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The Hand of Esau: Montgomery's Jewish Community And the 1955/56 Bus Boycott
"In 1955, the majority of Montgomery's Jews confounded Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by ignoring the Bus Boycott. The experience of the Jewish community during its first hundred years shaped its collective response to the Boycott; how the community dealt with this tension is the story of their Southern experience"--Provided by publisher.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
11 people want to read
About the author
Mary Stanton
58 books320 followersMary Stanton was born in Florida and grew up in Japan and Hawaii, after which she returned to the United States and received a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Minnesota.
Stanton’s career as a fiction writer began with the publication of her first novel, The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, in 1984. A beast fable similar in tone and theme to Watership Down, it was published in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. The sequel to that novel, Piper at the Gates, appeared in 1989. She sold her first mystery to The Berkley Publishing Group in 1994.
In all, Stanton has written nineteen mystery novels, two adult fantasy novels, eleven novels for middle-grade readers (including the successful series, The Unicorns of Balinor), and three scripts for a television cartoon series, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, as well as edited three short story anthologies. Her nonfiction articles on horse care and veterinary medicine have appeared in national and regional magazines.
Stanton's newest series, The Beaufort & Company Mysteries, was launched in December 2008 with the publication of Defending Angels. Set in Savannah, Georgia, the paranormal mysteries chronicle the adventures of Bree Winston-Beaufort, a young lawyer who inherits her uncle's law firm and its deceased clientele, whom she represents in appeals before the Celestial Court.
The second book in the series, Angel's Advocate, was published in June 2009, followed by Avenging Angels in February 2010.
Mary also publishes the Hemlock Falls and Dr. McKenzie mysteries under the name Claudia Bishop. See the Claudia Bishop web site for more information.
Stanton’s interests outside writing have remained consistent over the years. She is a horsewoman, a goat aficionado, an enthusiastic (if inept) gardener, and a fan of gourmet food, but not an expert. She has developed a writing program for teens and middle grade readers that has had considerable success in schools.
Stanton has been a dedicated reader all her life, with particular emphasis on biography, history, veterinary science, medicine, psychology and current affairs. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America.
Stanton’s career as a fiction writer began with the publication of her first novel, The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, in 1984. A beast fable similar in tone and theme to Watership Down, it was published in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. The sequel to that novel, Piper at the Gates, appeared in 1989. She sold her first mystery to The Berkley Publishing Group in 1994.
In all, Stanton has written nineteen mystery novels, two adult fantasy novels, eleven novels for middle-grade readers (including the successful series, The Unicorns of Balinor), and three scripts for a television cartoon series, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders, as well as edited three short story anthologies. Her nonfiction articles on horse care and veterinary medicine have appeared in national and regional magazines.
Stanton's newest series, The Beaufort & Company Mysteries, was launched in December 2008 with the publication of Defending Angels. Set in Savannah, Georgia, the paranormal mysteries chronicle the adventures of Bree Winston-Beaufort, a young lawyer who inherits her uncle's law firm and its deceased clientele, whom she represents in appeals before the Celestial Court.
The second book in the series, Angel's Advocate, was published in June 2009, followed by Avenging Angels in February 2010.
Mary also publishes the Hemlock Falls and Dr. McKenzie mysteries under the name Claudia Bishop. See the Claudia Bishop web site for more information.
Stanton’s interests outside writing have remained consistent over the years. She is a horsewoman, a goat aficionado, an enthusiastic (if inept) gardener, and a fan of gourmet food, but not an expert. She has developed a writing program for teens and middle grade readers that has had considerable success in schools.
Stanton has been a dedicated reader all her life, with particular emphasis on biography, history, veterinary science, medicine, psychology and current affairs. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America.
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July 28, 2024
I write about the Civil Rights Movement, too, and can name several authors besides Mary Stanton whose work I enjoy, admire, and could wish to emulate. Her previous work focused on underappreciated women: Viola Liuzzo, a Detroit housewife and civil rights volunteer murdered outside of Montgomery by the KKK, and Juliette Hampton Morgan, a Montgomery librarian, hounded to death by white Montgomerians for her vocal support of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The Montgomery thread is further developed in this work, where Stanton connected the Jewish community’s failure to involve itself in the bus boycott directly to pressure from the White Citizens Council (WCC) in Montgomery. Americans in this political moment are experiencing exactly how easy it is for charges of anti-Semitism to be flung about our public discourse, especially since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just addressed a joint session of Congress for the 4th time. Stanton’s research in this book showed how Jews in Montgomery during the 1950s responded to social pressures exactly like their Gentile neighbors; usually it was their understanding of anti-Semitism that motivated them and not racial animus. Indeed, the Montgomery Council was one of the few in that period in Alabama that even allowed Jews to join.
Stanton developed story lines about heroic Jews in Montgomery in that period—people who were guided by conscience and not public opinion, who resisted the social pressures—sometimes at great personal cost—and endured the censure of their Jewish and Gentile neighbors. The title is purposefully ambiguous. One may begin the book expecting to hear how Jews in Montgomery allied themselves with the bus boycott and supported it. One is quickly disabused of that notion, but in no way can Stanton’s book be construed as anti-Semitic.
This review is not an endorsement of amazon.com or any business owned by Jeff Bezos. Books for my reviews were checked out from a public library, purchased from a local brick-and-mortar book shop, or ordered from my favorite website for rare and out-of-print books.
The Montgomery thread is further developed in this work, where Stanton connected the Jewish community’s failure to involve itself in the bus boycott directly to pressure from the White Citizens Council (WCC) in Montgomery. Americans in this political moment are experiencing exactly how easy it is for charges of anti-Semitism to be flung about our public discourse, especially since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just addressed a joint session of Congress for the 4th time. Stanton’s research in this book showed how Jews in Montgomery during the 1950s responded to social pressures exactly like their Gentile neighbors; usually it was their understanding of anti-Semitism that motivated them and not racial animus. Indeed, the Montgomery Council was one of the few in that period in Alabama that even allowed Jews to join.
Stanton developed story lines about heroic Jews in Montgomery in that period—people who were guided by conscience and not public opinion, who resisted the social pressures—sometimes at great personal cost—and endured the censure of their Jewish and Gentile neighbors. The title is purposefully ambiguous. One may begin the book expecting to hear how Jews in Montgomery allied themselves with the bus boycott and supported it. One is quickly disabused of that notion, but in no way can Stanton’s book be construed as anti-Semitic.
This review is not an endorsement of amazon.com or any business owned by Jeff Bezos. Books for my reviews were checked out from a public library, purchased from a local brick-and-mortar book shop, or ordered from my favorite website for rare and out-of-print books.
Displaying 1 of 1 review