TRAVELS THROUGH JEWISH AMERICA

by Harry & Richard Goldhurst Golden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 1973

In the suburban diaspora -- those Jewish reservations where segregation begins at sunset -- ""one Jew knows all the others and every Jew knows the gossip,"" which has been passed on to Harry when he was golden-ghetto hopping back in 1972. His was ""an adventure with the middle class"" -- in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Hartford, St. Louis and other cities to the west and south he hobnobbed with rabbis, fund-raisers, politicians, journalists, some doctors, lawyers and businessmen. So we don't see Aunt Sadie at her canasta game or bay-bellied Uncle Sammy playing golf at Grossingers; instead there's the genealogy of old Savannah families, a fight to save a country club in Charleston and a Jewish hospital in Pittsburgh, an explanation about why the Jewish movie industry lost out when television invaded Hollywood. Although there are flashes of the old vitality (at an old boys' Camp Greylock reunion), there is little Golden wit, satire or caricature -- his people are as colorless as the speeches that they make at testimonials -- and there's too little fizz in the seltzer to enjoy, enjoy.

Pub Date: Nov. 2, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION