Chosen Capital : : The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism / / ed. by Rebecca Kobrin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Davis, Marni,; Dillon, Phyllis,; Dolkart, Andrew S.,; Godley, Andrew,; Karp, Jonathan,; Katz, Daniel,; Katznelson, Ira,; Kobrin, Rebecca,; Koffman, David S.,; Lederhendler, Eli,; Pollack, Jonathan Z. S.,; Sarna, Jonathan D.,; Shandler, Jeffrey,; Soyer, Daniel,
• TeilnehmendeR: Davis, Marni.; Dillon, Phyllis.; Dolkart, Andrew.; Godley, Andrew.; Karp, Jonathan.; Katz, Daniel.; Katznelson, Ira.; Koffman, David S.; Lederhendler, Eli.; Litvak, Olga.; Pollack, Jon.; Sarna, Jonathan.; Shandler, Jeffrey.; Soyer, Daniel.; Stein, Sarah.
• HerausgeberIn: Kobrin, Rebecca,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2012]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) :; 22 photographs

At which moments and in which ways did Jews play a central role in the development of American capitalism? Many popular writers address the intersection of Jews and capitalism, but few scholars, perhaps fearing this question's anti-Semitic overtones, have pondered it openly. Chosen Capital represents the first historical collection devoted to this question in its analysis of the ways in which Jews in North America shaped and were shaped by America's particular system of capitalism. Jews fundamentally molded aspects of the economy during the century when American capital was being redefined by industrialization, war, migration, and the emergence of the United States as a superpower. Surveying such diverse topics as Jews' participation in the real estate industry, the liquor industry, and the scrap metal industry, as well as Jewish political groups and unions bent on reforming American capital, such as the American Labor Party and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, contributors to this volume provide a new prism through which to view the Jewish encounter with America. The volume also lays bare how American capitalism reshaped Judaism itself by encouraging the mass manufacturing and distribution of foods like matzah and the transformation of synagogue cantors into recording stars. These essays force us to rethink not only the role Jews played in American economic development but also how capitalism has shaped Jewish life and Judaism over the course of the twentieth century. Contributors: Marni Davis, Georgia State University Phyllis Dillon, independent documentary producer, textile conservator, museum curator Andrew Dolkart, Columbia University Andrew Godley, Henley Business School, University of Reading Jonathan Karp, executive director, American Jewish Historical Society Daniel Katz, Empire State College, State University of New York Ira Katznelson, Columbia University David S. Koffman, New York University Eli Lederhendler, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Jonathan Z. S. Pollack, University of Wisconsin-Madison Jonathan D. Sarma, Brandeis University Jeffrey Shandler, Rutgers University Daniel Soyer, Fordham University

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Orthography and Transliteration -- Part I. Reframing the Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism -- Introduction. The Chosen People in the Chosen Land: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism -- 1. Two Exceptionalisms: Points of Departure for Studies of Capitalism and Jews in the United States -- Part II. Jewish Niches in the American Economy -- 2. The Evolution of the Jewish Garment Industry, 1840-1940 -- 3. From the Rag Trade to Riches: Abraham E. Lefcourt and the Development of New York's Garment District -- 4. Success from Scrap and Secondhand Goods: Jewish Businessmen in the Midwest, 1890-1930 -- 5. Despised Merchandise: American Jewish Liquor Entrepreneurs and Their Critics -- 6. Blacks, Jews, and the Business of Race Music, 1945-1955 -- 7. Jews, American Indian Curios, and the Westward Expansion of Capitalism -- Part III. Jews and the Politics of American Capitalism -- 8. The Multicultural Front: A Yiddish Socialist Response to Sweatshop Capitalism -- 9. Making Peace with Capitalism? Jewish Socialism Enters the Mainstream, 1933-1944 -- 10. A Jewish "Third Way" to American Capitalism: Isaac Rivkind and the Conservative-Communitarian Ideal -- Part IV. Selling Judaism: Capitalism and Reshaping of Jewish Religious Culture -- 11. Sanctification of the Brand Name: The Marketing of Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt -- 12. How Matzah Became Square: Manischewitz and the Development of Machine-Made Matzah in the United States -- Contributors -- Index