Pamela S. Nadell is Professor of History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University. She
is the author of Women Who Would be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889-1985, which was a finalist for
the National Jewish Book Award, and co-editor of Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives.
Review
"This anthology conveys the breadth of the historical experiences of American Jewish women."
--Jewish Advocate
"An impressive compendium of essays, American Jewish Women's History paints a broad and diverse portrait of
American Jewish women. Written by some of the most incisive historians of the American Jewish community, the chapters
examine Jewish women in many different venues: the home and the marketplace, religious and secular institutions,
and picket lines and cultural institutions."
--Deborah E. Lipstadt, Emory University
"It's a thought-provoking book that should be read by women and men alike."
-- Booklist
Publisher Web Site, January, 2004
Summary
American Jewish Women's History, an anthology covering colonial times to the present, illuminates that historical
diversity. It shows women shaping Judaism and their American Jewish communities as they engaged in volunteer activities
and political crusades, battled stereotypes, and constructed relationships with their Christian neighbors. It ranges
from Rebecca Gratz's development of the Jewish Sunday School in Philadelphia in 1838 to boycotts to protest the
rising prices of kosher meat at the turn of the century, to the shaping of southern Jewish women's cultural identity
through food. There is currently no other reader conveying the breadth of the historical experiences of American
Jewish women available.
The reader is divided into four sections complete with detailed introductions. The contributors include Joyce Antler,
Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Alice Kessler-Harris, Paula E. Hyman, Riv-Ellen Prell, and Jonathan D. Sarna.
