Jewish America: The Making of the West

"Joel Fleishman? I'm Levi, this here's Strauss. We're your Jews." Northern Exposure viewers may remember the episode when the main character's difficulty in rustling up a minion (nine other Jewish men) for kaddish made him dream of rootin' tootin' Old West roughs. Of course Mr. Levi Strauss was a merchant and manufacturer, but there were Jewish gunslingers like Jim Levy who was in sixteen shoot-outs before he was killed, as well as Jewish sheriffs, mayors, prostitutes, governors, and plain humble folks. Jewish America looks beyond the stereotypes of the American West and Judaism, illuminating a little-known facet of our past. In fact, I found myself saying "I didn't know that" an awful lot while watching this program: such as while discovering the story of the Jewish Agricultural Society, which was organized to help immigrants get out of crowded Eastern cities and onto cooperative farms. The rather socialist cooperative farms didn't take hold in capitalist America, of course, but the Western U.S. did become a kind of promised land for many Jewish immigrants. While the half-hour format seems short for such a large topic, the length will be very useful in classroom settings. Enthusiastically recommended for a wide variety of libraries. Aud: I, J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)