Jazz Age Jews.

Rating:
Summary: This book is superb.
Review: Dr. Alexander has provided us with an indispensable book. He manages to combine deftly different fields of scholarship, and his book is admirably lucid and short. Historians of modern religion, modern Jewry, ethnic identity, and plain old American history should read this book. In fact, they are professionally derelict if they don't. As for the rest of us, those just interested in a page-turner, this book has sex, violence, gambling, and, if not quite rock and roll, at least a precursor of it.

Rating:
Summary: Review by S. Summerhayes
Review: Dr. Alexander's storytelling, research and wit combine to form a deeply persuasive and delightfully entertaining book. Novels such as this coax us to reevaluate not only our shared public history, but to revisit the modern psychology of celebrity and faith as well. Yet this book is neither about religion nor history, but rather is a straightforward and balanced account of the explosion which results from genius hearing in one ear the call of contemporary greatness, and in the other the call of an ancient people.
Immensely readable, this book deserves a place in every bookcase (and, incidently, would make a fine bar mitzvah gift).
SS

Rating:
Summary: Mazel-tov!
Review: Eye-opening and thoroughly researched, this book weaves together a romantic age of the most romantic American cities. Sports, gambling, law, and entertainment are merely the backdrop for the real subject: psychology and the inner mind of the outsider. This was the rares of rare: a history book and a page turner, too.

Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: Jazz Age Jews -> a catchy title for an insightful, informative and, above all, interesting book on the Jewish relationship to organized crime, law and entertainment in the United States. This book grips you from the "get go" and is extremely difficult to put down. I plan on buying additional copies as Hanukkah gifts for my friends and family (and anyone else who just likes a good story).

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: This is an absolutely first rate book about American Jews in the 1920's and the efforts of several Jews, including Al Jolson and gangster Arnold Rothstein, to find a comfortable place in American society. This book has it all- crime, entertainment, law, bootlegging, etc. and is really, really difficult to put down. Excellently written and absolutely riveting

Rating:
Summary: Story of the Forging of the Jewish American Identity !
Review: This is one of those books that's virtually impossible to put down once you've started. With an anecdotally proven thesis (that I happen to agree with strongly) whether you agree with it or not, it definitely gets you thinking... not so much about why the three individuals chosen identified with the subcultures they did, but why they received such strong support in the community. One might wonder though whether is was what they stood for, or really, simply "colorful" characters simply "making it" by becoming celebrities - - even if some of some of what they did was a "shande". Still, it is part of the Jewish conscience to integrate into American society yet "feel" if not be somewhat of an outsider, so perhaps they were the ultimate symbol of this - - Jews living the American dream... yet living on the fringes of it as well.

Written like an E.L. Doctoreau novel, Alexander tells the stories with ease and insight, painting great portraits of the men and the era... This is one of those books you lend out to all your friends, and buy new new copies when they're not returned when you get that inevitable urge to read it again !

Rating:
Summary: Story of the Forging of the Jewish American Identity !
Review: This is one of those books that's virtually impossible to put down once you've started. With an anecdotally proven thesis (that I happen to agree with strongly) whether you agree with it or not, it definitely gets you thinking... not so much about why the three individuals chosen identified with the subcultures they did, but why they received such strong support in the community. One might wonder though whether is was what they stood for, or really, simply "colorful" characters simply "making it" by becoming celebrities - - even if some of some of what they did was a "shande". Still, it is part of the Jewish conscience to integrate into American society yet "feel" if not be somewhat of an outsider, so perhaps they were the ultimate symbol of this - - Jews living the American dream... yet living on the fringes of it as well.

Written like an E.L. Doctoreau novel, Alexander tells the stories with ease and insight, painting great portraits of the men and the era... This is one of those books you lend out to all your friends, and buy new new copies when they're not returned when you get that inevitable urge to read it again !