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Academic Year 2001/2002
American Jewry Since the 1880s
HIST 332 FA
What did the call to Americanize mean to Jewish immigrants? That theme runs through this seminar which will emphasize Eastern European Jews as well as such topics as the conditions that prompted the mass migration, the
immigrants' early reactions to
life in American cities, Jewish workers and trade unions, Jews in the Socialist and Communist parties, relations between the new immigrants and Jews already established here, the reconstruction of Judaism, the history of
anti-Semitism, Jews in the
motion-picture industry and sports, Jewish responses to Nazism, the rise of Zionism, social mobility, relations between American Jews and Israelis, and post-1967 Jewish politics.
MAJOR READINGS
(subject to change) Mary Antin, THE PROMISED LAND (1912) Irving Howe, THE WORLD OF OUR FATHERS (1976) Mordecai M. Kaplan, JUDAISM AS A CIVILIZATION: TOWARD A RECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICAN-JEWISH LIFE (1934) Henry
Feingold, A TIME FOR SEARCHING:
ENTERING THE MAINSTREAM, 1920-1945 (1992) Michael Rogin, BLACKFACE, WHITE NOISE: AMERICAN JEWS IN THE HOLLYWOOD MELTING POT (1996) Aaron Berman, NAZISM, THE JEWS AND AMERICAN ZIONISM, 1933-1948 (1990) Hillel
Levine and Lawrence Harman, THE DEATH OF
AN AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY (1992) Plus a large collection of primary documents and articles.
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Four five-page essays
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Admission by interview. Students with knowledge of 20th century European or U.S. history or Judaism. I would hope to have not only Jewish students but others as well. Unless preregistered students attend the first
class meeting or communicate
directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT:
Lecture
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS HIST
Grading Mode:
Student Option
Prerequisites:
NONE
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459
