Description
Book SynopsisPresents the story of the Jewish community in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. This work reveals a pattern of adaptation to American life surprisingly different from that followed by Jewish immigrants to metropolitan areas. It presents an examination of Jewish life in the Eastern European regions from which most of Johnstown's immigrants came.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1997 Anthony Leeds Prize, Society for Urban Anthropology Winner of the 1997 Saul Viener Prize in American Jewish History Winner of the 1997 Theodore Saluotos Book Award, Immigration History Society Honorable Mention for the 1997 Thomas and Znaniecki Award of the Immigration Section of the American Sociological Association One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1996 "It will be difficult for anyone to assert that the Jewish experience in smaller United States communities is just New York in miniature after reading Ewa Morawska's masterly study... A magnificent addition to the literature of American Jewish History."--Hyman Berman, Journal of American History "Nicely supplements studies of the urban American Jewish experience... [One] comes away from this book impressed by its depth of research and by its socio-historical scope."--The Jerusalem Post "Ewa Morawska has written a gem of a book ... [an] opalescent mother of pearl with its many nuances... A new standard for historical and sociological studies of immigrants, small city societies, middle-class culture, and American Jews."--Deborah Dash Moore, Journal of Social History
Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsList of TablesPreface: What this Book is About, What is Different About It, and Who Helped in its MakingCh. 1In the Shtetls and Out3Ch. 2Fitting Old-Country Resources into a New Place: The Formation of a (Multi)-Ethnic Economic Niche31Ch. 3Insecure Prosperity72Ch. 4Small Town, Slow Pace: Transformations in Jewish Sociocultural Life133Ch. 5In the Middle on the Periphery: Involvement in the Local Society186Ch. 6Through Several Lenses: Making Sense of Their Lives214Epilogue: Postwar Era: A Decline of the Community245Appendix I: (Self)Reflections of a Fieldworker255Appendix II: Members of the Jewish Community in Johnstown and Vicinity Who Participated in This Study286Notes287Index361
