Synopses & Reviews
At least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. A few served together in Jewish companies while most fought alongside Christian comrades. Yet even as they stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” on the front lines, they encountered unique challenges.
In Jews and the Civil War, Jonathan D. Sarna and Adam Mendelsohn assemble for the first time the foremost scholarship on Jews and the Civil War, little known even to specialists in the field.
These accessible and far-ranging essays from top scholars are grouped into seven thematic sections--Jews and Slavery, Jews and Abolition, Rabbis and the March to War, Jewish Soldiers during the Civil War, The Home Front, Jews as a Class, and Aftermath--each with an informative contextual introduction by the editors. Together they reappraise the impact of the war on Jews in the North and the South, offering a rich and fascinating portrait of the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians from the home front to the battle front.
Review
"'The Jews thus became for Grant and his harassed officers a convenient symbol of all the frustrations and annoyances with which they were contending,' Stephen Ash writes in an essay in New York University Press' intriguing new anthology." "I predict that
Jews and the Civil War: A Reader will very quickly become one of the definitive scholarly texts on the Jewish role in the Civil War. Any one of the seventeen articles could stand alone as a fascinating socio-cultural history of the period... Each article is assiduously researched and followed by detailed endnotes identifying the source of the information... I recommend this book to all readers who enjoy Jewish history. Many of the articles can easily serve as springboards for teachers of American and Jewish history who want to provide articles depicting the Civil War through memoirs, letters, diaries, rabbinical talks, and popular magazines as well as traditional historical sources."
“In gathering together these widely scattered essays, Sarna and Mendelsohn reveal that we know much more than we ever thought we did about Jews and this great conflict. Just as the Civil War divided Americans, it divided Jews. Civil War buffs, historians, and anyone interested in the cataclysm which rent the nation will embrace this marvelous collection depicting how one group of Americans experienced that terrible time.”
“An excellent volume which contains many of the most authoritative scholarly essays on American Jewry and the Civil War. The volume sheds historical light on a wide range of fascinating subjects including Jews and slavery, Jews and Abolition, Jews in the military, and much more. Readers will be especially grateful for the learned and insightful editorial introductions that serve as forewords to each of the thematic sections. All those interested in the Civil War will want to own a copy of this rich resource. It is truly a cornucopia of historical insight.”
"Jews in the Civil War is an invaluable one-stop compendium, an essential and illuminating trove, much needed as we launch the Civil War Sesquicentennial."
Synopsis
A unique collection revealing the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians during the Civil War
At least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War. A few served together in Jewish companies while most fought alongside Christian comrades. Yet even as they stood "shoulder-to-shoulder" on the front lines, they encountered unique challenges.
In Jews and the Civil War, Jonathan D. Sarna and Adam Mendelsohn assemble for the first time the foremost scholarship on Jews and the Civil War, little known even to specialists in the field. These accessible and far-ranging essays from top scholars are grouped into seven thematic sections--Jews and Slavery, Jews and Abolition, Rabbis and the March to War, Jewish Soldiers during the Civil War, The Home Front, Jews as a Class, and Aftermath--each with an introduction by the editors. Together they reappraise the impact of the war on Jews in the North and the South, offering a rich and fascinating portrait of the experience of Jewish soldiers and civilians from the home front to the battle front.
Synopsis
"An erotic scandal chronicle so popular it became a byword... Expertly tailored for contemporary readers. It combines scurrilous attacks on the social and political celebritites of the day, disguised just enough to exercise titillating speculatuion, with luscious erotic tales."
Belles Lettres
This story concerns the return of to earth of the goddess of Justice, Astrea, to gather information about private and public behavior on the island of Atalantis. Manley drew on her experience as well as on an obsessive observation of her milieu to produce this fast paced narrative of political and erotic intrigue.
About the Author
Jonathan D. Sarna is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University and Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. He has written, edited or co-edited more than twenty-five books, including
American Judaism: A History, winner of the “Jewish Book of the Year” award from the Jewish Book Council.
Adam D. Mendelsohn is Director of the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston.