PILGRIM PEOPLE
By
A full-length history of the Jews in America which has been synthesized from an original four volumes to some 700 pages, records their community patterns, their institutions, their contributions to this country. From the Jewish cartographers who played a part in the early discovery of America, Columbus (who may well have been a Jew), this follows down to the Jewish pioneering period in South America, Jamaica, and then the newly colonized America. There is their growing group life as communities formed; the professional and industrial activities; their outstanding individuals in each era; their participation in the Revolution, in the opening up of the west, in anti-slavery. And with modern times there is the reform movement against the traditional orthodoxy, the new immigrations and the increasing anti-semitism, Zionism, and the present day patterns of assimilation and the great men who have taken part in public life, Brandeis, Frankfurter, Cardozo, etc. An impressive piece of research, it gives stature to this minority group and is important as a documentary and for reference.