The Jews in America

Max I. Dimont

"A wondrous tale of American Judaism" from the Colonial Era to the twentieth century, by the acclaimed author of  Jews, God, and History   ( Kirkus Reviews ).

Beginning with the Sephardim who first reached the shores of America in the 1600s, this fascinating book by historian Max Dimont traces the journey of the Jews in the United States. It follows the various waves of immigration that brought people and families from Germany, Russia, and beyond; recounts the cultural achievements of those who escaped oppression in their native lands; and discusses the movement away from Orthodoxy and the attitudes of American Jews—both religious and secular—toward Israel.
 
From the author of Jews, God, and History, which has sold more than one million copies and was called "unquestionably the best popular history of the Jews written in the English language" by the Los Angeles Times, this is a compelling account by an author who was himself an immigrant, raised in Helsinki, Finland, before arriving at Ellis Island in 1929 and going on to serve in army intelligence in World War II.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Contents
• Introduction. American Judaism: Wasteland or Renaissance?
• I. THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE (1654–1776)
• II. “THE ANTEBELLUM INTERLUDE (1776–1840)
• III. THE MANIFEST DESTINY (1840–1890)
• IV. THE TIDAL WAVES OF IMMIGRATION (1880–1940)
• V. ZIONISTS ON THE MARCH (1850–1950)
• VI. The Unique and the Universal
• Bibliography
• Copyright