Lower East Side Memories: A Jewish Place in America

(Paperback)

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Description

Manhattan's Lower East Side stands for Jewish experience in America. With the possible exception of African-Americans and Harlem, no ethnic group has been so thoroughly understood and imagined through a particular chunk of space. Despite the fact that most American Jews have never set foot there - and many come from families that did not immigrate through New York much less reside on Hester or Delancey Streets - the Lower East Side was the place where life pulsated, bread tasted better, relationships were richer, tradition thrived and passions flared. This was not always so. During the years now fondly recalled (1880-1930), the neighbourhood was only occasionally called the Lower East Side. Though largely populated by Jews from eastern Europe, it was not ethnically or even religiously homogenous. The tenements, grinding poverty, sweatshops and packs of roaming children were considered the stuff of social work, not nostalgia and romance. To learn when and why this dark warren of pushcart-lined streets became an icon, the author follows a wide trail of high and popular culture. She examines children's stories, novels, movies, museum exhibits, television shows, summer-camp re-enactmen

Reviews

"Diner, the inspired historian, has found her way to a particular intersection that no one else has located quite so precisely ... the exact place where cultural identity, historical myth and geographical location run together, in a tangle of traffic and honking horns, a strangely emotional place... "--Paul Berman, The New York Times Book Review "In this inventive and often startling reevaluation of popular belief, Diner examines the historical reality of the Lower East Side ... Diner's research and conclusions are both convincing and original."--Publishers Weekly "A nostalgic, affectionate, but also clear eyed account... "--Library Journal "... In articulate and convincing prose ... Diner illustrates how American Jews came to romanticize as a place of lost authenticity..."--Hope Edelman, The Chicago Tribune "This is both an enjoyable and important contribution to local and ethnic history."--Booklist "A provocative account of how the Lower East Side of New York became a mythical citation in the American Jewish narrative. Diner contends that the Lower East Side has played a far greater role in the collective memory of American Jews than it actually played in their lives... Admirably researched, this offers a perceptive revisionist analysis of American Jewry's most distinctive former address."--Kirkus Reviews "[An] engaging, informative book, which explores the role of this neighborhood in American Jewish culture ... Diner lovingly examines the poignant and powerful narrative that has grown up about the neighborhood."--Lev Raphael, The Jerusalem Report "A useful contribution of American Jewish history."--Morton I. Teicher, The Jerusalem Post "[A] beautifully written, handsomely illustrated, and powerfully argued book ... a unique and impressive contribution. It deserves to be read, pondered and debated."--Choice "The cumulative impact of Diner's pellucid prose, rich insights, and masterful control of variegated cultural, literary, and historical sources is invigorating indeed."--Benny Kraut, American Historical Review "A highly readable book... The intelligent perspective of a person steeped in American Jewish history informs the work."--Elisabeth Israels Perry, The Journal of American History

Author Bio

Hasia R. Diner is the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University. Her books include In the Almost Promised Land: American Jews and Blacks, 1915-1935; A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration, 1820-1880, and Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration.