephen Steinberg, author of Race Relations: A Critique"Vilna Bashi Treitler masterfully weaves race and ethnicity into a single historical narrative that reveals the ugly reality of exploitation and stratification that has always undergirded American society."—Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisAmericans believe strongly in their ethnicity and use it in self-promoting ways. The Ethnic Project shows how destructive ethnic thinking can be in a society that has not let go of racism.Trade Review"I think that The Ethnic Project is an outstanding work that makes an important contribution to our understanding of the past and present racial history of the United States. The book is very well written (Bashi Treitler's prose is a delight to read) and meticulously researched . . . The Ethnic Project should definitely be part of the conversation as we press forward with the task of understanding race in the United States."—Ashley "Woody" Doane, American Journal of Sociology"Treitler offers a succinct history and diagnosis of racial grouping in the U.S., from the nation's origin to the contemporary moment . . . The text has solid promise as an introductory ethnic studies course reading . . . Highly recommended."—N. B. Barnd, CHOICE"With her ingenious concept of 'ethnic projects,' Vilna Bashi Treitler brings a new optic to the study of race. She shows that, despite their oppression—indeed, because of it—minorities develop collective agency. Not only do they mobilize to overcome barriers of discrimination and to remedy past wrongs, but through their activism and cultural production they also transform how they are perceived and treated by their oppressors. Treitler reveals why some ethnic projects are successful, others less so, and thus her book provides an authoritative answer to those who ask the tired question, 'We made it, why haven't they?'"—Stephen Steinberg, author of Race Relations: A Critique"Vilna Bashi Treitler masterfully weaves race and ethnicity into a single historical narrative that reveals the ugly reality of exploitation and stratification that has always undergirded American society."—Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University

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Book SynopsisTraces the links between the development of modern Egyptian identity and the burgeoning Islamic modernist movement from the mid-1870s until the 1910s.Trade Review"Gasper extends the range of subjects embraced in effendi-centered studies. He covers a neglected corner of the literature by gathering a diverse range of references to peasants into a narrative that shows the ways that effendis spoke about, as, and in place of peasants . . . The book's chief value lies in its collection of effendi references to peasants and their agricultural work. Some of this writing was quite colorful; Gasper's treatment of effendi impersonations of peasant voices is particularly engaging. Another valuable part of this book is Gasper's reflections on vocabulary change." -- Will Hanley * Journal of World History *"In this nuanced study, Gasper uniquely situates his research in the broader context of Egyptian political discourse and shows, in great detail, how representations of the peasantry were central to emerging forms ofnationalism and identity. This book offers the most authoritative, focused research available." -- Nathan J. Brown * The George Washington University *"Gasper's scholarly achievement should be recognized. No study of Egyptian nationalism, identity formation and the press can afford to ignore this book, and Gasper's thesis is serious and deserves much discussion." -- John Chalcraft * American Historical Review *"Gasper's work makes a surprisingly novel contribution to the development of an Egyptian 'national' consciousness in the late 19th century. Demonstrating how members of the educated class defined an Egyptian identity, Gasper's approach also pays significant attention to the emerging role Islam begins to play. It is both a skillful and original work of historical revisionism." -- Roger Owen * Harvard University *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments xxxx Note on Transliteration xxxx Introduction, 1 1. The Formation and the Emergence of the Peasant Question, 000 2. People, Peasants, and Intellectuals, 000 3. Five Peasant Characters in Search of Bourgeois Identity or Afandis in Gallabiyas, 000 CHAPTER 4 Scientific agriculture: Cultivators, Agriculturalists or Peasants? CHAPTER 5 The New Peasant, Colonial Identity and the Modern State CONCLUSION Notes, 000 Bibliography, 000] Index, 000

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Book SynopsisMultidirectional Memory brings together Holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time. Employing a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the book makes a twofold argument about Holocaust memory in a global age by situating it in the unexpected context of decolonization. On the one hand, it demonstrates how the Holocaust has enabled the articulation of other histories of victimization at the same time that it has been declared unique among human-perpetrated horrors. On the other, it uncovers the more surprising and seldom acknowledged fact that public memory of the Holocaust emerged in part thanks to postwar events that seem at first to have little to do with it. In particular, Multidirectional Memory highlights how ongoing processes of decolonization and movements for civil rights in the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the United States, and elsewhere unexpectedly galvanized memory of the Holocaust. Rothberg engages with both well-known and non-Trade Review"Rothberg's study is published in the prestigious 'Cultural Memory in the Present' series, and will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on memory studies and related fields . . . [I]t is to be hoped that Multidirectional Memory will inspire further recuperation of 'forgotten' works, and accompanying reassessments of the political entanglements of writers positions (and positionings)." -- Anne Whitehead * Interventions: Journal of Postcolonial Studies *"The book fleshes out a powerful genealogy for multidirectional memory as well as a more sustained account of how, more specifically, Holocaust memory and colonial memory come together in France around the legacy of the Algerian War." -- Laura Levitt * H-Net Reviews *"Ground-breaking book . . . Thanks to Rothberg, we are able to engage more thoughtfully with our knotted past— and with our tangled future, too." -- Jonathan Druker * Illinois State University *"Multidirectional Memory is a pathbreaking work of interdisciplinary scholarship that will reconfigure the fields of Holocaust Studies and post-colonial theory. Rothberg's powerful study of the relations between Holocaust memory and decolonization illuminates the 'multidirectional' orientation of collective memory through half a century of transnational cultural production in Europe, North America, the Caribbean and North Africa (with an emphasis on postwar France)." -- Debarati Sanyal, University of California * Berkeley *"This is the first book to take up the transnational and cross-disciplinary politics of memory in ways adequate to the difficulties and pitfalls of the topic. In its readings of theoretical and literary texts primarily from the 1950s and 1960s, it confronts the Holocaust with decolonization, successfully questioning the 'color line' separating these two discourses today. Deft in argument and subtle in its analyses, Rothberg's book provides an exciting new direction for memory studies in the humanities and in social thought. A compelling read!" -- Andreas Huyssen * Columbia University *

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Book SynopsisEnvisioning America is a revealing ethnographic portrait of how naturalized Chinese in Southern California have pursued the democratic ideals of participation through political empowerment and community recognition despite impediments to their full inclusion as American citizens.Trade Review"Envisioning America is an insightful study of the emergence of immigrant Chinese American activists as a new, unheralded political force in the Los Angeles suburbs. Cultural anthropologist Tritia Toyota's compelling story deals with up-to-the-moment issues of race, civil rights, Asian American politics, immigration, language identity, home country political heritage, transnational institutions, new social structures, and political succession. A must read."—Bill Lann Lee, Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker & Jackson, P.C."By documenting the complex and changing political dynamics of Chinese Americans in compelling detail, Envisioning America explodes widely held myths about immigrant communities. Toyota's insights on race, ethnicity and movements for positive social change are essential to understanding American democracy and demographics."—Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People"This is a captivating study of the politicization of Chinese American immigrants in Southern California. What is particularly exciting and unique about this fine piece of research is the attention paid to reconstructing the process of dialectical negotiations between the foreign- and the U.S.-born activists for alliance building and strategic planning."—Pei-te Lien, University of California, Santa Barbara

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Book SynopsisPrimitive Modernities traces how the changing meaning of the primitive enabled the transformation of tango and samba—music considered primitive and marginal into art forms that symbolized the nations of Argentina and Brazil.Trade Review"Primitive Modernities: Tango, Samba, and Nation is a welcome tool for students without access to those languages in such fields as Brazilian and Latin American cultural studies, ethnomusicology, and literature; it is also an intriguing read for scholars of nationalisms more generally. The interdisciplinary nature of Garramuño's work is unusual in the context of regional or national studies, and provides a good example of why we should examine any cultural object as part of an intense interactive process. Primitive Modernities is all the more rare for its focus on two types of music from two national traditions that share many features, though not a common language. One of the strongest features of this study, then, is its revelation of how modernizing efforts in Latin America involving popular music superseded geographic, linguistic, disciplinary, and even sonic boundaries." -- Marilyn Miller * H-Net *"This intelligent and richly argued book traces how Argentina and Brazil's national music became national in the early decades of the twentieth century. It studies the nationalization of tango and samba in the context of peripheral modernities that grapple with the tensions between the longing for modernity and the need for differentiation, construed as either primitivism or exoticism." -- Diana Sorensen * Harvard University *"Primitive Modernities is a wonderfully ambitious effort to understand the modern aesthetic, literary, and political production in Brazil and the differences and commonalities with Spanish-America. In this illuminating book, Garramuño brings together two powerful literary and intellectual traditions that have for too long been examined separately. Combining her literary and cultural scholarship with keen observations of the links between avant-garde artists and the national pasts, she offers a better understanding of the ways in which popular music, film and performers contributed to redefine nationhood in two key Latin American countries." -- Arcadio Diaz-Quiñones * Princeton University *"One of the strong points of Garramuño's book is its positing of an alternative to binary formulations of nationalism and cosmopolitanism . . . [T]his work remains an important study for Latin American specialists, among whom it will foster a lively dialogue across disciplines." -- Deborah Schwartz-Kates * The Americas *

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Book SynopsisA rich and wide-ranging exploration of Italy's difficult engagement with the legacy of the Holocaust.Trade Review"This book will change the way the relationship between the Holocaust and Italy is understood. Through the use of a wide range of materials, Robert Gordon analyses the tortuous and complicated ways in which the Shoah was narrated, remembered, misunderstood, forgotten, and then rediscovered. This is a fascinating story, told here with great elegance, verve, and passion, but also with scrupulous attention to detail. Essential reading for all students, researchers and historians working on post-war Italy." -- John Foot * University College London *"[A]n outstanding guide to the last 70 years, full of insight, subtle distinctions, and always readable." -- David Cesarani * Modern Italy *"Gordon has written an important book on memorialization of the Shoah for Italians and non-Italians alike." -- R.J.B. Bosworth, Jesus College * University of Oxford *"This outstanding book fills a critical gap in the literature and has profound significance for the study of Italy and for the memory of the Holocaust." -- Marla Stone * Occidental College *"A major strength of Gordon's book lies in moving smoothly between the different foci of his subject, providing chronology and historical detail where necessary, highlighting debates and, above all, making historical complexity and its cultural manifestations accessible to the general reader through short systematic introductions, summaries and recapitulations of the main points of each of the ten chapters of the book . . . We are all indebted to Professor Robert Gordon for his remarkable elucidation of the interconnected, multifaceted links joining contemporary Italian culture with the Shoa. His book is an indispensable, standard reference and guide to future developments in this area of Italian public life." -- Jacques Roumani * Sephardic Horizons *"Gordon's novel contribution to the field of Italian Holocaust studies is a needed overview of the dynamics underscoring the national struggle between the historical position of the witnesses (epitomized in Gordon's work by Levi) and the pull of those ahistorical perceptions that slowly but surely end up constituting, one decade after another, the edifice of what Maurice Halbwachs famously named 'collective memory' (La mémoire collective, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1950)." -- Federica K. Clementi * CLIO *"There can be no doubt about Gordon's erudition or scholarship, and we must be grateful for his having written the first comprehensive account of Italian responses to the Holocaust . . . Ultimately the great value of Gordon's book lies in the fact that he brings some structure to the extremely diverse mosaic of Italian memories of the Holocaust." -- Christian Goeschel * European History Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisA rich and wide-ranging exploration of Italy's difficult engagement with the legacy of the Holocaust.Trade Review"This book will change the way the relationship between the Holocaust and Italy is understood. Through the use of a wide range of materials, Robert Gordon analyses the tortuous and complicated ways in which the Shoah was narrated, remembered, misunderstood, forgotten, and then rediscovered. This is a fascinating story, told here with great elegance, verve, and passion, but also with scrupulous attention to detail. Essential reading for all students, researchers and historians working on post-war Italy." -- John Foot * University College London *"[A]n outstanding guide to the last 70 years, full of insight, subtle distinctions, and always readable." -- David Cesarani * Modern Italy *"Gordon has written an important book on memorialization of the Shoah for Italians and non-Italians alike." -- R.J.B. Bosworth, Jesus College * University of Oxford *"This outstanding book fills a critical gap in the literature and has profound significance for the study of Italy and for the memory of the Holocaust." -- Marla Stone * Occidental College *"A major strength of Gordon's book lies in moving smoothly between the different foci of his subject, providing chronology and historical detail where necessary, highlighting debates and, above all, making historical complexity and its cultural manifestations accessible to the general reader through short systematic introductions, summaries and recapitulations of the main points of each of the ten chapters of the book . . . We are all indebted to Professor Robert Gordon for his remarkable elucidation of the interconnected, multifaceted links joining contemporary Italian culture with the Shoa. His book is an indispensable, standard reference and guide to future developments in this area of Italian public life." -- Jacques Roumani * Sephardic Horizons *"Gordon's novel contribution to the field of Italian Holocaust studies is a needed overview of the dynamics underscoring the national struggle between the historical position of the witnesses (epitomized in Gordon's work by Levi) and the pull of those ahistorical perceptions that slowly but surely end up constituting, one decade after another, the edifice of what Maurice Halbwachs famously named 'collective memory' (La mémoire collective, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1950)." -- Federica K. Clementi * CLIO *"There can be no doubt about Gordon's erudition or scholarship, and we must be grateful for his having written the first comprehensive account of Italian responses to the Holocaust . . . Ultimately the great value of Gordon's book lies in the fact that he brings some structure to the extremely diverse mosaic of Italian memories of the Holocaust." -- Christian Goeschel * European History Quarterly *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the intersection of urban society and modern politics among Jews in turn of the century Warsaw, Europe''s largest Jewish center at the time. By focusing on the tumultuous events surrounding the Revolution of 1905, Barricades and Banners argues that the metropolitanization of Jewish life led to a need for new forms of community and belonging, and that the ensuing search for collective and individual order gave birth to the new institutions, organizations, and practices that would define modern Jewish society and politics for the remainder of the twentieth century. Trade Review"This rigorous and innovative book applies some of the central theoretical models of today's historical scholarship regarding nationalism, urbanization, and culture to modern Jewish history. In particular, Ury examines why modernity has been so cruel to the Jews; his conclusion is that the modern city generated a way of life that led to a sense of ennui for the Jewish individual, and hence to a personal and collective search for a way out of a perceived state of powerlessness." -- Brian Horowitz * Studies in Contemporary Jewry *"Ury's book presents a riveting discussion of the qualities and experience of the modern city and the development of a popular culture that gives its users a new sense of belonging. Ury shows how the 'ethno-linguistic community' develops and how it is quickly transformed into a coherent 'political community,' based on the foundations of ethnicity and language. He presents the reader the struggle between two such communities, Jewish and Polish, for the symbolic rule over the city of Warsaw, a conflict that directly influenced relations between 'the Poles' and 'the Jews' over the first half of the twentieth century." -- Vladmir Levin * Gal-Ed, originally in Hebrew *"Scott Ury has written a fascinating book, long in coming, that contributes to a number of different discussions among historians of modern Jewish politics, Polish-Jewish relations, and the role of city of Warsaw in the transformation of political culture and discourse in the early twentieth century . . . This reviewer is essentially convinced by Ury's arguments, which are supported by evidence drawn from an extraordinary range of archival and other primary sources in several languages . . . Ury gives a fascinating discussion of the revolutionary culture of safe houses, code names, language, and holidays . . . Ury has produced an outstanding work of scholarship. He has raised a number of important questions into which he provides valuable insights that will force others to rethink their perspectives on key issues related to the evolution of political culture in early twentieth-century Poland and its periodization." -- Robert Blobaum * POLIN: The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies *"In his Barricades and Banners, Scott Ury takes the reader on a fascinating journey through Warsaw at the beginning of the twentieth century . . . In this very successful 'microstudy of modern Jewish society and politics', focused on one of the largest Jewish urban populations in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century, Ury questions the traditional approach of Jewish historiography, which has focused on Jewish communal institutions and emphasized the importance of these structures to Jewish history . . . Ury has succeeded in writing a wonderful book. He has not only collected valuable primary sources, but has applied fine methodological tools. He uses rich historical materials from diverse archives in Poland, Israel, and the United States, making this book especially valuable and placing it immediately in the canon of reading on Jewish history in Poland . . . Overall, this new study is an important contribution to the growing body of works devoted to the history of Polish Jews and especially their complex path to modernization." -- Magdalena Wrobel Bloom * Association for Jewish Studies, Review *"Ury successfully develops an intertwined history of urban life and political culture by accessing voices and experiences of daily life beyond those of the political and cultural elites . . . Barricades and Banners makes significant contributions to our understanding of modern eastern European Jewish life and the development of Jewish nationalism . . . The introduction to Barricades and Banners is essential reading not only for students of eastern European history but also for any student of modern Jewish history and historiography." -- Karen Auerbach * Jewish History *"This volume describes in a fresh and masterful manner the key stages and factors in the modernization of Warsaw (and east European) Jewry at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is probably one of the most important studies of east European Jewry written in the last twenty years. With exceptional precision and nuance, it covers urbanization, political activity, new social patterns, ethnicity, and the image of the Jews in Poland. Ury brings to the topic great understanding of the complexities of the various population groups, Jewish and non-Jewish, and uses original approaches to describe how they dealt with a new political and social environment. This copiously documented study is essential for an understanding of the radical shift in religious patterns among Polish Jewry in the twentieth century. Ury's strikingly objective description of the changing patterns of relations between Jews and other Poles is essential reading for an understanding of these relations later in the century. It is very well written and should attract students to further study of the topics it raises." -- Shaul Stampfer * Religious Studies Review *"Scott Ury's superb book is a richly textured history of Jews and the revolution of 1905 in Warsaw, exploring the multifaceted significance of the event(s) from 1904 to 1907 and beyond. Its well-defended thesis is that Warsaw's Jews sought to harness their communal energy and resources, but more crucially, impose 'order'—to make sense of their rapidly changing surroundings and exert control over how politics were developing . . . A novel and outstanding feature of Barricades and Banners is Ury's expertise in crafting an expressly urban history . . . With Barricades and Banners scholars of Eastern Europe are fortunate to have a more animated and sophisticated perspective on turn-of-the-century Warsaw Jewry than any which has come before." -- Michael Berkowitz * Slavonic and East European Review *"This interestingly written and richly documented book (some 125 of the 400 total pages are devoted to footnotes and bibliography) presents its argument in a clear and logical manner, first setting the scene with descriptions of turn-of-the-century Warsaw and its Jewry (chapters 1–2), followed by fascinating analyses of the generation of mostly young Jewish revolutionaries and their activities (chapter 3) and the growth of the Jewish public sphere (chapter 4) . . . Ury makes an important contribution to the history of Polish politics and Polish antisemitism through his insight that the political changes engendered by the revolution of 1905 and the development of Jewish politics were crucial factors in the growth of Polish antisemitism as a political movement. The author convincingly demonstrates the interdependence between Jewish and Polish politics, with ideological and organizational stances reflected in one another . . . Barricades and Banners is an important contribution to rebalancing the historical narrative. This excellent book should be of great interest to students of Jewish history, Polish history, and Russian history." -- Gershon Bacon * Slavic Review *"Barricades and Banners is elegantly written, and captures the reader's attention with its brilliant and methodical analysis, letting its sources speak for themselves . . . Ury's book is a well-founded and highly innovative contribution to one of the classical questions of Jewish and Eastern European history. Its style is appealing and its arguments set the reader's mind in motion." -- Stefan Wiese * Ab Imperio *"Ury offers a grand explanation for the breakdown of traditional authorities and the rise of new power structures that focus on the tectonic shifts underlying the institutional underpinnings of society rather than the surface changes. By turning his attention to the twentieth century instead of Katz's eighteenth and by bringing in newer cultural modes of thought, Ury illuminates different facets of these modernizing trends. With his impressive debut book, Ury has firmly established himself as a worthy heir to Katz's legacy. It is essential reading for historians of the Russian, Polish, and Jewish experiences." -- Jeffrey Veidlinger * H-Net *"Scott Ury's excellent Barricades and Banners shows that the revolution still has much to offer historians . . . Scrupulous with evidence and careful not to draw conclusions beyond what it can sustain, Ury's account is well written and effectively argued . . . [T]he fact that this book stimulates its readers to want to learn more is evidence of its merit." -- Faith Hillis * Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History *"[A] splendidly researched monograph about the transformation of Warsaw Jewry during the revolutionary years of 1905-1907 . . . [I]mpressive linguistic skill in utilizing sources in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish and thorough grounding in the respective Polish and Jewish historiographies. While his book is above all a study of the creation of a single ethnolinguistic community in a particular city, it speaks broadly to matters of urban history, Polish history, Jewish history, and the history of modernity." -- Nathaniel D. Wood * American Historical Review *"This major study is a valuable account of the emergence of mass politics in the Polish lands and how this greatly complicated the problem of finding an appropriate place for Poland's large, unassimilated Jewish minority." -- Anthony Polonsky * Russian Review *"Sometimes, historians are able to place their hands on particular historical moments that reflect social, political and intellectual processes that end up shaping an entire era. This is exactly what the historian Scott Ury does in his book Barricades and Banners . . . The author doesn't just tell the story of Jews and Poles in Russian-occupied Warsaw, but through this account he also gives a brief history of the twentieth century in Eastern and Central Europe." -- Dr. Dimitry Shumsky * Haaretz *"Ury contends that modern Jewish political identity was forged in Warsaw after the Russian Revolution of 1905 . . . The author uses a wealth of primary sources to describe how Jews adapted to life in the big city . . . A well-researched study of the urban roots of modern Jewish national politics and identity. Highly recommended." -- R. M. Shapiro * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisThis is the second volume of an unabridged, critical edition of Pauline Wengeroff's Memoirs of a Grandmother, the only full-scale memoir by a woman to chronicle Russian Jewish society's shift from traditionalism to modernity through the experience of women and families.Trade Review"This is a stunning piece of work. Wengeroff's recreation of a life during the transition from traditional to modern Jewish culture in 19th century Russia is engrossing, powerfully written, and often lyric. As a window into women's lives and women's perspective on their community's life, this is an almost unparalleled source. Magnus's commentary is brilliant: she has a fine eye for what needs to be annotated and is remarkably astute about the central themes of the memoir."—Carol Berkin, Baruch College"Wengeroff's autobiography is unquestionably one of the most interesting sources we have on Jewish life in Eastern Europe, and this edition should make it yet more accessible to non-German readers. [Memoirs of a Grandmother] will be a standard reference work and a starting point for a great deal of research. The readability of the translation and the user-friendly nature of the notes make use of this book very enjoyable, which is not something to be taken for granted these days."—Shaul Stampfer, The Hebrew University of JerusalemTable of Contents Memoirs of a Grandmother: Scenes from the Cultural History of the Jews of Russia in the Nineteenth Century, Volume Two Author(s): Pauline Wengeroff. Translated with an Introduction, Notes, and Commentary by Shulamit S. Magnus This book is an unabridged translation and critical edition of Pauline Wengeroff's Memoirs of a Grandmother. Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, the volume tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family, which Wengeroff depicts as typical and representative. Wengeroff claims there was a gendered disparity in the behavior of women and men about Jewish tradition in this era, with women both wedded to tradition and wishing to adopt the best of European culture, and men recklessly abandoning Jewish culture and forcing women to do the same, also denying children Jewish education. The result, she claims, was a devastating cultural loss because of women's loss of domestic power. The volume is an epic tale of cultural, marital, and intergenerational struggle, loss, and possibly redemption by century's end, in Wengeroff's hope for a reclaimed culture in a new generation seeking Jewish memory. Introduction Chapter abstract: This introduction provides background to the era depicted in this volume and an analysis of Wengeroff's narrative claims and strategies in crafting this work as she does. 1 Preface Chapter abstract: Pauline Wengeroff sets the scene for the second volume of her memoirs, which begins with her engagement, wedding, and the early years of marital bliss, seen specifically through the lens of the Jewish family. It continues, however, with the introduction of discord, ushered in by a new way of life and new values. Wengeroff speaks of writing her memoirs and her desire to share it with a younger generation. She thanks Dr. Gustav Karpeles, who is responsible for its publication and reprints two brief letters he wrote her regarding the memoirs. 2 The Second Period of the Enlightenment Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the unfolding of Jewish enlightenment in the 1840s and its social impact. 3 My Engagement Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes traditional and arranged marriages. 4 My Bridal Year Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter includes a depiction of dowry and preparations for a traditional marriage. 5 Arrival in Konotop. Wedding. Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the arrival of and the accommodation to patrilocal marriage, as well as marriage rituals in a Ukrainian town. 6 Four Years in my In-Law's House Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts Wengeroff's newlywed life, her help in running an inn, and marital happiness. 7 The Transformation Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes Wengeroff's husband's loss of faith while on a pilgrimage to a Hasidic master and Wengeroff's consternation over this loss. It also depicts the beginning of marital strife over religion, as well as the birth of her children. 8 Further Destinies Unfold Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter shows the Wengeroffs moving out of the home of Mr. Wengeroff's parents and living on their own. It details the beginnings of their wanderings and depicts Luben. 9 Alexander II Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the ascension of Alexander II and the liberalizing reforms of Jewish status. 10 My Wise Mother Said Two Things Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes the sense of inevitability about the loss of tradition in the younger generation, cultural slippage, and the loss of parental control. 11 Kovno Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts assimilating Jewish society and ultra-Orthodox (mussar) Jewish society, the rejection of modernity, tensions between husbands and wives over tradition, and the conflicting behavior of husbands and wives over Sabbath observance. 12 Vilna Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts Jewish society in more traditional Vilna, the effects on Wengeroff's husband, and the family's continuing economic troubles. 13 Helsingfors Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts life in a fortress on the Finnish coast, Jewish life and isolation, the personal loneliness of Pauline Wengeroff, and the economic struggle of the family. 14 Petersburg Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the capital of Petersburg, in which Jewish settlement is new. It also describes extreme assimilation, family rifts, marital tension over tradition, and the expulsion from school of the Wengeroffs' son over Jewish observance. 15 The Dangerous Operation: The Reform of My Kitchen Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter depicts the traumatic relinquishing of the observance of Jewish dietary laws, the sense of betrayal by her husband that Wengeroff felt, her guilt toward her parents, and her general grief. 16 The Third Generation Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter describes a prophecy that Wengeroff's mother had that came true, as well as the conversion of her two sons in light of the anti-Jewish educational and professional discrimination they experienced and the lack of meaningful Jewish education and experience. 17 The Death of My Husband Chapter abstract: Situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, Memoirs tells the story of the dissolution of tradition in Russian Jewish society through the experience of one family. This chapter includes an anguished depiction of the death of Wengeroff's husband. She details his funeral, her loss, and her grief.

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Book Synopsis Dreaming of Michelangelo is the first book-length study to explore the intellectual and cultural affinities between modern Judaism, Italy, and the life and work of Michelangelo Buonarroti.Trade Review"Biemann breaks ground on the new interest in Jewish aesthetics in the context of German Jewish culture and German aesthetic thought . . . Dreaming of Michelangelo recommends itself as a go-to book in the field of modern Jewish Studies as it relates to art, German Jewish culture, and Jewish philosophical aesthetics." -- Zachary Braiterman * Images: Journal of Jewish Art & Visual Culture *"Asher Biemann's Dreaming of Michelangelo: Jewish Variations on a Modern Theme engages the intellectual history of the modern Jewish experience in late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Europe . . . [T]hrough a study of the German-Jewish experience of Italy, Dreaming of Michelangelo provides a powerful and compelling example of how an engagement with aesthetics can and should be the work of twenty-first-century Jewish thought." -- Benjamin E. Sax * Partial Answers *"Biemann takes the reader into the vibrant intellectual worlds of the generations of Jews in the German-speaking orbit for whom the encounter with Michelangelo, with Italy, and with classical art proved constitutive of their experience of modernity and sometimes Jewishness as well." -- Jonathan Hess * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill *"Dreaming of Michelangelo is a masterpiece of original scholarship . . . Enhanced with extensive notes and a comprehensive index, Dreaming of Michelangelo is a very highly recommended addition to academic library Judaic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists." -- James A. Cox * The Midwest Book Review *"Asher Biemann presents a very creative and productive lens for re-examining the entry into modernity by Western European Jews." -- Richard Block * University of Washington *"Dreaming of Michelangelo obliges the reader to rethink the important questions of the relationship between Deutschtum and Judentum, Judaism and Hellenism, Jewish criticism of idolatry, Jewith ethics, and religion." -- Irene Kajon * University of Rome *"Beautifully written and richly textured with readings of original sources, this meditation depicts the encounter of the Jewish imagination with Italy and Michelangelo—unrequited lover, sculptor of living form, painter of humanity's original image, and desired other of Jewish cultural Eros . . . Biemann's analysis of the German-Jewish affinity for Italy and Michelangelo through the dynamic of cultural eroticism deepens our understanding of Jewish selfhood during these crucial years and reveals to us how German-Jewish love and dreaming are not mere forms of escapism or fantasy but rather the means for self-creation and even self-empowerment." -- Jennifer Hansen-Glucklich * German History *"[The Jewish/Modern Michelangelo] provides the subject of this thoughtful, dense, and extended essay. Its main focus, modern Jewish thinkers and writers, is viewed through a very specific, possibly surprising lens: Michelangelo and Renaissance Italy . . . This stimulating and pensive book is not merely a tenure document or converted dissertation but rather a different kind of scholarly engagement with both elements of its equation, Michelangelo as well as Moses." -- Larry Silver * H-Net *

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Book SynopsisThis ground-breaking documentary history contains over 150 primary sources originally written in 15 languages by or about Sephardi Jewsdescendants of Jews who fled medieval Spain and Portugal settling in the western portions of the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans, Anatolia, and Palestine. Reflecting Sephardi history in all its diversity, from the courtyard to the courthouse, spheres intimate, political, commercial, familial, and religious, these documents show life within these distinctive Jewish communities as well as between Jews, Muslims, and Christians.Sephardi Lives offer readers an intimate view of how Sephardim experienced the major regional and world events of the modern eranatural disasters, violence and wars, the transition from empire to nation-states, and the Holocaust. This collection also provides a vivid exploration of the day-to-day lives of Sephardi women, men, boys, and girls in the Judeo-Spanish heartland of the Ottoman Balkans and Middle East,Trade Review"Contemporary Sephardic Jews are likely to know little about the histories of their recent ancestors in the Ottoman Empire, beyond some anecdote or other passed down by a previous family generation . . . A book such as Sephardic Lives offers us an extremely engaging glimpse into the private, social, and cultural existences of our forebears and, like an archeological dig, uncovers fascinating details which together weave the rich tapestry of Sephardic life in the Ottoman Empire and beyond."—Ralph Tarica, Sephardic Horizons"Cohen and Stein trace the history, culture, and politics of Sephardic Jewry from Spain into the Mediterranean and the greater world. The book contains 153 short documents in which human faces in complex lives take shape in highly readable translations . . . Recommended."—D. A. Meier, CHOICE"This collection is a most welcome contribution to Jewish studies in general and Sephardi studies in particular . . . The texts are very well chosen, presented in clear language, and each one is enhanced by an informative introduction and footnotes, providing reference notes regarding the source, its location in cases of archival sources and private collections, original language, and translator . . . It brings to light numerous aspects of Sephardi lives over a long period and broad geographical spectrum. It is an important contribution not only to Sephardi studies but to Jewish studies in general as well as to minority and cultural studies, and will most likely become a basic reference source."—Rachel Simon, Association of Jewish Libraries"Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950 is a gem of a book. It contains an expansive array of documents never before gathered together . . . with their translations from the many languages of the Sephardi world . . . This pioneering work by the editors Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein highlights a minority within a minority group, barely visible in standard Jewish history courses and texts, despite a flurry of excellent work in this field in the last few decades. With its depth and breadth of scholarship, Sephardi Lives both undergirds the studies that have preceded it and points the way forward. Indeed, the work has the potential to transform the teaching and understanding of modern Jewish history if it receives the attention it deserves."—Diana Matza, H-Net"Sephardi Lives presents the reader with an outstanding collection of primary source documents portraying a broad spectrum of experience in the lives of the Judeo-Spanish population expelled from the Iberian peninsula during the late 14th and 15th centuries. In contrast to other documentary histories this compilation focuses not only on the political, the famous, and the infamous, but also on the everyday affairs of the people . . . Rich and heterogeneous, this wonderful compilation is an outstanding endeavor to preserve a history and culture that might otherwise be lost. With notes and extensive index, Cohen and Stein's collection of documents are essential to the study of the Sephardim, and to the understanding of culture and its synthesis."—Randall C. Belinfante, Jewish Book Council"In their new anthology, Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950, Professors Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein present a vivid picture of the diverse ways in which the Jews residing in (and migrating from) what they call the 'Judeo-Spanish heartland of Southeastern Europe, Anatolia, and the Levant' adjusted to the profound changes of their era. Drawing on memoirs, newspapers, and a variety of archival sources written in 15 different languages, they give us a broad overview of a world that is in danger of being forgotten."—Jewish Review of Books"This extraordinary collection of texts, eloquently presented and analyzed, opens a window to the Judeo-Spanish communities of the late Ottoman and post-Ottoman world, and the multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and transnational world of the Mediterranean that the Sephardic Jews inhabited. Sephardi Lives greatly contributes to the scholarship of the lesser-studied culture of Ottoman Jews, their experience with the forces of modernity and the turbulent transition from empire to nation states, and ultimately, their destruction or dispersion from the Mediterranean. It will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of modern Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean history."—Daniel J. Schroeter, University of Minnesota"Sephardi Lives covers a vast territory chronologically, geographically, and topically, ranging from secular and religious politics to everyday life. Highly engaging voices from eighteenth-century scholars and nineteenth-century divorcées to twentieth-century Ottoman draftees inform readers of the vast variety and richness of Sephardi experiences. For scholars as well as students, a pleasure to read."—Marion Kaplan, New York University"Sephardi Lives is a book like no other—the first documentary history of the modern Judeo-Spanish world. It is a work of staggering erudition and deep empirical reach that the editors' discerning, creative, and intelligent hands deliver to the reader with deft care and smooth subtlety. Hailing from Salonica to Seattle, the Congo to Mexico, the hundreds of people you will meet in this book open up the Sephardi experience of the last few centuries in all its cultural richness, global stretch, and political and economic complexity. This is a book of singular importance that will remain foundational for generations of students and scholars."—Alan Mikhail, Yale University"Sephardi Lives, the finest documentary history I have ever seen, fills an important lacuna in the field of Jewish studies."—Harriet Freidenreich, Journal of Modern History Table of ContentsSephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700–1950Author(s): Julia Phillips Cohen and Sarah Abrevaya Stein book abstractSephardi Lives fills a significant gap in the existing literature on modern Jewish and Ottoman history by presenting a diverse array of primary sources generated by or about Sephardi Jews in the heartland of modern Judeo-Spanish culture (Southeastern Europe and the Levant under Ottoman and post-Ottoman rule) and in its diaspora (the United States, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and Africa). The approximately 150 sources in this edition—originally composed in fifteen languages, including Ladino, Hebrew, Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish, French, Greek, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Yiddish, and English—are of scholarly value to students, researchers, and general readers alike. Individuals engaged in Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as those researching life in the nation-states that emerged after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, will find in this collection perspectives and selections otherwise inaccessible to them, as will scholars of Europe, the United States, and Latin America. The texts included in the book as well as the individuals who drafted them remain largely unknown in any field; those written in Ladino—the native language of Sephardim in the Judeo-Spanish heartland of the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean and today a dying language—were condemned to remain obscure indefinitely before they were translated and prepared for a larger scholarly, student, and popular public. 1Everyday Life: On the Street and in the Synagogue, from Court to Courtyard chapter abstractThis chapter contains a wide range of sources that explore daily life and culture in the Ottoman Jewish heartland of Southeastern Europe, the Levant, and beyond. Among the topics covered in this chapter are gender roles and relations; experiences of childhood; familial bonds; natural disasters; the pursuit of education and justice; relations among Jews, Muslims, and Christians; commercial relations and relationships to neighborhood, city, region, and empire. 2Violence, War, and Regional Transformation chapter abstractThis chapter offers a selection of primary documents that explore the dramatic regional transformations that affected different cities and regions across the Ottoman Empire and its successor states in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East throughout the modern period. Topics explored include imperialism, anti-minority violence, state reforms, the Young Turk Revolution, the Balkan Wars, the First World War, minority rights, and the retraction of the borders of the Ottoman Empire. 3Political Movements and Ideologies chapter abstractThrough primary documents, this chapter explores the politicization of Sephardi Jewry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as different individuals debated and sided with the various novel political movements, including feminism, Zionism, socialism, Ottomanism, and communism. 4The Second World War and Its Aftermath chapter abstractThis chapter explores, through original source material, Sephardi experiences of the Holocaust and the Second World War. The chapter offers stories of deportation, ghettoization, hidden children, partisans, and death camp survivors, tracking the spread of the Third Reich across Southeastern Europe, as well as the rise of antisemitic legislation and sentiment in Turkey. It documents the decimation of the Judeo-Spanish heartland, and traces attempts to contend with this loss in the wake of the war. 5Diasporic and Émigré Circles chapter abstractThrough an array of primary sources, this chapter explores the shaping of a Sephardi diaspora from the Judeo-Spanish heartland of Southeastern Europe and the Levant that took shape beginning in the late nineteenth century. The chapter includes coverage of Sephardi migration to France, Britain, the United States, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, the Belgian Congo, British Mandate Palestine, and North Africa and beyond, paying heed to the establishment of new Sephardi communities in these locals, the challenges and opportunities they faced in these new lands, and the many ties that sutured émigré Jews to their erstwhile homes. 6The Emergence of Sephardi Studies chapter abstractThrough primary documents, this chapter explores the development of the scholarly field of Sephardi Studies, beginning with an eighteenth-century rabbi's interest in studying his family's history and moving to some of the first calls for the systematic study of Sephardi culture and history that emerged in the nineteenth century. It also presents samples of correspondence and collaboration between Ashkenazi and Sephardi intellectuals, as well as between Jews and non-Jews, across political and linguistic boundaries, and traces the attempt by Levantine Jewish professional and lay scholars to document the history, language, culture, and folkways of their own communities in the face of a series of dramatic ruptures that threatened to obliterate the Judeo-Spanish world they knew so intimately.

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Book SynopsisThis book, a vivid first-hand account of a lost Jewish world, represents the translation of the first Ladino-language memoir known to be written: its author was a leading journalist and publisher in the Ottoman city of Salonica.Trade Review"This work, with its rare look at the struggle between traditional society and modernizing trends in a nineteenth century Sephardic community, adds to our understanding of the beginnings of modernity in a Sephardic mode."—Harvey Sukenic, Association of Jewish Libraries"It is an important contribution to the corpus of texts illustrating how communities and individuals experienced the transition from life in a traditional Jewish community to citizenship in the modern nation-state."—Nina Caputo, The Marginalia Review"What an intellectual treat is this poignant epitaph for a lost civilization! . . . The editors and translators add to their odyssey of the manuscript their own biographical contributions to the academic revival and scholarly study of this lost Sephardi civilization, a welcome but sad memorial for a dried-up tributary of the Jewish stream. . . . Essential."—S. Bowman CHOICE"We must be grateful to the two editors and the translator of this memoir for bringing a rare document back to life. Surviving the near-annihilation and dispersion of the Jews of Salonica over the last hundred years, this precious historical source offers a passionate portrait of the struggle between traditionalist and modernizing forces within the late-nineteenth-century Sephardic world. It is a gripping read and will advance the scholarly agenda of Sephardic studies."—Francesca Trivellato, Yale University"Sa'adi Besalel a-Levi was a man who found himself at the threshold of momentous changes that would all but swallow everything that was familiar to him in the early decades of the twentieth century. Yet, rather than meditating nostalgically about a world that was fast disappearing, Sa'adi embraced change with enthusiasm. He hoped that the future that was dawning would be free of the shackles of tradition that held him and the Jewish community of Salonica back. His unusual conviction about the power of progress, his efforts to make intellectual sense of the transformations that surround him, his repeated clashes with those who held power over him, and his repeated disappointments make this an exceptionally engaging book. Aron Rodrigue, Sarah Abrevaya Stein, and Isaac Jerusalmi have done a marvelous job of translating, editing, and making accessible this uniquely valuable source. Their work enriches our understanding of the life of the Jewish communities in and around Salonica and beyond in the second half of the nineteenth century in a profound way."—Reşat Kasaba, University of Washington"How marvelous to have the first known memoir in Ladino so beautifully translated and explicated. Sa'adi, an Ottoman Jew, astute observer, and person of diverse accomplishments, lived through the better part of the long 19th century. His invaluable memoir, completed before the cataclysmic events of World War I and collapse of the Ottoman Empire, documents a world already in flux. The beauty of this memoir is the vividness with which Sa'adi conveys the very experience of change as someone who not only witnessed it but also lived and felt it. The reader can hear his voice and visualize what he describes in such telling detail. This is a book to read for the sheer pleasure of it and an accessible way to engage students new to the history of Ottoman Jews."—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Through her analysis of films from the 1950s to 2000s, Shimizu excels in critiquing the negative racialization of Asian American male characters and then providing reinterpretations that encourage empowerment and change for the future . . . Overall, Celine Parreñas Shimizu's Straitjacket Sexualities: Unbinding Asian American Manhoods in the Movies is a very thought-provoking book, and we highly recommend it to anyone who is interested learning more about Asian American masculinity and how it is portrayed in films."—Jennifer Chang and William Ming Liu, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology"Shimizu assembles an impressive corpus of films—popular, independent, pornographic—to build her case. . . Shimizu develops a provocative, persuasive case for the need for new analytical and critical lenses that go beyond the faulty and ultimately impotent logic of using normative masculinity as the site for racial justice."—Harrod Suarez, Journal of Asian American Studies"[Shimizu's] close reading of Gran Torino is reason enough to read this book . . . [Shimizu] has a keen understanding of the relationship between the genders, and describes several film projects that have attempted to address such issues. Summing Up: Highly recommended."—G. R. Butters Jr., CHOICE"An utterly original examination of Asian American masculinity on the silver screen, Straightjacket Sexualities is a critical tour-de-force that reveals cinema to be an ethical event. It offers a theory of responsibility in the face of vulnerability and persecution to encourage the emergence of new and better forms of manhood."—David L. Eng, University of Pennsylvania"An exciting contribution to Asian American, film, and gender and sexuality studies, one which many will find liberatory as well. A perfect sequel to her book on Asian American female sexualities."—David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford University

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the unique phenomenon of Christian engagement with Yiddish language and literature from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. By exploring the motivations for Christian interest in Yiddish, and the differing ways in which Yiddish was discussed and treated in Christian texts, A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish addresses a wide array of issues, most notably Christian Hebraism, Protestant theology, early modern Yiddish culture, and the social and cultural history of language in early modern Europe.Elyada''s analysis of a wide range of philological and theological works, as well as textbooks, dictionaries, ethnographical writings, and translations, demonstrates that Christian Yiddishism had implications beyond its purely linguistic and philological dimensions. Indeed, Christian texts on Yiddish reveal not only the ways in which Christians perceived and defined Jews and Judaism, but also, in a contrasting vein, how they viewed theirTrade Review"A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish is an illuminating study of the literature that provided Christian readers with a titillating peek into Yiddish . . . Elyada's volume is rich with descriptions of the manuals and lexicons that provided a basic Yiddish vocabulary or grammar for Christian readers . . . A Goy Who Speaks Yiddish is a major contribution to the study of Christian approaches to Jews and Judaism on the cusp of modernity." -- Deena Aranoff * Journal of Early Modern History *"Elyada's systematic study of Christian interest in Jewish vernacular literature elucidates how knowledge circulated between Jews and Christians in German lands." -- Magda Teter * American Historical Review *"Here, Elyada demonstrates in an exemplary manner how sociolinguistic theory and method in the hands of a conscientious historian can lead to truly innovative research." -- Marion Aptroot, Heinrich Heine University * Dusseldorf *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the paths taken by Hmong Americans towards a participatory citizenship and active engagement in politics in the United States.Trade Review"This book is an important contribution to scholarship in Asian American studies and immigrant politics. To date, there has been no in-depth study of the civic engagement of Hmong Americans. This is a notable gap, given that this group has defied expectations of low participation among groups with low socioeconomic resources. Voting Together skillfully shows how Hmong Americans have beaten the odds, drawing critical attention to factors like geographic context, clan structures, gender, and intergenerational dynamics. The book also provides valuable insights to better understand the future trajectory of this important, yet often overlooked, group." -- Karthick Ramakrishnan * University of California, Riverside *"This is a pioneering work that provides coast-to-coast coverage of the political engagements of 1.5 generation Hmong Americans. Wong legitimates young Hmong trailblazers by placing these newly elected individuals into the context of American history while also highlighting their role as emerging transnational leaders who affect global changes by demanding human and citizenship rights for their fellow co-ethnics in Southeast Asia. This highly readable book is an excellent addition to the field of Hmong studies." -- Mai Na M. Lee * University of Minnesota *"In this lively and illuminating account of Hmong American participation in political life, Carolyn Wong provides a deeper understanding of the interplay between newcomers and the political system. Drawing on interviews of community leaders and everyday people situated in different parts of the country, Voting Together forces readers to reconsider traditional theories of community empowerment and identity formation. This theoretically rich and nuanced account of diversity in America is a must-read for those interested in ethnic politics." -- Janelle Wong * University of Maryland *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1Citizenship and Participation chapter abstractChapter One introduces the general argument developed in subsequent chapters. In Hmong American communities, political participation arises and deepens through inter-generational social mechanisms of voting. The process is aided by local institutions that educate newcomers in participatory skills and aid reconstruction of identity narratives. Present-day notions about citizenship rights and a desire for political inclusion are influenced by the Vietnam War experience of the Hmong Americans and their status as stateless refugees after the war. The relatively low levels of social-economic attainment of the Hmong Americans compared to other Asian Americans helps explain the motivation to participate in politics to press for public policy that would address poverty and educational reform 2Reconstructing Identity Narratives chapter abstractChapter Two examines the cultural and political meaning of identity stories as articulated by Hmong Americans, including examples of how freedom and parity are expressed in these narratives. These stories have formed through an amalgam of lived experience and values. The process of construction and telling of the narratives is participatory. The engagement of ordinary people in conversations and creation of interpretive stories and performing art productions is what animates the identity narratives in civic and political life. 3Participation in Local Contexts chapter abstractChapter Three compares local contexts of political and civic participation in several cities – principally, Fresno, California; Saint Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; and Hickory, North Carolina. The analysis uses a conceptual framework delineating the nature of parity of participation in society, including the realm of economic distribution and cultural recognition, as articulated by Fraser. The analysis emphasizes the importance of public educational institutions and community based organizations in promoting citizen education. . Interviews of high school students illustrate the importance of cultural recognition in the process of citizen education. 4Views on Politics: From Leadership and the Grassroots chapter abstractChapter Four uses interviews of Hmong American leaders and grassroots community members to examine views on a wide range of questions: the nature and extent of participants' political and civic engagement; sources of political information; attitudes about leadership; relationships to political parties; views about the main problems in the community; concepts of ethnic identity; and views of national policy issues. 5Human Rights Advocacy Across Borders chapter abstractChapter Five presents a case study of the politics of recognition and dignity as expressed in the testimony of Hmong refugees about human rights violations in Thailand, where their relatives' graves were desecrated. A collaborative project led by human rights researchers at the University of Minnesota and Hmong American political leaders explored how the rights claims can be usefully framed in terms of indigenous religious rights. From the work of a newly emerging generation of college-educated Hmong Americans, parts of this story began to find moving expression in a nascent literary and performing arts. 6 Deepening Intergenerational Participation chapter abstractChapter Six concludes with a discussion of future prospects for wider and deeper political participation of the Hmong Americans. The desire to engage in elections is rooted in a belief in the role of government in assisting people poverty to become self-sufficient. Experiencing racial prejudice and economic disadvantage opens opportunities for education about commonality of interest with other racial-ethnic minorities and socially marginalized people. From this ground there is potential to better appreciate the power of collective action in politics and to gain the skills needed in a truly participatory citizenship which extends beyond voting alone. To realize this potential requires imagining collaborative and inter-generational projects of community-based political education.

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Book SynopsisAn annotated edition of a memoir that relates a fascinating life story and contains a wealth of historical information about late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Jewish life in Eastern Europe, America, and Israel.Trade Review"The full annotations and the general introduction of the translator-editor along with his perceptive and objective introductions to each chapter make the text comprehensible to readers without familiarity with the topic. Frieden was not a leader or an important personage. Precisely for that reason, it is a window into how intelligent and committed ordinary Jews interpreted some of the key developments in modern Jewish religious life. The translation is extremely smooth, and this could easily be used as a source for student research as well as a basis for class discussions. The descriptions of Jewish life 'on three continents' make this book a useful addition to collections with strengths in modern Jewish religious life." -- Shaul Stampfer * Religious Studies Review *"Frieden's memoir is a fascinating and useful narrative about Jewish life in Eastern Europe, the United States, and the Land of Israel, and his literary skill will help to make this memoir accessible to non-academic readers. Weissbach has made a significant contribution by adeptly translating and making this illuminating historical source available to the English-language readership." -- Gil Ribak * H-Judaic *"Freiden's memoir is a rich source for detailing many aspects of Jewish life in a small rural Jewish community in Lithuania, the Hassidic yeshivot and customs in Latvia and Belarus, the awakening to Western culture of traditional young Jews, the influence of American Zionists on the modern yishuv, and on the 1948 Israeli war of independence, among others." -- Roger S. Kohn * Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter *"This rich memoir captures the tumultuous historical epoch through the prism of individual self-reflection, laying bare the havoc wrought on the Jewish world by processes of migration, adaptation, and nation building a century ago. Indeed, it highlights the transnational character of Jewish life in the early twentieth century." -- Rebecca Kobrin * Columbia University *

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Book SynopsisThis book seeks to revolutionize the way scholars use the treasure trove of the Cairo Geniza, the largest and richest store of documentary evidence for the medieval Islamic world.Trade Review"Ackerman-Lieberman's principle innovation is to look closely at legal documents as evidence for the legal principles by which merchants organized their partnerships . . . [This] book offers an important historiographical intervention in Geniza studies and medieval economic history. For legal historians, his approach is most useful as an interrogation into the models that often implicitly shape our understanding of the relationship among different legal orders and legal practices that coexisted in legally pluralist environments." -- Jessica M. Marglin * Law and History Review *"This combination of intricate legal history and far-reaching historiographical considerations makes an important contribution to Genizah studies, economic history, and the study of religious minorities." -- Pinchas Roth * Association of Jewish Libraries *"In this deeply learned study of medieval Egypt, Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman details the ways in which Jews immersed themselves in Muslim culture and institutions, not to create a symbiosis of Judaism and Islam, but to forge a particular and nuanced minority identity as Jews. This is a landmark book, challenging prevalent misconceptions about Jewish history and offering remarkably original insights into the formation of minority cultures." -- Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies * Dartmouth College *"[A] significant achievement: an expansive alternative vision of Jewish life in a medieval Muslim society.The prose is virtually flawless and often eloquent...the document editions and translations will be useful to many, sparking interest and further discussion." -- Luke Yarbrough * Speculum *

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Book SynopsisJewish Pasts, German Fictions is the first comprehensive study of how German-Jewish writers used images from the Spanish-Jewish past to define their place in German culture and society. Jonathan Skolnik argues that Jewish historical fiction was a form of cultural memory that functioned as a parallel to the modern, demythologizing project of secular Jewish history writing.What did it imply for a minority to imagine its history in the majority language? Skolnik makes the case that the answer lies in the creation of a German-Jewish minority culture in which historical fiction played a central role. After Hitler''s rise to power in 1933, Jewish writers and artists, both in Nazi Germany and in exile, employed images from the Sephardic past to grapple with the nature of fascism, the predicament of exile, and the destruction of European Jewry in the Holocaust. The book goes on to show that this past not only helped Jews to make sense of the nonsense, but served also as a windTrade Review"Jonathan Skolnik's masterful study reads German Jewish historical fiction as a popular genre of minority culture that sought to inscribe Jews into German culture and society. Skolnik argues that Jewish historical fiction written in German drew on the Sephardic-Jewish past and expressed a dynamic that philosopher Franz Rosenzweig dubbed 'dissimilation': an observe movement to assimilation that affirmed a distinctive Jewish identity alongside new German identities." -- Gabriel Cooper * German Studies Review *"Throughout Jewish Pasts, German Fictions, Skolnik evinces an impressive command not only of the works he analyzes, but also of the different historical and literary contexts - spanning well more than a century - out of which these works emerged and in which they intervened. His sustained close readings of two texts that vie for the right to be called the 'first' work of German-Jewish historical fiction, Auerbach's Spinoza and Heine's Der Rabbi von Bacherach, as well as his careful analysis of Lasker-Schüler's destabilizing revision in a modernist key are exemplary but can only be alluded to here." -- Sven-Erik Rose * Symposium *"Skolnik has written an outstanding book that substantially contributes to our understanding of German-Jewish history, literature, and identity formation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His work is a must-read for anyone interested in German-Jewish historical memory and self-perception." -- Christian S. Davis * Central European History *"Skolnik is excellent at drawing out the wider implications of Sephardic subject matter . . . [T]his is a deeply researched, highly acute contribution to German-Jewish cultural studies." -- Ritchie Robertson * Times Literary Supplement *"Skolnik uses the Sephardic Jewish experience to show how much the minority German Jewish culture yearned for an acceptance that never came. All quotations are in German with immediate English translations by the author. The heavy academic footnoting is not intrusive, and the excellent bibliography is in English and German . . . Highly recommended." -- S. Gittleman * CHOICE *"Jewish Pasts, German Fictions is a first-rate piece of scholarship that makes a crucial and original contribution to the fields of German-Jewish history, Jewish literature, and both Jewish Studies and literary studies more generally. Skolnik offers the first comprehensive discussion in English—or any other language—of the pivotal role that historical fiction played in German-Jewish culture from the 1830s well into the postwar period." -- Jonathan Hess * University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill *"Skolnik's approach is multifaceted. The core contribution is the nuanced analysis of the genre of historical fiction as 'a modern form of cultural memory'...the book interacts with a wide range of scholarship in German Jewish studies—above all, by literary scholars (Jeffrey Sammons, Florian Krobb, Mark Gelber) and historians (Ismar Schorsch, David Sorkin, Michael Meyer). These many strains make for an erudite and sophisticated book that contains ample resources for students and scholars." -- Abigail Gillman * Monatshefte *

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Book SynopsisA fast-paced, fact-filled comparative essay in critical topography and cultural geography that cuts across the "islandologies" of different cultures and argues for a world of islands.Trade Review"Islandology is one of the most remarkable books you will read in a long time and is thoroughly recommended to all who wish to inquire into how geography is enmeshed in the human imagination" -- Robert J. Mayhew * Journal of Historical Geography *"Islandology is a compendium, a word and image album, a guide bleu, and a piece of theory all rolled into one. In its dense and playful disposition of islandological lexemes, examples, paradigms, facts, language games, the book is a voracious post modernist cosmography. Shell, a cosmographer for the Internet era, exposes a poignant transcendental restlessness in his conceptual and literary mappings of the island in the imaginary of modernity. Such a generous study in critical topography belongs alongside Lefebvre, Serres and Yi-Fu Tuan in creating new horizons for the study of place and landscape across many fields and disciplines." -- Jonathan Bordo"Islandology is one of those rare works that perfectly reflects its object of study. Instead of being a contribution to a particular field of research, it is an island of scholarship that allows us to chart submerged connections among such fields as cultural geography, literary analysis, and socio-political inquiry." -- Peter Fenves

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Book SynopsisThe Mediterranean port of Livorno was home to one of the most prominent and privileged Jewish enclaves of early modern Europe. Focusing on Livornese Jewry, this book offers an alternative perspective on Jewish acculturation during the eighteenth century, and reassesses common assumptions about the interactions of Jews with outside culture and the impact of state reforms on the corporate Jewish community. Working from a vast array of previously untapped archival and literary sources, Francesca Bregoli combines cultural analysis with a study of institutional developments to investigate Jewish responses to Enlightenment thought and politics, as well as non-Jewish perceptions of Jews, through an exploration of Jewish-Christian cultural exchange, sites of sociability, and reformist policies. Mediterranean Enlightenment shows that Livornese Jewish scholars engaged with Enlightenment ideals and aspired to contribute to society at large without weakening the boundaries of traditionalTrade Review"Mediterranean Enlightenment is a long overdue cultural history of one of the largest and most important Jewish communities in the eighteenth century. Far more than merely a local study, though, it invites us to rethink the impact of the Enlightenment on European Jews and to reconsider the dynamics of acculturation and differentiation among different ethnic groups in the cosmopolitan port cities of the early modern period." -- Matthias B. Lehmann * American Historical Review *"Exploring a wide range of archival and literary sources, Francesca Bregoli combines cultural, intellectual, social, and political history to add nuance to the emerging picture of how communities and Jewish intellectuals interacted with Enlightenment culture and the reforming-absolutist state . . . Highly recommended for academic libraries." -- Harvey Sukenic * Association of Jewish Libraries *"Despite the scholarly character of the book, meant to clarify how Jewish minorities related to non-Jewish cultural traditions in 18th-century Mediterranean regions, the book is very enjoyable even to a reader that is not specialized in Jewish studies . . . The book is without doubt an important contribution to the knowledge of Tuscan history and it also demonstrates the importance of studying Tuscany as a separate cultural and institutional reality." -- Maurizio Tani * Nordicum-Mediterraneum *"This is a complex story and one that Bregoli has finely crafted, for which she earns our thanks. This book is a book that must be read." -- Kenneth Stow * Jewish History *"This book fills a significant gap in Jewish and Italian historiographies in an impressive and exemplary fashion. It will immediately command attention as a major scholarly work." -- Lois Dubin * Smith College *"In Mediterranean Enlightenment, Francesca Bregoli marshals an array of new archival sources to illuminate Jewish intellectual, political, and cultural life in eighteenth century Livorno. This impressive and significant work of scholarship challenges the conventional narrative of the role of the Haskalah movement, of port cities, and of the very definition of what modernity and tradition meant for Jews. Its implications will resonate far beyond its particular subject." -- Elisheva Carlebach * Columbia University *"Ultimately, the major contribution of Mediterranean Enlightenment is the use of Livorno to reframe the eighteenth-century European Jewish experience by offering a different model of the dynamics of continuity and change...Bregoli's book deserves a place on the bookshelf next to the works of David Sorkin and Shmuel Feiner on Germany, David Ruderman and Todd Endelman on England, Lois Dubin on eighteenth-century Trieste, and Jay Berkovitz on Metz." -- Adam Shear * H-Judaic *"Bregoli's work is groundbreaking not only because it refines our understanding of how the Enlightenment impacted different Jewish communities, but also because it forces us to re-evaluate the centrality of anti-religious thinking in the Enlightenment in general. Bregoli's study of Livorno provides a compelling case of a community that embraced modernity and the Enlightenment, even though it resisted the religious reforms that often came with it." -- Flora Cassen * Journal of Modern Italian Studies *

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that regional food culture is intrinsic to how Chinese connect to the past, live in the present, and imagine their future. It focuses on Shanghaia food lover's paradiseand identifies the importance of regional food culture at pivotal moments in the city's history, and in Chinese history more generally.Trade Review"This remarkable, path-breaking book maps the parameters of a new field—food studies—as an integral part of the socio-cultural history of modern China. It is his subtle methodology, coupled with his superb knack for storytelling, that will cement Mark Swislocki's reputation as one of the most sophisticated cultural historians of his generation." -- Dorothy Ko * author of Cinderella's Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding *"Within a few pages, Culinary Nostalgia establishes itself as one of the most original, serious and thought-provoking contributions to the growing body of literature on Chinese culinary culture." -- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies"This is a fascinating and highly original study of Shanghai based on personal reminiscences and meticulous research into newspapers and magazines, local gazetteers, sociological urban studies, and municipal archives. Aptly locating the history of restaurant culture in Shanghai within the larger history of the city, the author has created that rarity: a fine work of scholarship that is truly enjoyable to read." -- Joanna Waley-Cohen * New York University *"In meticulously tracing expressions of culinary nostalgia during specific stages of Shanghai history, this book provides a clear lineage of its creation, transformation, and deployment at different historical moments. It thus . . . makes important contributions to the study of Chinese food history in two other ways. On the one hand, this book undertakes a study of an as yet under-researched area: China's regional food cultures and their discursive enactments. On the other hand, it also showcases Shanghai as a vibrant site of discursive engagements despite or precisely because, as the author argues, its cosmopolitan public image and the common perception of its total Westernization, both of which often obscure its deep immersion in Chinese culinary traditions and its embeddedness in modern Chinese history." -- Modern Chinese Literature and Culture"This beautiful book represents a huge task, based on the scrutiny of an extensive corpus of varied source material: newspapers, archives, monographs, biographies, literary texts, etc. It is a goldmine for historical specialists on Shanghai, who will find a huge amount of information, suggestions, ideas and trails to follow, sometimes light-years away from food and the culinary arts. Food historians will give it pride of place on their bookshelf because it is seldom that one can gain direct access to the belly of a city."International Journal of Asian Studies"In this book, a historical study of restaurant food and its meanings in Shanghai, Mark Swislocki brings fresh and interesting material to the field of modern Chinese history and, simultaneously, to the rapidly expanding field of culinary history . . . Swislocki's research builds on earlier histories of native-place in Shanghai, but takes the reader into hitherto unexplored domains of this hybrid city. Readers will enjoy the journey. Original, engaging, and stimulating, this is the first book-length English-language study of a local food culture in China. It extends by a wide margin the existing body of research in this area." -- Antonia Finnane * American Historical Review *"Mark Swislocki's Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai is one of a large number of recent monographs dealing with Shanghai's encounter with modernity, but it is the first to approach Shanghai with the argument that 'regional food culture was intrinsic to how Chinese connect to the past, lived in the present, and imagined a future.' . . . [Swislocki] offers much to consider and admire to anyone interested in the study of food as a lens through which to examine larger cultural and historical issues." -- Christopher Nugent * Gastronomica: The Journal of Food & Culture *"This is a significant book which offers a refreshing new approach to the study of China through the history of food, showing how city residents construct their relationship to the city, the rest of China and the world by the way that they discuss and remember food and restaurants." -- Chee-Beng Tan * The China Journal *"While there are a great many books on Chinese cooking, collections of recipes, and the like, far rarer are scholarly studies of Chinese foodways in broader terms and on the position of foodways and food in the general cultural history of China and of its regions. Swislocki has not only contributed one of these very rare books but he has done so in considerable style and with great originality to produce a book that is not only superb food history but makes a major contribution to Chinese history in general." -- Paul D. Buell * Journal of Asian History *"Mark Swislocki's well-researched Culinary Nostalgia represents a sophisticated and comprehensive study of Shanghai, a harbinger in China's quest for modernity and cultural exchange. In lucid prose, the book analyzes the ways in which the city's residents coped with rapid change and defined its identity in different periods." -- Yong Chen * Journal of World History *Table of Contents@fmct:Contents @toc4:List of Illustrations xxx List of Weights, Measures, and Currencies xxx Acknowledgements xxx @toc2:Introduction: Thinking about Food in Chinese History 1 Chapter 1: "Only Available in Shanghai": The Honey Nectar Peach and the Idea of Shanghai in Late Imperial China 000 Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Cities: Food Culture and the Urban Ideal in Late Qing Shanghai 000 Chapter 3: From Modernity to Tradition: Western Food in Late Qing and Early Republican Shanghai 000 Chapter: 4 "Where the Five Directions Come Together": Regional Foodways, the Nation, and Consumer Culture in Republican Shanghai 000 Chapter 5: Serve the People: Socialist Transformations of Shanghai Food Culture 000 Epilogue: Shanghai Cuisine Past and Present: Between Benbangcai and Haipaicai 000 @toc4:Notes 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000

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Book SynopsisThis book presents for the first time the complete text of the earliest known Ladino-language memoir, transliterated from the original script, translated into English, and introduced and explicated by the editors. The memoirist, Sa''adi Besalel a-Levi (18201903), wrote about Ottoman Jews'' daily life at a time when the finely wrought fabric of Ottoman society was just beginning to unravel. His vivid portrayal of life in Salonica, a major port in the Ottoman Levant with a majority Jewish population, thus provides a unique window into a way of life before it disappeared as a result of profound political and social changes and the World Wars. Sa''adi was a prominent journalist and publisher, one of the most significant creators of modern Sephardic print culture. He was also a rebel who accused the Jewish leadership of Salonica of being corrupt, abusive, and fanatical; that leadership, in turn, excommunicated him from the Jewish community. The experience of excommunication pervades Sa''Trade Review"This work, with its rare look at the struggle between traditional society and modernizing trends in a nineteenth century Sephardic community, adds to our understanding of the beginnings of modernity in a Sephardic mode."—Harvey Sukenic, Association of Jewish Libraries"It is an important contribution to the corpus of texts illustrating how communities and individuals experienced the transition from life in a traditional Jewish community to citizenship in the modern nation-state."—Nina Caputo, The Marginalia Review"What an intellectual treat is this poignant epitaph for a lost civilization! . . . The editors and translators add to their odyssey of the manuscript their own biographical contributions to the academic revival and scholarly study of this lost Sephardi civilization, a welcome but sad memorial for a dried-up tributary of the Jewish stream. . . . Essential."—S. Bowman CHOICE"We must be grateful to the two editors and the translator of this memoir for bringing a rare document back to life. Surviving the near-annihilation and dispersion of the Jews of Salonica over the last hundred years, this precious historical source offers a passionate portrait of the struggle between traditionalist and modernizing forces within the late-nineteenth-century Sephardic world. It is a gripping read and will advance the scholarly agenda of Sephardic studies."—Francesca Trivellato, Yale University"Sa'adi Besalel a-Levi was a man who found himself at the threshold of momentous changes that would all but swallow everything that was familiar to him in the early decades of the twentieth century. Yet, rather than meditating nostalgically about a world that was fast disappearing, Sa'adi embraced change with enthusiasm. He hoped that the future that was dawning would be free of the shackles of tradition that held him and the Jewish community of Salonica back. His unusual conviction about the power of progress, his efforts to make intellectual sense of the transformations that surround him, his repeated clashes with those who held power over him, and his repeated disappointments make this an exceptionally engaging book. Aron Rodrigue, Sarah Abrevaya Stein, and Isaac Jerusalmi have done a marvelous job of translating, editing, and making accessible this uniquely valuable source. Their work enriches our understanding of the life of the Jewish communities in and around Salonica and beyond in the second half of the nineteenth century in a profound way."—Reşat Kasaba, University of Washington"How marvelous to have the first known memoir in Ladino so beautifully translated and explicated. Sa'adi, an Ottoman Jew, astute observer, and person of diverse accomplishments, lived through the better part of the long 19th century. His invaluable memoir, completed before the cataclysmic events of World War I and collapse of the Ottoman Empire, documents a world already in flux. The beauty of this memoir is the vividness with which Sa'adi conveys the very experience of change as someone who not only witnessed it but also lived and felt it. The reader can hear his voice and visualize what he describes in such telling detail. This is a book to read for the sheer pleasure of it and an accessible way to engage students new to the history of Ottoman Jews."—Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, New York University

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Book SynopsisThe book traces how German and French Jews employed anti-Catholic polemics to create their own visions of modernity, national belonging, and proper religiosity from the Enlightenment to the early twentieth century.Trade Review"[The Modernity of Others] is an ambitious and, in many ways, impressive first book . . . Joskowicz has brought Jews into the history of the development of liberalism. He has successfully demonstrated how histories of antisemitism, anticlericalism, and anti-Catholicism can shed light on one another when they are considered together . . . [H]is work makes an important contribution to the historiography of modern Western Europe." -- Julie Kalman * The Journal of Modern History *"Reading Ari Joskowicz's The Modernity of Others, I imagine myself attending a chess tournament. I see and follow Jews and Catholics positioning themselves on a discursive chessboard. . . . Joskowicz understands secularism as various attempts to define the proper place of religion in politics and society as expressed in conversations about the modernity of Others[.] . . . If I am reminded of a chess tournament, it is no doubt due to the relational approach Joskowicz explicitly sets forth in his book: he is attentive to actors' arguments and notices that they are not predetermined; they respond to each other while shaping views at the same time." -- Barbara Thériault * German Studies Review *"Ari Joskowicz offers a fascinating history of Jewish engagement in anti-Catholic rhetoric in nineteenth-century Germany and France . . . The Modernity of Others is carefully researched and eminently readable study of a neglected topic that deserves a wide audience." -- Robert E. Alvis * H-Net *"Joskowicz has written a very fine study which will greatly interest scholars of Jewish, French and German history, anticlericalism and anti-Catholicism and more broadly, the development of secularism. It is an exciting period when we see works with this level of scholarship and ambition." -- Timothy Verhoeven * H-Soz-Kult *"In this extraordinary work of scholarship, Ari Joskowicz explores the ways in which Jewish public figures—scholars, journalists, parliamentarians, rabbis—used anti-Catholicism and anticlericalism to construct a collective Jewish identity compatible with a modern national identity . . . Joskowicz has mastered the historical narratives and the historiographical traditions of two of the most studied countries in modern Europe, in addition to the literature produced in four languages about the Jews in both national traditions. He moves effortlessly between or among all of these. This is a stunning and stimulating work of scholarship." -- Mitchell B. Hart * German History *"[The Modernity of Others is a] probing, nuanced, and carefully written volume . . . This is a complex story with sometimes-subtle variations, which could easily lose the inattentive reader. Fortunately, introductions and conclusions in each chapter helpfully keep the essence of the analysis in view . . . Joskowicz has done a remarkable job in accomplishing his principal goal. He has mastered a mass of primary and secondary material and brought genuine novelty to our understanding of the Jewish experience in nineteenth-century Germany and France. His book should be read by all serious students of the subject." -- Michael A. Meyer * Shofar: Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies *"His analysis of the Jewish intelligentsia and the public sphere pulls from a wide range of sources, including literary works, the press, and parliamentary disputes . . . Organized topically and chronologically, this important contribution to modern Jewish history will challenge advanced students and faculty with its nuanced and compelling thesis . . . Highly recommended." -- M. L. Scott * CHOICE *"With impressive erudition, Ari Joskowicz straddles the divide between French and German history in this important new book about Jewish anti-Catholicism. Not a typical comparative study, The Modernity of Others shows that these histories are 'entangled' rather than fully separate, interacting with one another while remaining distinct. This fascinating approach provides new ways to think about Jewish modernization, as well as about the construction of 'secularism' in modern France and Germany." -- Lisa Moses Leff * American University *

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Book SynopsisWhat is meant by Jewish Spain? The term itself encompasses a series of historical contradictions. No single part of Spain has ever been entirely Jewish. Yet discourses about Jews informed debates on Spanish identity formation long after their 1492 expulsion. The Mediterranean world witnessed a renewed interest in Spanish-speaking Jews in the twentieth century, and it has grappled with shifting attitudes on what it meant to be Jewish and Spanish throughout the century.At the heart of this book are explorations of the contradictions that appear in different forms of cultural memory: literary texts, memoirs, oral histories, biographies, films, and heritage tourism packages. Tabea Alexa Linhard identifies depictions of the difficulties Jews faced in Spain and Northern Morocco in years past as integral to the survival strategies of Spanish Jews, who used them to make sense of the confusing and harrowing circumstances of the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist repression, and World WaTrade Review"This is an important study about the role of Jews and Judaism in Spanish culture and the heritage as well as in modern politics, especially with regards to the Franco regime, the Second World War and the Arab-Israeli conflict. An important contribution to Spanish studies as well as to Sephardi, Jewish, and Mediterranean studies." -- Rachel Simon * Princeton University, Association of Jewish Libraries *"The main argument of this excellent, sophisticated, and ambitious book is that writers and witnesses narrate instances of Jewish life in turbulent 20th-century Spain and Europe—specifically, the Spanish Civil War, WW II, the Holocaust, and the current uptick in anti-Semitism—by invoking the remote past. The varied ways in which accounts of these events appear in different forms of cultural production from literary texts, memoirs, oral histories, films, and heritage tourism material inform Linhard's study . . . Linhard contributes to the scholarly trend that admirably complicates the often ahistorical, non- or poorly contextualized studies that draw a direct line between early modern Iberian persecution of Jews and the Holocaust . . . Highly recommended." -- E. A. Sanabria * CHOICE *"Lively, forceful, and immensely well-informed, Jewish Spain will be of great value both to Hispanic Studies and Jewish Studies." -- Andrew Bush * Vassar College *"Tabea Alexa Linhard's Jewish Spain: A Mediterranean Memory is an evocative and historically informed exploration of the multiple meanings and manifestations of the elusive idea of 'Jewish Spain' or Sepharad, within a wide range of twentieth- and twenty-first-century Spanish cultural production, including literary texts, film, memoirs, oral histories, biographies and heritage tourism materials. The work stands at the cutting edge of recent and growing scholarly inquiry connecting modern Iberian and Jewish Studies, as it draws on memory studies and cultural theory in charting the genealogy of twentieth- and twenty-first-century appropriations and memories of 'Jewish Spain'." -- Michal Rose Friedman * Bulletin of Spanish Studies *"Linhard is an innovative cultural historian. In Jewish Spain, she has provided us with an illuminating and provocative meta-historiographical work, elaborated through a complex discussion with the most recent studies on memory and contemporary Judaism—one that will be indispensable for anyone seeking to understand this intricate and polysemic cultural construct." -- Cynthia Gabbay * Studies in Modern Jewry *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In her book, ¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico, Professor Marie Sarita Gaytán provides a rich account of the compelx and disjointed paths through which agave is produced, consumed, and represented in Mexico and beyond its national borders, paths which converge in the construction and renegotiations of Mexican identity . . . Her attention to film and music demonstrates some of the multidisciplinary reach of cultural studies and the institutional criticism spearheaded early on in communications studies and continuing in anthropology in Latin America and beyond. ¡Salud!" -- Lisa Peñaloza * Consumption Markets & Culture *"This book is its namesake liquor manifested: blanco in its rollicking prose, reposado in its smooth unveiling of an epic saga, añejo in its deep research. Add a touch of lime and salt, and you have a perfect evening of reading." -- Gustavo Arellano * author and columnist of ¡Ask a Mexican! *"This riveting, beautifully-written book presents a groundbreaking examination of why and how tequila has achieved special distinction as a national symbol. Especially impressive is Gaytán's discussion of the ritual practices associated with tequila and the multiple ways in which the drink has come to represent both tradition and modernity. Simply terrific." -- Stanley H. Brandes * author of Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond *"¡Tequila! is an intellectual spirit, and a model for rigorous transnational and interdisciplinary analysis of Mexico's tequila cultural symbolism, production, and consumption. A superb investigation of Mexican nationalist consumption and power." -- Deborah R. Vargas, University of California * Riverside *"This fascinating, well-written book explores how tequila has come to symbolize what it means to be Mexican . . . A must read for all serious scholars of Mexican history as well as those engaged in alcohol studies research . . . Highly recommended." -- F.H. Smith * Choice *"¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico is a welcome addition to the literature on material culture in Mexico and the first to critically examine tequila as enduring symbol of Mexican national identity . . . [Gaytán] writes in a clear, engaging manner and the text would be an excellent addition to undergraduate courses on modern Mexican history or popular culture as well as anthropology and sociology courses dealing with food and drink." -- Ronda L. Brulotte * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Food and drink are every bit as important to national images as flags and anthems. For Mexicans, tequila, sipped with a slice of limón and a pinch of salt, is, as Marie Sarita Gaytán puts it, the very spirit of Mexico . . . Yet, as Gaytán points out in this deft history, tequila is, like most national icons, of recent vintage." -- Rachel Laudan * The Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe clepsydra is an ancient water clock and serves as the primary metaphor for this examination of Jewish conceptions of time from antiquity to the present. Just as the flow of water is subject to a number of variables such as temperature and pressure, water clocks mark a time that is shifting and relative. Time is not a uniform phenomenon. It is a social construct made of beliefs, scientific knowledge, and political experiment. It is also a story told by theologians, historians, philosophers, and astrophysicists. Consequently, Clepsydra is a cultural history divided in two parts: narrated time and measured time, recounted time and counted time, absolute time and ordered time. It is through this dialog that Sylvie Anne Goldberg challenges the idea of a unified Judeo-Christian time and asks, What is Jewish time? She consults biblical and rabbinic sources and refers to medieval and modern texts to understand the different sorts of consciousness of time found in Judaism. Trade Review"Sylvie-Anne Goldberg, a daughter of the Annales school, is truly a pioneer in the cultural history of Jewish time. Having her work available in English will help provide scope, grounding, and coherence to this lively area of current debate. It will at once set to rest some hoary falsehoods about Jewish 'timelessness' and spark new insights into the myriad and unexpected ways that Jewish temporalities are both distinctive and like those of the people amongst whom they live."—Jonathan Boyarin, Cornell University"Goldberg is a perceptive and eloquent observer of Jewish lore and customs, and Clepsydra is a fascinating essay."—Warren Zev Harvey, The Jewish Quarterly Review"An innovative perspective on time and Judaism and a contribution as valuable as its subject is vast. From now on, I will pause to ponder the attitudes towards time expressed by the authors, protagonists, and readers of the Jewish texts I encounter, and my anticipated musings are a greater gift than Sylvie Anne Goldberg could have given me with a fresh block of information."—David Malkiel, Bar-Ilan UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Ad tempus universal. . . A Time for Everyone? 2. Where Does Time Come From? 3. Where Is Time Going? 4. God's Time, Humanity's Time 5. The Time to Come 6. Temporal Scansions 7. Eschatological Scansions: Jubilees and Apocalypses 8. Historiographical Scansions: Between Adam and the Present Time 9. Mathematical Scansions: In What Era? 10. Directed Time 11. Exercises in Rabbinic Calculation 12. Exercises in Rabbinic Thought 13. A Fleeting Conclusion

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Wives, Husbands, and Lovers] is a very valid reading for all people interested in the demographic and social changes in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan. Also it should be mentioned that despite the number of contributors, the book is not an anthology but a very well organized and internally coherent text leading the reader through the time and space of changes in the marital and sexual behaviors in this part of the world."—Adam Horálek, Chinet"This is a book that should be on everyone's bookshelf. The authors revisit familiar topics—love, sexuality, and marriage—with knowledgeable eyes. Each contributor posits a different set of questions that highlights the normative shifts taking place. The book participates in the new trend of comparing marriage and family life in the Mainland with Hong Kong and Taiwan. In doing so, the book provides a more comprehensive, ethnographic overview of the many changes taking place in Chinese society."—William Jankowiak, Gender & Society"This book opens the Pandora's box of marriage issues in China, offering readers a view of the growing anomalies of familial, sexual, and marital mores and the complexities engendered by deviancies in the three Chinese societies of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the PRC . . . The book injects new blood into scholarship on the topic of marriage and sexuality and offers alternative ways of thinking and questioning institutions."—Wang Pan, Pacific Affairs"Wives, Husbands, and Lovers explores how the dramatic changes in sexuality and marriage since the 1980s are currently challenging the fundamentals of family life in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. The authors present vivid descriptions of how increases in premarital sex, premarital cohabitation, divorce, same sex marriage, cross-border sexual and marital relations, and even births outside of marriage have shaken basic assumptions about marriage in all three locales. Even long-time students of East Asia will find much in this book that is surprising and new."—Martin K. Whyte, Harvard University

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Book SynopsisItaly has grappa, Russia has vodka, Jamaica has rum. Around the world, certain drinksespecially those of the intoxicating kindare synonymous with their peoples and cultures. For Mexico, this drink is tequila. For many, tequila can conjure up scenes of body shots on Cancún bars and coolly garnished margaritas on sandy beaches. Its power is equally strong within Mexico, though there the drink is more often sipped rather than shot, enjoyed casually among friends, and used to commemorate occasions from the everyday to the sacred. Despite these competing images, tequila is universally regarded as an enduring symbol of lo mexicano. Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico traces how and why tequila became and remains Mexico's national drink and symbol. Starting in Mexico's colonial era and tracing the drink's rise through the present day, Marie Sarita Gaytán reveals the formative roles played by some unlikely characters. Although the notorious Pancho Villa was a teetotaler, his image is noTrade Review"In her book, ¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico, Professor Marie Sarita Gaytán provides a rich account of the compelx and disjointed paths through which agave is produced, consumed, and represented in Mexico and beyond its national borders, paths which converge in the construction and renegotiations of Mexican identity . . . Her attention to film and music demonstrates some of the multidisciplinary reach of cultural studies and the institutional criticism spearheaded early on in communications studies and continuing in anthropology in Latin America and beyond. ¡Salud!" -- Lisa Peñaloza * Consumption Markets & Culture *"This book is its namesake liquor manifested: blanco in its rollicking prose, reposado in its smooth unveiling of an epic saga, añejo in its deep research. Add a touch of lime and salt, and you have a perfect evening of reading." -- Gustavo Arellano * author and columnist of ¡Ask a Mexican! *"This riveting, beautifully-written book presents a groundbreaking examination of why and how tequila has achieved special distinction as a national symbol. Especially impressive is Gaytán's discussion of the ritual practices associated with tequila and the multiple ways in which the drink has come to represent both tradition and modernity. Simply terrific." -- Stanley H. Brandes * author of Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond *"¡Tequila! is an intellectual spirit, and a model for rigorous transnational and interdisciplinary analysis of Mexico's tequila cultural symbolism, production, and consumption. A superb investigation of Mexican nationalist consumption and power." -- Deborah R. Vargas, University of California * Riverside *"This fascinating, well-written book explores how tequila has come to symbolize what it means to be Mexican . . . A must read for all serious scholars of Mexican history as well as those engaged in alcohol studies research . . . Highly recommended." -- F.H. Smith * Choice *"¡Tequila! Distilling the Spirit of Mexico is a welcome addition to the literature on material culture in Mexico and the first to critically examine tequila as enduring symbol of Mexican national identity . . . [Gaytán] writes in a clear, engaging manner and the text would be an excellent addition to undergraduate courses on modern Mexican history or popular culture as well as anthropology and sociology courses dealing with food and drink." -- Ronda L. Brulotte * Journal of Anthropological Research *"Food and drink are every bit as important to national images as flags and anthems. For Mexicans, tequila, sipped with a slice of limón and a pinch of salt, is, as Marie Sarita Gaytán puts it, the very spirit of Mexico . . . Yet, as Gaytán points out in this deft history, tequila is, like most national icons, of recent vintage." -- Rachel Laudan * The Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the role of emotion in contemporary instances of racial violence and discrimination.Trade Review"The Emotional Politics of Racism is a sustained act of ethical witnessing. Paula Ioanide offers fresh insights into the relationship between social order and alienation, showing the interrelation of explanatory and affective modes that perpetuate gendered racial hierarchy. A must read for all students of racial capitalism."—Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California"The Emotional Politics of Racism is a tour de force, a powerful, passionate, ethical insistence on thinking carefully and analytically about racial subordination and social justice. Beautifully written and researched, this book makes significant contributions to critical race theory, feminist studies, law, cultural studies, sociology of culture, political theory, and ethnic studies."—Barbara Tomlinson, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument: Beyond the Trope of the Angry Feminist"Paula Ioanide's deft reading of a series of racialized spectacles explores the complex economy of fears, longings, and fantasies that structure the white public imagination. She persuasively demonstrates the need for a new framework of political analysis centered on shared affect, feelings, and desires."—Daniel Martinez HoSang, University of OregonTable of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Facts and Evidence Don't Matter Here chapter abstractThe introduction theorizes how and why emotions play a central role in fostering people's investments in oppressive institutional practices in the United States and globally. It argues that hegemonic fears, resentments, and stigmas attached to criminality, terrorism, welfare dependency, and undocumented immigration make beliefs and stereotypes about Black, Latino/a, Arab and Muslim people intransigent. Psychoanalytic and social psychological frameworks help explain how affectively charged ideologies tend to diminish people's receptivity to facts and evidence that challenge their beliefs. The introduction argues that understanding gendered racism through purely cognitive frameworks of racist intent or ignorance limits our ability to account for people's unconscious, unintentional and embodied investments in oppression. Understanding how unconscious affects structure people's ideological fantasies, identities, and political purpose increases our ability to create counter-cultures of ethical witnessing and effective antiracist feminist strategies. Part I: "Criminals" and "Terrorists": The Emotional Economies of Military-Carceral Expansion chapter abstractPart I offers a broad overview of the apparatuses that helped construct public desires for the unprecedented expansion of the military-carceral state since the 1980s. It outlines the national political discourses, media representations and state policies that helped construct emotional economies of fear and aggression about "criminality" and "terrorism." Color-blind and racially coded discourses and representations encouraged U.S. constituents to support forms of punishment and containment that targeted Black, Latino/a, Arab and Muslim people through the War on Drugs, immigrant detentions, and the War on Terror. Part I pays particular attention to socially shared emotional economies attached to the ideological fantasies of law and order and American exceptionalism. These hegemonic emotions reward people who identify with being law abiding (through racial appearance, behavior, style or speech) with an affective sense of superiority over those who are assumed to be criminals and terrorists. 1New York, NY: The Raging Emotions of White Police Brutality chapter abstractChapter 1 investigates the 1997 case of police brutality against Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant. It offers a localized reading of the ways dominant stereotypes and feelings about Haitian immigrants and Black "criminality" in New York City helped structure NYPD police officers' violence toward Louima and other Black residents. Officer Justin Volpe and the other white police officers involved in Louima's brutalization employed historically haunting scripts of anti-Black sexualized violence to recuperate their sense of patriarchal white dominance. This instance of brutality was part of a continuum of police violence and harassment encouraged by Mayor Rudolph Guiliani's "zero tolerance" measures, which popularized emotional fears that Black "criminality" and Haitian immigrant "contamination" posed threats to (implicitly white) property, bodies and space. The chapter explores multi-racial alliances that protested police brutality after Louima's case was publicized. 2Abu Ghraib, Iraq: The Evasive Emotions of U.S. Exceptionalism chapter abstractChapter 2 analyzes liberal and conservative responses to the tortures against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The case examines the ways dominant stereotypes and feelings about "Arab terrorism" manifested in sanctioned expressions of sexualized racial violence in the U.S. military. Liberal frames of reception that expressed sympathy, shock, and shame generally continued to remain wedded to orientalist projections and the ideological fantasy of U.S. exceptionalism. Both liberal and conservative American publics expressed affective investments in notions of "justice" predicated on bodily punishment, incarceration and obliteration. The War on Terror extended the logics of domestic mass incarceration and U.S.-Mexico border militarization into the global arenas of the Middle East. The chapter considers how the Abu Ghraib tortures ruptured investments in U.S. exceptionalism and 'benevolent' U.S. imperialism, opening possibilities for ethical solidarities and affinities that challenge the expansion of U.S. militarism. Part II: "Welfare Dependents" and "Illegal Aliens": The Emotional Economies of Social Wage Retrenchment chapter abstractPart II outlines the macro-political, economic and emotional processes that garnered public support for social wage divestment in the post-civil rights era. It outlines how political discourses, media representations, and institutional policies that worked together to popularize resentments and stigmas toward welfare recipients and undocumented immigrants. Colorblind, gendered and racially coded discourses and representations encouraged publics to invest in the ideological fantasy of economic self-reliance and to direct their anxieties about economic, demographic and cultural shifts toward poor Black people and Latino/a immigrants. Projecting these demographics as "taxpayer burdens" encouraged dominant majorities to invest in hostile privatism and defensive localism. Stereotypes about Black and Latina women's "hyper-fertility" and "sexual non-normativity" offered affective rewards to those invested in normative family ideals and sexuality. Such projections and emotional economies supported broader neoliberal privatization and divestment from public goods that worked against most American people's economic interests. 3New Orleans, LA: The Demolishing Emotions of Neoliberal Removal chapter abstractChapter 3 examines the emotional and property interests that led to the 2007 demolition of thousands of public housing units in New Orleans even though Hurricane Katrina had created a crisis in affordable housing. The circulation of racial stereotypes about Black "welfare dependence," "family and sexual deviance," and "criminality" amplified emotional economies that stigmatized and demonized impoverished people. Though liberals and conservatives in New Orleans expressed stereotypes and feelings about public housing differently, they shared affective attachments to white spatial, sexuality, familial, and property ideals. Both liberal and conservative public feelings resulted in housing policies that accelerated the organized abandonment of working and workless people in New Orleans and accelerated neoliberal privatization. Grassroots organizing challenged the paternalist and neoliberal logics that dominated discussions of spatial reconstruction in New Orleans through Africanist blues epistemologies that favored people over property. 4Escondido, CA: The Exclusionary Emotions of Nativist Movements chapter abstractChapter 4 interrogates a municipal ordinance in Escondido, California that sought to deny undocumented immigrants rental housing. It argues that nativist emotional economies encourage exclusionary measures and hostility toward Latino/a immigrants as a way to encourage Latino/a "self-deportation." Projecting Latino/a immigrants as "taxpayer burdens" that cause "overpopulation" in the U.S., nativist organizers reconfigure emotional stigmas attached to Black "welfare dependence" and "hyper-fertility" to Latino/a immigrants. The anti-Latino/a housing ordinances in Escondido and other locales were justified through color-blind arguments about "legality" as well as paleoconservative arguments about "mongrelization" and "Mexican reconquest." Mass pro-immigrant mobilizations in Escondido and across the nation asserted the significance of Latino/a immigrant labor and culture in the U.S. by foregrounding emotional economies that honored workers' dignity and human rights under the banner of "No One Is Illegal."

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Book SynopsisDivine Variations offers a new account of the development of scientific ideas about race. Focusing on the production of scientific knowledge over the last three centuries, Terence Keel uncovers the persistent links between pre-modern Christian thought and contemporary scientific perceptions of human difference. He argues that, instead of a rupture between religion and modern biology on the question of human origins, modern scientific theories of race are, in fact, an extension of Christian intellectual history. Keel's study draws on ancient and early modern theological texts and biblical commentaries, works in Christian natural philosophy, seminal studies in ethnology and early social science, debates within twentieth-century public health research, and recent genetic analysis of population differences and ancient human DNA. From these sources, Keel demonstrates that Christian ideas about creation, ancestry, and universalism helped form the basis of modern scientific accounts of human Trade Review"Divine Variations brilliantly traces the roots of modern racial science to Christian intellectual history and ideology. Despite the efforts of genomic researchers to portray current biological concepts of race as purely scientific, Keel shows that these scientists are secular creationists retelling religious folklore about the origins of human life. This book is a crucial contribution to the history of racial science." -- Dorothy Roberts * author of Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century *"At a moment when some evolutionary theorists have become quasi-theologians, offering universal stories of existence that are as imperialistic as their eighteenth- and nineteenth- century versions, and when popular DNA speculations about racial heritage and legacy have brought us back to the door of eugenics, Keel's book reminds us of the theological trajectories from which these concepts arise. This is not an anti-science text, but one that shows us the interrelationship of theology and science and tacit assumptions behind the scientific will to universalize. We will never be able to defeat racial reasoning so long as it is concealed and nurtured in certain kinds of scientific reasoning. Keel's book greatly aids us in separating the two." -- Willie James Jennings * author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race *"The brilliance of Terence Keel's book is to show that when it comes to race, there was no war between science and religion. Instead, this engaging and penetrating study shows how Christian ideas helped create scientific approaches to and explanations of race. Divine Variations is a must-read for all scholars of race, religion, and science." -- Edward J. Blum * co-author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America *"In this brilliantly argued and fascinating account of the development of scientific racial theory, Keel convincingly demonstrates that the modern biological sciences still bear the deep imprint of their religious origins. Divine Variations offers us insightful new ways of thinking about the historical relations between science and religion." -- Peter Harrison * author of The Territories of Science and Religion *"Terence Keel's book brings needed nuance to the cultural and scientific history of the study of human diversity. He explores the connections between the theology and science of what eventually became human microevolution, and follows the various threads down to the present day. This is an important body of scholarship, with which anyone interested in the scientific origins of human racial theory must engage." -- Jonathan Marks * author of What it Means to be 98% Chimpanzee: Apes, People and Their Genes *"Terence Keel's Divine Variations points us to the materials, the old patterns and the stitches that built our modern notion of race.... Keel's work offers us a warning that there is no panacea, no easy ideology or system that is free from the colonial theologies or so called "enlightened" philosophies. But in the face of this, and in the midst of a world where we are confronted by ever more differences and unknowns, perhaps our hope is best oriented towards theologies and scientific modes of thought that do not try to avoid the mystery, that do not wash out or totalize exceptions. Perhaps we no longer need "theories of everything" but rather theologies and science that help us to see variation, difference, and change as possibilities rather than as dangers. Keel's work is a vital step toward this endeavor." -- Brian Bantum * Reading Religion *"This volume is a critical contribution to study of the concept of race and a formidable challenge to many commonplace assumptions. Equally important, it compels the reader to reevaluate the extent to which science and religion are clearly distinct realms of thought, and offers new ways of thinking about their relationship....Summing up: Essential." -- S.C. Peterson * CHOICE *"Our longing to know where we came from and what lies ahead is fierce. But what if neither science nor religion can offer those comforts?...What I find most gripping about Keel's argument is that he does not denigrate either discipline so much as he goads us to acknowledge their shared problematic epistemological impulse." -- Michelle Wolff * The Journal of Religion *"[Divine Variations] offers an original and ambitious interpretation of science and religion, one that largely avoids framing these interactions in terms of conflict or compatibility, to address a very timely subject: race." -- Ernie Hamm * Zygon *"It is widely appreciated that current struggles over race and racism are crucially shaped by the history of racism....Terence Keel masterfully demonstrates how this is true not only with respect to the legacy of historical racism on ongoing racialized inequality; it is also manifest in how modern scientific approaches to race have been informed by religious conceptions." -- Bruce Baum * American Historical Review *"[Keel] overturns assumptions of an inherent conflict between religion and science by showing that modern Western science borrows ideas and questions from Christianity." -- Sabrina Danielsen * Sociology of Religion *"[It] is de rigueur to speak of the modern concept of 'race' as solely a product of enlightenment-era scientific thought....It is here that Terence Keel enters the fray and forcefully disrupts the narrative....While the cult of racial essentialism continues to attract new acolytes, Keel's apocrypha certainly threatens its newfound articles of faith." -- Matthew W. Hughey * Ethnic and Racial Studies *"Divine Variations shows that Christianity represents a dominant paradigm for many ways of knowing, and thus its presence in racial science is not unusual but actually expected." -- Ayah Nuriddin * Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences *"Keel's framework opens up a new way of looking at the problem of race, and a way to account for the role of both Western science and Christian supremacy in the global work of enslavement, the creation of plantation economies, and the violence of settler colonialism....Divine Variations is a pioneering effort in the historical study of race and racism, as well as science and religion." -- Myrna Perez Sheldon * Religious Studies Review *"Keel provides strong historical evidence for the view that science and religion are to be seen as two cultural efforts that need to be related in much more diverse and complicated ways than is usually accepted....Divine Variations is a book that must be considered by historians, philosophers and scientists alike." -- Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Caso * Philosophy, Theology and the Sciences *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe Introduction lays out the theoretical stakes of the work as a whole. It opens with a critical evaluation of the work of acclaimed geneticist Spencer Wells, whose 2002 publication The Journey of Man has helped frame the now-standard interpretation of human evolution and migration from a single set of ancestors out of Africa. Wells's account of human evolution reveals the epistemic authority that modern genetics has obtained on the question of race and human beginnings. It is argued that contemporary biologists inherited this authority, however, from their Christian intellectual ancestors, who provided modern scientists with a cache of interpretive tools and assumptions that proved useful for narrating the development of human life and constructing theories of racial difference believed to supersede all previous accounts of human origins. After laying out the theoretical ground to be covered, this introductory chapter provides an overview of the chapters that follow. 1Impure Thoughts: Johann Blumenbach and the Birth of Racial Science chapter abstractChapter 1 examines the thought of the eighteenth-century ethnologist Johann F. Blumenbach, whose 1775 work On the Natural Variety of Mankind is often represented as precipitating the secular turn in the modern study of race. The chapter offers an alternative account of the intellectual ancestry alive in Blumenbach's racial theories by recovering the Christian sources of his thinking. Political and philosophical anti-Judaism prevalent in late eighteenth-century Germany, the transformation of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther into a pioneer of German national identity, and the anti-Jewish writings of Johann David Michaelis in the emergent field of biblical geography at Göttingen University were all crucial political, religious, and intellectual influences during the time Blumenbach developed his racial theories. Drawing on the notion that the epistemological origins of racial science are fundamentally mongrel, this chapter argues that Blumenbach's racial theories were not an expression of pure, untainted, secular rationality. 2Superseding Christian Truth: The Quiet Revolution of Nineteenth-Century American Science of Race chapter abstractChapter 2 analyzes scientific criticism leveled against the theory of common human descent beginning in the 1830s. It focuses on the thought of Josiah C. Nott, a southern physician, early epidemiologist, and major figure of the so-called American School of Ethnology. Nott claimed that humanity's common origin, or monogenesis, was an unscientific belief and a mere carryover from when natural historians were indebted to Christian ideas about nature and human life. Thus, he attempted to establish an account of the history of human racial groups that moved beyond the constraints of the narrative recorded by Moses in the Bible. Despite these secular aspirations Nott ultimately failed to offer an account of race that stood independent of Christian thought. The case of American polygenism illustrates the degree to which modern racial science is indebted to a religious intellectual history it has attempted to deny and supersede. 3The Ghost of Christian Creationism: Racial Dispositions and Progressive Era Public Health Research chapter abstractChapter 3 explores how polygenist carryovers emerged in early twentieth-century medical and public health studies on the links between race and disease. This persistence further embedded ideas about race derived from Christian intellectual history into the methods and reasoning of modern scientists and public health researchers. In the early twentieth century, the concept of biological determinism—the idea that the fixed biological makeup of a racial group determines its members' health, behavior, and intelligence—reoccupies the epistemic space once filled explicitly by a theological view of nature. This chapter also introduces the work of the African American physician, ethicist, and social hygienist Charles V. Roman, who departed from the racial logic of his time. Roman stressed instead that the idea of common human ancestry should push public health researchers to think more critically about the social and environmental factors shaping health outcomes and black susceptibility to disease. 4Noah's Mongrel Children: Ancient DNA and the Persistence of Christian Forms in Modern Biology chapter abstractChapter 4 examines how concepts about racial ancestry and the ontological uniqueness of human life from Christian intellectual history have historically informed scientific research on the Neanderthal. These Christian forms are at play in the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome and the unanticipated discovery that mating occurred between this hominid group and modern humans around forty thousand years ago. Geneticists claim that evidence of this encounter is found almost exclusively in the genomes of Europeans and Asians. This chapter also shows how scientists in both the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries deployed notions of distinct continental groups and fixed racial traits to draw conclusions about human-Neanderthal relatedness. In both centuries, concepts and reasoning strategies implicitly divinize nature while also framing human ancestry into three original groups that represent the reoccupation of the story of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, into contemporary algorithmic representations of human genetic ancestry. 5Beyond the Religious Pursuit of Race chapter abstractChapter 5 provides a summary of the major claims of the book. It also explains how the conflict thesis for representing the relationship between science and religion fails to capture how Christian intellectual history has been key to the formation of the race concept in modern science. Citing recent data from a 2015 Pew Research Survey, this chapter argues that the conflict thesis remains a fixture in the minds of Americans, which has consequences for shifting public perceptions about the assumed secularity of the scientific study of race. It closes with a call for recognizing that the scientific study of race is involved in providing a solution to the existential dilemma of defining what it means to be human. This solution is neither value-free nor detached from the cultural and religious inheritance that has fastened itself to the work of Euro-American scientists who study race.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the economic roles played by Jews on the estates owned by the powerful Radziwiłł dynasty in the eighteenth century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, showing how they gained significant economic power and social status.Trade Review"Likely to become the next standard work on early modern Polish Jewish history, Money, Power, and Influence is breathtaking in its coverage and detail, and grounded in a rich array of Polish archival and inner Jewish sources. It is mandatory reading for anyone wishing to understand the noble-Jewish economic symbiosis that underwrote the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Teller shows us how the whole system worked." -- Glenn Dynner * Sarah Lawrence College, and author of Yankel's Tavern: Jews, Liquor, and Life in the Kingdom of Poland *"This exceptionally important book reveals the inner workings of the early modern Lithuanian seigneurial economy in which Jews came to play a vital role. Based on deep archival research and written with great conceptual clarity, Money, Power, and Influence is one of the finest studies ever written about the dynamics involved in Jews' integration into a particular economic system." -- Jonathan Karp * Binghamton University, SUNY, and author of The Politics of Jewish Commerce: Economic Thought and Emancipation in Europe, 1638-1848 *"Teller's study is an addition to the economic history of Polish Jews. However, it is also an exceptional analysis of 'an estate'—a type of enterprise which constituted the agrarian economy of the late Commonwealth....The story of the Radziwiłł Jews is also the story of the rise of the 'ethnic-controlled economy', particularly in towns. Living in dispersed small towns, Jews replaced the non-existent urban start of Polish society and became important agents of gradual modernization. Thus, Teller's book shows that Jews happened to be successful not only in the capitalist world, but also in feudal, rural society, and this is what makes his study of particular importance." -- Piotr Koryś * Economic History Review *"Teller eschews hasty generalization, focusing his attention tightly on Lithuania in the first two-thirds of the eighteenth century, and even more specifically on one large estate....Steeped in the extensive Radziwiłł archive and supplemented by the few surviving local Jewish community records form the period, as well as some memoirs and rabbinic literature, this meticulous case study offers a rich insight into the forces that shaped cross-cultural relations in the demographic heartland of European Jewry." -- Adam Sutcliffe * Times Literary Supplement *"Teller's Money, Power, and Influence is an important addition to existing studies on Jews in early modern Poland. It sheds a new light on the political and economic transformations of the state and raises further compelling questions not just about the "Jewish" part of the story but also about the larger contexts." -- Magda Teter * Jewish History *"This is a meticulously researched and analyzed study of Jews, money, and power that shows how economic agency can accrue forms of social power for a marginalized ethnoconfessional minority." -- Ellie R. Schainker * American Historical Review *"The innovative, indeed pioneering achievement of this study is its review of the case of one latifundium, the estates of the Radziwiłł family, as reflected in the family's archive, by far the largest accessible archive of its kind....While emphasizing the supreme power of the aristocratic landlord, the author offers fascinating examples of the often considerable room to maneuver enjoyed by Jewish entrepreneurs. The volume, of great benefit for the expert reader, will also complement academic reading lists in European economic history as well as European Jewish social and economic history." -- François Guesnet * Slavic Review *"Adam Teller's analysis of the economic and political power of Jews on the Radzwiłł estates is a major contribution to the English-language historiography of pre-partition Poland. Accessible and yet sophisticated, it belongs on the 'must read' list of anyone interested in Polish or Jewish history." -- Theodore R. Weeks * Canadian Slavonic Papers *"Beyond the concrete and tremendously important case study of the Radziwiłł estates, the book makes an important contribution to questions concerning the character of Jewish economic activity and of how "a kind of ethnic economy" actually formed and grew....Altogether, this very well-written book shows us how important it is to understand the economic basis of society and its influence on social and cultural developments. It should not only be an essential read for students and scholars of Polish-Jewish and Jewish economic history, but also of Polish and economic history in general, as it provides one fo the best analyses of the workings of the eighteenth-century estate system in the Lithuanian part of the commonwealth, though many conclusions are valid for magnates in the Polish part of the country as well. Additionally, it shows an exemplary case of how an ethnic minority entered and flourished in an economic niche." -- Cornelia Aust * Association for Jewish Studies Review *"Money, Power, and Influence in Eighteenth-Century Lithuania: The Jews on the Radziwiłł Estates definitely enriches the social and economic history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and broadens our view on Jewish involvement in the day-to-day economy, and should be a strong stimulus for future research on the issues raised." -- Darius Sakalauskas * Lithuanian Historical Studies *"Rather than viewing Jews as a distinct group that lived on its own and maintained a limited relationship with the society around it, Teller shows that Jews were an integral part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and wielded significant economic power that could be leveraged into a very strong political position in society....Well written and meticulously researched, this book is required reading for those interested in Jewish history and the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth." -- Lynn Lubamersky * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe book makes three main interventions. First is the use of Jewish economic history to understand both the development of Jewish society and its relations with the surrounding world. The methodology of New institutional economics, emphasizing the connection between economic and cultural factors, is employed. Second is the study of the Jews' economic roles in the specific context of magnate estates in eighteenth-century Poland-Lithuania. In this late feudal setting, Jews achieved enormous financial success, which they translated into improved social status and even power. This process is at the heart of the analysis here. Third is the history of the Radziwiłł family and its estates in Lithuania. From a low point at the beginning of the period, the family reached the pinnacle of its power at the end. This rise was based on increased estate incomes, the importance for which of Jewish economic activity is examined here. 1Jewish Settlement on the Estates chapter abstractJewish settlement on the Radziwiłł estates in Lithuania grew rapidly from the end of the seventeenth century. The Great Northern War of 1702-1720 did not hit Jewish settlement particularly seriously and may even have encouraged its growth in the period of reconstruction. By 1764, the Jewish population on the family's Lithuanian estates had reached some 20,000—almost 10 percent of the total Jewish population in the Grand Duchy. The dominant form of Jewish settlement was communities in the small agricultural towns, where they made up a large proportion of the population. Finally, by examining the Radziwiłłs' legislation on the issue of Jewish settlement and comparing Radiziwiłł-run estates with others not administered by the family, it becomes evident that Jewish settlement grew and developed as a direct consequence of a conscious policy adopted by the Radziwiłłs and their administration. 2Jews and Jewish Communities in the Urban Economy chapter abstractTowns were the main setting of Jewish life on the estates, with Jews there contributing greatly to the urban economy and bringing significant revenues to the Radziwiłł administration. The Jews' importance in the economies of both large and small towns was felt most in their domination of trade, and in particular alcohol sales. In terms of direct taxation, individual Jews seem to have paid proportionately less than non-Jews. However, both individual Jews and communities were called on to make extensive unofficial contributions, while communities also made extra payments, such as those for rabbinic licenses. Both the community councils and the rabbis acted as unofficial agents of the administration, responsible for managing the Jewish population and its economic activity. Despite this, wealthy Jews who served the Radziwiłłs directly could exempt themselves from communal jurisdiction, creating a new socioeconomic elite. 3The Economic Institutions of the Estates chapter abstractThe raison d'etre of the estate system was providing the Radziwiłłs with revenue from agricultural activity. There were four main strategies for doing so. The first was direct administration: the family established a complex administrative system, which gave it extensive, though never complete, control over estate management. For immediate income, it could choose to mortgage an estate, making the lender legal owner until the debt was repaid. In case of default, he retained the lands. Another option was giving an estate on leasehold. The lender would receive control, not ownership, of the lands for the term of the lease; estate incomes formed repayment and interest. The fourth strategy: leasing out the incomes from the estate owner's monopolies—most importantly, the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This was the only field in which Jews were deeply engaged in this period. Its profitability made it the growth sector of the estate economy. 4Jews as Estate Leaseholders: The Rise and Fall of the Ickowicz Brothers chapter abstractThe career of the brothers, Szmojło and Gdal Ickowicz, who leased the Radziwiłł holdings from 1740 to 1745, exemplifies the possibilities and risks of estate leasing for Jews. Their success was based on their entrepreneurial skills in using leases to improve their trading activity, and mercantile profits to expand their leaseholds. Their willingness to change the economic status quo by unilaterally increasing customary dues allowed them to improve estate profitability, boosting Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł's revenues. They thus won his confidence, with Szmojło becoming his personal agent. Their highhandedness made the brothers extremely unpopular. A peasant uprising ensued, during which Radziwiłł supported them. For as long as they could provide him with increased revenues, they flourished. Once they could not, they were at his mercy. When he needed income that Szmojło could not find, Radziwiłł arrested him, confiscated his fortune, and left him to die in prison. 5Arendarze: Jewish Lessees of Monopoly Rights chapter abstractIt was leases (arendas) on various incomes from monopoly rights that kept estate revenues rising. Alcohol sales were a particularly important way of selling grain on the home market. Prices rose, boosting profits, and leading Radziwiłł to expand the number of leases by investing in tavern building. He also instituted "general arendas" that included all the incomes on a single estate, allowing the wealthy Jewish leaseholders that took them to work alongside his administration as unofficial managers of monopoly incomes. Radziwiłł also used these leaseholders as personal bankers, disbursing money through payment orders drawn on them. The leaseholders gave the separate parts of their leases to less wealthy Jews, who ran individual taverns. To keep revenues up, the administration supported its leaseholders against non-Jewish clients who avoided paying their dues. The Jewish leaseholders thus formed a powerful group in estate society, clearly identified with the Radziwiłł administration. 6Jews and Trade in the Estate Economy chapter abstractJewish merchants were, with Radziwiłł encouragement, the dominant force in local markets. They were particularly important in allowing the estate administration to take advantage of new opportunities in the eighteenth century, which its established systems were unable to do. Trade served the estate economy in three ways: distribution, supply, and revenue generation. The arendarze boosted grain sales in the new economic conditions and Jewish merchants enabled the family to penetrate the new export market in flax and hemp. Jews were extremely important in supplying estate society. This mercantile activity also generated huge revenues in the form of indirect taxation. The importance of Jews in revenue generation is seen in the family's expanding river trade to Königsberg starting in the 1720s. The freight payments Jewish merchants made to ship their goods on family rafts made this newly flourishing trade viable for the Radziwiłłs, giving them easy access to the international market. Conclusion chapter abstractThe Radziwiłł administration's economic policy provided the framework for the Jews' success. They identified and played key roles in the estate economy by seizing the new opportunities of the eighteenth century. This allowed them to both serve Radziwiłł interests and create an ethnically dominated economic niche in trade and arenda. This proved so important to the estate economy that the administration gave them strong support. They thus increased their market domination, and, by becoming identified with the Radziwiłł administration, amassed power and authority in estate society. This power was, however, contingent on providing the services the administration wanted. The Jews' success in boosting estate revenues helped the Radziwiłłs, like similar magnate families, become the most powerful force in Poland-Lithuania. Jewish economic activity was thus a key factor in the development of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eighteenth century.

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Book SynopsisTaking its impetus from remarkable fact that holy things were given to children as toys in the early modern period as a way of destroying their power, this book rethinks the meaning of both iconoclasm and child's play then and now.Trade Review"The face of our play has rarely looked so complex, so beautifully strange, as in Joe Moshenska's virtuosic study. With learning and wit, he probes play's power to make and unmake human thought, challenging any too-simple images of childish things." -- Kenneth Gross * University of Rochester *"This profoundly learned and beautifully written book is the best study of play since Huizinga's Homo Ludens and even surpasses that landmark work. Endlessly supple yet always sharp, it grows out of one historical epoch to range far afield, from antiquity to our contemporary moment." -- Gordon Teskey * Harvard University *"Analyzing the complex processes by which iconoclasts tactically repurposed holy relics as mere baubles, Moshenska reveals the surprisingly urgent cultural work accomplished by purportedly childish things. This startlingly original and refreshingly multidisciplinary book will change the way we look at toys, children, and religious images." -- Michael Schoenfeldt * University of Michigan *"[An] excellent and highly thoughtful book....If Moshenska lets some spirit of play animate his own scholarly investigations into such ultimately unfathomable things, he also shows how mysterious, open-ended, adventurous, and serious such play can be." -- Rachel Eisendrath * Modern Philology *"[An] extraordinary monograph....Iconoclasm as Child's Play is a scholarly, generous and generative book, and with it Moshenska has crafted a rich and suggestive narrative that demands much more of its readers than the kind of scholarly 'book-breaking' to which we have become habituated—and rewards that much more in turn." -- Stephanie Pope * H-Soz-Kult *"Iconoclasm as Child's Play is a rich interdisciplinary exploration of iconoclasm that will reward specialists in the histories and theologies of the Reformation and early modern Catholicism, the sociological and anthropological studies of religion and play, theological aesthetics, and the field of childhood studies. Moshenska...engages multiple disciplines, historic periods, and cultural contexts bringing them into a lively, and one might say, playful, exchange that is mutually disruptive and illuminating....captivating from the opening pages of the preface." -- Mary M. Doyle Roche * Horizons *"Although Moshenska's rhetorical method is unorthodox, it is brilliantly effective and true to its subject. The book is instructive without feeling instructive. Upon final reflection, the book could perhaps best be described as philosophical artwork." -- Craig Evan Anderson * Reading Religion *"A highly original perspective that will be welcomed by scholars of play and religion alike." -- Alan Levinovitz * The Journal of Religion *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsPreface: Preface chapter abstractThe preface begins with a sermon by Roger Edgeworth, delivered in the West of England in the 1530s, that describes children playing with objects removed from monasteries. The children are interrupted by their parents, who insist that these objects be denounced as "idols." Drawing on discussions from art history and political theory, it suggests that this scene is emblematic of the way in which the closed world of child's play seems both to demand and to resist interpretation. It distinguishes the delicate interpretative balance of the scene from some more recent attempts to see play either as entirely open and free or as entirely closed and predetermined, and sketches out the overall trajectory of the book. Introduction: Introduction chapter abstractThe introduction traces the wider historical and theoretical narratives in which iconoclasm and child's play have played prominent—but typically opposed—roles. It begins with Baudelaire's association of parents who deny toys to their children with Protestantism, and shows that this is symptomatic of a widely postulated opposition between play and the Reformation, linked to the identification of violently iconoclastic disenchantment as the essence of modernity. It then explores the roles that iconoclasm and play assumed in the emergence of modern aesthetics from Schiller to Gadamer, and the prominence of toys in modern accounts of materiality. These discussions set up the larger narratives of iconoclasm and play against which the texture of iconoclastic child's play itself is tested in the chapters that follow. 1Trifle chapter abstractThis chapter begins with lists compiled in Lincolnshire in the 1550s. These lists show that objects including pyxes—containers for the Eucharist—were given to children as playthings. The chapter links this practice to the widespread discourse that sought to demean traditional religion as a mere trifling with inane and worthless things, but it argues that the practice of iconoclastic child's play differs from this polemic in that the object actually lingers as a potential locus for newly emerging meanings. This possibility is linked to the wider complexities surrounding the status of trifles and inanities in the history of Christian thought and its consistent inversions of value, as well as to the self-reflexive interrogation of the status of trifles in the writings of Thomas More. 2Doll chapter abstractThis chapter opens with a father in Cologne in the 1590s who snapped the arms from a crucifix and gave it to his children as a toy. Returning to the sermon by Edgeworth discussed in the preface, the chapter considers this broken object as what Edgeworth calls an "idoll"—a hybridization of doll and idoll. This possibility is linked to the wider presence of "holy dolls" in medieval Christianity, but ultimately the doll is explored not as a stable and readily identifiable category but as a way of conceiving of ambiguous objects that may be more or less human at different moments and subjected alternatingly to violence and care. The implications of this possibility are explored in relation to a medieval Christ child, a broken crucifix, and a contemporary representation of a shattered doll. 3Puppet chapter abstractThis chapter opens with a movable image of a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, that was made into a plaything in sixteenth century Germany. It relates this specific object to a wider range of articulated and jointed figures involved in late medieval piety that were often attacked as empty puppets by reformers. It uses these objects to think not about puppets per se but rather about the jointedness or constitutive brokenness of holy things more broadly, particularly relics poised between the sacred and the disgusting. These objects are related to the unstable place of playfulness and the material in Erasmus's writings, and to the wider place of creative breaking and the disgusting in modern art. 4Fetish chapter abstractThis chapter opens with an ambiguous set of objects collected by a Dutch woman named Margrieta van Varick and described as "Indian Babies," possibly brought with her from the Dutch East Indies to New England, and relates them to the practice of iconoclastic child's play in Malaysia. It repositions iconoclastic child's play in a fraught colonial context and asks how the play of other cultures is to be interpreted. Beginning with ethnographic and psychoanalytic discussions of child's play by Lévi-Strauss, Winnicott, and others, it then moves to consider the category of the fetish as one that has long been intertwined with the status of children and their playing. It uses the contested status of this category—as an object both replete with, and devoid of, meaning—to reconsider the fetish as plaything both in sixteenth-century Guinea and in Adorno's writing on artworks and children's games. 5Play chapter abstractThis chapter opens with a set of medieval wooden statues in Audley End House in Essex that survived in part because they spent a period being used by children as toys. It considers the uneven trajectories through which these objects have passed—existing at different points as holy things, playthings, and art-things—to consider the wider temporal narratives into which play (and especially the playing of children) is often folded. It considers the way in which educative and habituating schemes from Plato to Renaissance figures such as Thomas Elyot and Montaigne involve the interpretation of play as a linear process of habituation, but it argues that these narratives involve a defensive simplification of the way in which play can in fact unfold in and through time, an attempt to limit and tame its meanings. 6Mask chapter abstractThis chapter begins with a wooden doll from the seventeenth century that is juxtaposed with the statues from Audley End considered in the previous chapter on the basis of their equally fixed, impassive visages. This feature is used to consider the way in which children, especially when at play, have been seen as troublingly masked, inscrutable, alien beings. It discusses accounts from the sixteenth century, notably John Harington's, that recognize in play periods of vacant, blank, neutral time. It then proceeds to an extended reading of Bruegel's painting Children's Games, and especially a consideration of the reading of this work by the Nazi art historian Hans Sedlmayr. This painting, and Sedlmayr's remarkable and deeply disquieting account, are seen as encapsulating the ways in which child's play's resistance to interpretation can provoke fear and horror—a possibility linked to the periodic association of children with witchcraft and demonic possession. Conclusion: Toy chapter abstractThe conclusion returns to the larger narratives into which play has often been folded in order to reconsider them in relation to the complexities of iconoclastic child's play. It suggests that neat temporalities in which play and seriousness contrast and alternate with one another need to be replaced with trajectories that have room for sudden alteration and reversal. Drawing in part from the writings of Hans Blumenberg, Bruno Latour, Michel Serres, Siegfried Kracauer, and Igor Kopytoff, it suggests that we think of objects (including artworks) in terms of their "toy potential"—the perennial possibility that an object might both come to be, and cease to be, a plaything. The implications of this possibility are illustrated via a reading of an episode from Spenser's Faerie Queene in which a malevolent allegorical dragon is startlingly transformed into a child's plaything.

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Book SynopsisThe Merchants of Oran weaves together the history of a Mediterranean port city with the lives of Oran''s Jewish mercantile elite during the transition to French colonial rule. Through the life of Jacob Lasry and other influential Jewish merchants, Joshua Schreier tells the story of how this diverse and fiercely divided group both responded to, and in turn influenced, French colonialism in Algeria. Jacob Lasry and his cohort established themselves in Oran in the decades after the Regency of Algiers dislodged the Spanish in 1792, during a period of relative tolerance and economic prosperity. In newly Muslim Oran, Jewish merchants found opportunities to ply their trades, dealing in both imports and exports. On the eve of France''s long and brutal invasion of Algeria, Oran owed much of its commercial vitality to the success of these Jewish merchants.Under French occupation, the merchants of Oran maintained their commercial, political, and social clout. Yet by the 18Trade Review"In this eloquent evocation of the era of French colonization of Algeria told through the life of a Jewish merchant and community leader, Jacob Lasry, Joshua Schreier challenges the monolithic French colonial representation of 'indigenous' Jews as oppressed, backwards, and isolated—awaiting to be emancipated—by revealing how Algeria's cosmopolitan Jews were active agents in shaping and transforming Jewish society under French rule in Algeria." -- Daniel J. Schroeter * University of Minnesota *"Against a rising tide of large-scale histories of empire and colonization, Joshua Schreier's book calls attention to the compelling perspectives offered by individuals. Brought to life through Schreier's tenacious research, the Jewish merchant Jacob Lasry and his contemporaries give the reader a refreshing vantage point from which to rethink French colonialism in the western Mediterranean." -- Benjamin Claude Brower * The University of Texas at Austin *"Joshua Schreier challenges the conventional narrative of Jewish emancipation in Algeria at the hands of the French that began with the conquest in 1830, continued through the Crémieux Decree, and ended with the departure of Algeria's Jews for l'Hexagone during the Algerian War....Schreier not only exposes the contradictions inherent in the new colonial order but also shows how the habits and practices of Oran's merchant elite formed prior to the French conquest allowed its members, like Lasry, to adapt and to thrive under the new regime." -- Jonathan G. Katz * H-Judaic *"This is an important and thought-provoking contribution to the history of Oran and its Jewish mercantile elite; a study that will interest scholars of empire, France, Jewish history, as well as those curious about the economies of port cities amid chaotic shifts in imperial governance." -- Rachel E. Schley * H-France Review of Books *"Schreier raises questions of great importance which deserve further exploration....[T]he history of French Algeria becomes much richer and much clearer when space is allowed for more than one perspective." -- Julie Kalman * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Mediterranean Oran 2. Rebuilding Oran: Jews, Beys, and Commerce, 1792-1830 3. Making Money in a Time of Conquest 4. Struggles For and Between the Merchants of Oran 5. Jacob Lasry and the Business of Conquest 6. From "Juifs de Gibraltar" and "Algerine Jews" to Israélites Indigènes Conclusion: Moralities and Mythologies

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A monumental study of the normalization of low-level violence against Jews at the turn of the twentieth century, The Plunder unmasks how longstanding, quiet prejudice can erupt into violence, and shows that such tension, far from being a relic of a bygone era, is an integral part of modern European history. This is a timely, troubling, and compelling account of how the rule of law can be undermined by bigotry." -- Alison Frank Johnson * Harvard University *"The Plunder meticulously traces the causes, consequences, and significance of the 1898 attacks on Jewish communities across western Galicia, situating the riots within the broader context of ethnic exclusion across Europe and the Habsburg Monarchy's struggle to uphold the rule of law. By looking at how modern mass media and political organizations leveraged ethnic differences to encourage violent attacks, Daniel Unowsky provides crucial insights into later genocidal events in the Polish lands." -- Keely Stauter-Halsted * University of Illinois, Chicago *"Unowsky's taut, thematically organized history focuses on the causes, incidences, participants, and consequences of the wave of anti-Jewish riots which took place in Galicia, part of the northeastern Habsburg empire, in 1898....Recommended." -- A. Lieberman Colgan * CHOICE *"The deeply structured analysis of the 1898 [anti-Semitic riots] and their embedding into Habsburg politics, including the given reasons why they were mostly absent in eastern Galicia, assures this book a place among the standard literature on antisemitism in east central Europe." -- Frank Golczewski * Slavic Review *"This is a concise text, but one that is well organized and tries to show the violence of 1898 in the larger context of Hapsburg history[It] fills an unfortunate gap in our understanding." -- Laura A. Detre * Journal of Austrian Studies *"Daniel Unowsky's well-written and thoroughly researched study provides a sophisticated account of why the [Galicia] riots occurred, what actually happened, public and official reaction, and the events' long-term impact." -- Jeffrey Kopstein * Holocaust and Genocide Studies *"Unowsky's meticulously researched work makes a vital contribution to extant scholarship on the relationship of antisemitism to modern social, economic, and political transformations, as well as to the particular context of fin-de-siècle Austria. It should be read by anyone interested in modern antisemitism and antisemitic violence, twentieth-century East Central European Jewry, as well as those interested in modern Habsburg history more generally." -- Joshua Shanes * Journal of Jewish Identities *"[A] carefully researched, well-organized, and clearly written analysis....Daniel Unowsky's book makes a significant contribution to the study of relations between Jews and non-Jews in East-Central Europe; to our understanding of society and politics in turn-of-the-century Habsburg Galicia; and, most importantly, to a series of open questions regarding how, when, and perhaps even why intergroup relations pass from the multilayered web of daily interactions and periodic moments of tension to waves of physical violence." -- Scott Ury * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractThe introduction offers an overview of the geographical and chronological scope of the violence before setting these events within existing scholarship on antisemitism, Habsburg and Polish history, and the history of violence in central Europe around 1900. Although these events have been largely overshadowed by more deadly examples of anti-Jewish violence before and after World War I, the 1898 riots constituted the most extensive anti-Jewish attacks in the Habsburg state in the post-1867 constitutional era. The 1898 Galician violence challenged the image of Austria-Hungary as a Rechtsstaat, a state governed by the rule of law. The introduction includes chapter previews. 1Jews, Roman Catholics, and Mass Politics in Western Galicia chapter abstractThis chapter provides an overview of social, and economic relations in the small towns and villages where most of the 1898 attacks took place. What were the small towns of the region like? Who lived in them? How did Jews and Catholics interact and in what locations and contexts? In this period in Italy, France, and elsewhere, Catholic institutions propagated new and virulent forms of antisemitism. Galicia's Catholic hierarchy and clergy translated and transferred this Catholic-inflected modern antisemitism into the Galician countryside. This took place at the very moment when mass politics arrived in Habsburg central Europe. New political parties competed for rural voters, bringing a strident, aggressive style of political action, rhetoric, and organization to the countryside. The new Catholic antisemitism played a central role in this competition as it did in two fiercely fought elections for parliamentary seats that took place in the first half of 1898. 2The Plunder chapter abstractThis chapter traces the course of the 1898 events from the relatively isolated violence in the salt mining town of Wieliczka and the surrounding area in mid-March to the first major urban anti-Jewish riots in Przemyśl and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska in late May, the numerous raids around Jasło in mid-June, and the most intense violence of the period in and near Nowy Sącz and Stary Sącz, Limanowa, and Brzesko in the last week of June. These attacks convinced the Galician governor and the Vienna cabinet to declare a state of emergency in western and central Galicia. Representative riots and attacks are described in detail to provide the reader with a sense of how incidents related to each other. 3Rioters, Jews, and the State chapter abstractChapter three centers on the participants themselves. Who led the riots and why? What motivated people to join the action? The dissemination of outlandish rumors played a pivotal role in the formation of communities of anti-Jewish action during and after the violence, as did the constant efforts at mobilization by new political parties. What were the confrontations between Jews and Christians like? Many of the rioters and Jews knew each other. How did this familiarity affect events? What defensive actions did Jewish individuals, families, small communities, and organizations take? This chapter considers the roles played by various arms of the state, from local administrators and gendarmes to the Galician governor, military commanders and troops, and the ministries in Vienna as they sought to restore order. The final section of the chapter briefly considers the relative lack of participation in the riots on the part of the Ruthenian/Ukrainian population. 4The Trials chapter abstractChapter 4 turns to the search for justice. The Galician courts, closely watched by the Ministry of Justice in Vienna, assessed personal responsibility for individual acts of violence and disturbance of the peace. The first major attacks took place in mid-March 1898; five weeks of sustained violence began in the last week of May and ended only in late June. The first trials opened in the beginning of July; courts issued the last judgments in January 1899. Appeals continued for several more months. Each case was a drama that played out in local courtrooms, on the street, and in the press. What were the claims of the prosecution and the defense? How did defendants and witnesses describe the violence and their own actions? How did the media of the day portray the trials and engage in questions of guilt and responsibility? 5Politics, Policy, and Christian-Jewish Relations chapter abstractThis chapter explores efforts to inform the events with political meaning. Galicia's major Polish-speaking political players assigned blame and put forward explanations for the riots that bolstered their respective appeals for political support. In November, just before Emperor Franz Joseph's official fiftieth jubilee on December 2, newly elected Peasant Party deputies and socialists addressed the riots from the floor of the parliament building on Vienna's Ringstraße, the symbolic center of power in the monarchy. This chapter illustrates the abyss that lay between the smooth and coherent framing narratives that emerged during and after the riots and the much murkier events, motivations, actions, and reactions of participants on the ground described in earlier chapters. The final section considers how the riots altered patterns of Christian-Jewish interaction. Conclusion chapter abstractThe 1898 anti-Jewish riots and their aftermath did not simply arise from Galician backwardness. Swiftly spreading and constantly evolving rumors, slogans shouted by attackers, and statements made to investigators and on witness stands revealed a rural world rife with ignorance, drunkenness, and illiteracy, as well as medieval Catholic superstitions about Host desecration, ritual murder, well-poisoning, and the like. Yet, the specific form antisemitic violence took in Galicia in 1898—the dynamics of its spread and duration—reflected a lively and expanding partisan press, new Catholic social movements, government intervention, and the arrival of modern political mobilization in the Galician countryside. Polish peasant politicians would bring their interpretations of the 1898 violence into the newborn Poland after 1918: they argued that a modernization of the countryside that works for the benefit of Christians could come about only with the exclusion of the Jews.

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