Finalist, 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature from the Jewish Book CouncilTraces American Jews’ complicated relationship to alcohol through the years leading up to and after prohibitionFrom kosher wine to their ties to the liquor trade in Europe, Jews have a longstanding historical relationship with alcohol. But once prohibition hit America, American Jews were forced to choose between abandoning their historical connection to alcohol and remaining outside the American mainstream.In Jews and Booze, Marni Davis examines American Jews’ long and complicated relationship to alcohol during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the years of the national prohibition movement’s rise and fall. Bringing to bear an extensive range of archival materials, Davis offers a novel perspective on a previously unstudied area of American Jewish economic activity—the making and selling of liquor, wine, and beer—and reveals that alcohol commerce played a crucial role in Jewish immigrant acculturation and the growth of Jewish communities in the United States. But prohibition’s triumph cast a pall on American Jews’ history in the alcohol trade, forcing them to revise, clarify, and defend their communal and civic identities, both to their fellow Americans and to themselves.
Format: Paperback / softback
CONTRIBUTORS: Marni Davis
EAN: 9781479882441
COUNTRY: United States
PAGES:
WEIGHT: 340 g
HEIGHT: 229 cm
PUBLISHED BY: New York University Press
DATE PUBLISHED: 2014-01-01
CITY:
GENRE: HISTORY / Jewish, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
WIDTH: 152 cm
SPINE:
Book Themes:
United States of America, USA, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Relating to Jewish people and groups, History of the Americas, Social and cultural history
"It was probably inevitable that someone had to ask if Prohibition was good for the Jews. Sure enough, Marni Davis has come along not only to raise the question but also to provide intriguing answers inJews and Booze.", "In her debut, Davis suggests that anti-Semitism and Prohibition were parallel expressions of political disquiet during the turn of the last century . . . A fascinating, nuanced social history.", "Davis has significantly enhanced our understanding of Jewish acculturation in the United States.", "Marni Davis had me with the title of her book, Jews and Booze. But the book itself, an academic monograph that is also highly readable, is an eye-opener.", "Engrossing and well-written."
Marni Davis is Assistant Professor of History at Georgia State University.
