New York Jews, so visible and integral to the culture, economy and politics of America's greatest city, has eluded the grasp of historians for decades. Surprisingly, no comprehensive history of New York Jews has ever been written. City of Promises: The History of the Jews in New York, a three volume set of original research, pioneers a path-breaking interpretation of a Jewish urban community at once the largest in Jewish history and most important in the modern world. Volume I, Haven of Liberty, by historian Howard Rock, chronicles the arrival of the first Jews to New York (then New Amsterdam) in 1654and highlights their political and economic challenges. Overcoming significant barriers, colonial and republican Jews in New York laid the foundations for the development of a thriving community. 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. Volume III, Jews in Gotham, by historian Jeffrey S.Gurock, highlights neighborhood life as the city's distinctive feature. New York retained its preeminence as the capital of American Jews because of deep roots in local worlds that supported vigorous political, religious, and economic diversity. Each volume includes a "visual essay" by art historian Diana Linden interpreting aspects of life for New York's Jews from their arrival until today. These illustrated sections, many in color, illuminate Jewish material culture and feature reproductions of early colonial portraits, art, architecture, as well as everyday culture and community. Overseen by noted scholar Deborah Dash Moore, City of Promises offers the largest Jewish city in the world, in the United States, and in Jewish history its first comprehensive account.
Foreword by Deborah Dash Moore, General Editor General Editor's Acknowledgments Authors' Acknowledgments IntroductionNeighborhood Networks"Radical Reform"Moorish Manhattan Immigrant CitadelsCapital of the Jewish World ews at the Polls: Th e Rise of the Jewish Style in New York Politics Jews and New York Culture ConclusionVisual EssayNotes Bibliography Index About the AuthorsForeword by Deborah Dash Moore, General EditorGeneral Editor's Acknowledgments Author's Acknowledgments PrologueBuilding and Sustaining Common Ground Friends or IdeologuesDuring Catastrophe and Triumph Elan of a Jewish City Crises and Contention Amid Decline and Revival Renewed ActivismEpilogueVisual EssayDiana L. LindenNotesBibliographyIndex About the AuthorForeword by Deborah Dash Moore, General Editor General Editor's Acknowledgments Author's Acknowledgments Introduction A Dutch Beginning A Merchant Community A Synagogue Community The Jewish Community and the American RevolutionThe Jewish Community of Republican New YorkA Republican Faith New York's Republican Rabbi and His CongregationBeyond the Synagogue in Antebellum New York Division, Display, Devotion, and DefenseTh e Challenge of Reform Politics, Race, and the Civil War ConclusionVisual EssayNotes Select Bibliography Index About the Author
