Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration, 1840–1920

City of Promises: A History of the Jews of New York #2

by Annie Polland, Daniel Soyer

Volume II, Emerging Metropolis, written by Annie Polland and Daniel Soyer, describes New York’s transformation into a Jewish city. Focusing on the urban Jewish built environment—its tenements and banks, synagogues and shops, department stores and settlement houses—it conveys the extraordinary complexity of Jewish immigrant society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Jewish, History

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Naim Peress · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book about how the Jews in NYC went from small minority to a quarter of the city’s population. The most interesting portion is about politics and labor strife. It’s fascinating how the Socialist Party in the 1900s and 1910s openly campaigned and elected members of Congress. New York in late 19th and early 20th centuries was a major manufacturing center and Jews played a central role as workers and factory owners. I also enjoyed reading about the interesting personalities of the period like the revolutionary Emma Goldman, the author Emma Lazarus and the journalist and writer Abraham Cahan. When you read the history, you also realize that the Lower East Side, as cemented in our imagination as it is, was really what we call a transitional neighborhood. Thought provoking and interesting.