In a compelling history of the Jewish community in New York during four decades of mass immigration; Tony Michels examines the defining role of the Yiddish socialist movement in the American Jewish experience. The movement; founded in the 1880s; was dominated by Russian-speaking intellectuals; including Abraham Cahan; Mikhail Zametkin; and Chaim Zhitlovsky. Socialist leaders quickly found Yiddish essential to convey their message to the Jewish immigrant community; and they developed a remarkable public culture through lectures and social events; workers' education societies; Yiddish schools; and a press that found its strongest voice in the mass-circulation newspaper Forverts. Arguing against the view that socialism and Yiddish culture arrived as Old World holdovers; Michels demonstrates that they arose in New York in response to local conditions and thrived not despite Americanization; but because of it. And the influence of the movement swirled far beyond the Lower East Side; to a transnational culture in which individuals; ideas; and institutions crossed the Atlantic. New York Jews; in the beginning; exported Yiddish socialism to Russia; not the other way around. The Yiddish socialist movement shaped Jewish communities across the United States well into the twentieth century and left an important political legacy that extends to the rise of neoconservatism. A story of hopeful successes and bitter disappointments; A Fire in Their Hearts brings to vivid life this formative period for American Jews and the American left.
#1243716 in BooksColor: Other Harvard University Press 2001-05-31 2001-06-30Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.42 x .96 x 6.36l; 1.19 #File Name: 067400471X288 pages
Review
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful. More case studies should have been added.By A CustomerThis is a sociological study of the Americans who emigrated to Canada during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I believe that there is an attempt to draw an analogy with the Americans who chose Peace Corps service during this period of time with those who went to Canada. This is an invalid comparison. American Peace Corps volunteers served in places like Atar; Mauritania; Qandahar; Afghanistan; Bilma; Niger; Kikwit; Zaire; Sarh; Tchad; and Zabol; Iran. Most of the Americans that went to Canada chose to live in southern Onatrio; viz. Toronto. How many went to Lac St. Jean; Quebec or Churchill; Manitoba? Few. These sites would have been partially commensurate with the difficulty of the Peace Corps sites.19 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Terrific Study Of Draft Reisters Fleeing to Canada !By Barron LaycockThis is truly a fascinating book for anyone familiar with the decade-long 'sturm und drang' associated with the anti-war movement of the 1960s; when tens of thousands of young American men fled across the Canadian border in an effort to avoid the military draft and service in Vietnam. In many respects this emigration became a lightening rod for the conflict between the pro-war forces within this country and the wider anti-war movement composed at first of hundreds of thousands and then even millions of Americans willing to aid and abet such young men in their efforts to avoid becoming part of what was referred to as the "war machine". What is most interesting in this scholarly account of the phenomenon; however; is its examination of what happened to the welter of young men so intent on living life on their own terms that they were willing to become expatriates to do so.The author; Professor John Hagen; is a sociologist interested in examining the pilgrim's progress of individual draft-dodgers/emigrants who poured over the border for close to a decade; often with a surprising set of expectations and unresolved internal conflicts associated with the personal experiences that had led them so far from home. His ability to recount the many levels on which the war continued to determine the options and the world view of the individuals so affected is fascinating stuff; and the author does a yeoman's job of breathing life and substance into a work that might otherwise be dry and difficult reading indeed. While his account is earnest and quite well documented; it is also quite revealing and entertaining to read. Hagan often poses questions for the respondents that result in illuminating glimpses into the lingering ways in which the fateful decision to move north continue to affect them in most fateful ways; both for better and for worse. What is most amazing is the degree to which the majority of the individuals rose above the difficulties associated with this move and made successes of their lives.In this sense; the work is a penetrating effort to unmask and explore the consequences of the war in Vietnam for all of us. In this sense it is a resounding affirmation of how each of us was transformed and changed by our participation in the culture of the sixties; whether for better or for worse. The best in sociology is its ability to locate the individual meaningfully in his times and embedded within the context of his or her cultural meanings. Such a book is this; an effort to locate and recognize the ways in which our times help to determine how we live and under what specific set of existential circumstances we strive to realize our most important goals and most personal dreams. This is a great book; and one I wish many more people would read. Enjoy!
