ABSTRACT

Jews in the United States are a distinctive population. They are primarily the descendants of turn-of-the-century (1880-1924) immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia, reinforced after the Second World War by displaced persons. They have ascended from economic deprivation to impressive achievements in cultural and economic matters. These achievements have often been cited and frequently celebrated in articles and books, both fiction and nonfiction, that recount the struggles and achievements of individual Jews in the arts, business, the professions, academia and public service. Even writings that do not focus on the high achievers, such as Ande Manner's Poor Cousins (1972) and the turn-of-the-century study by Hutchins Hapgood, The Spirit of the Ghetto (1902), are largely anecdotal and celebratory rather than analytical and dispassionate.