The Jewish Americans

The history of American Jews opens in 1654 with Jews arriving in New Amsterdam and continues through the early 20th century, when two million Jews came to the U.S. from Eastern Europe. Profiles include Judah P. Benjamin, a U.S. senator from Louisiana who served in the cabinet of the Confederate States of America; Anna Solomon, a 19th-century frontier woman in Arizona; and Spiegel Catalogue Co. founder Joseph Spiegel.

The early 20th century is recalled. Included are profiles of Irving Berlin, the writer of "White Christmas"; Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis; Gertrude Berg, who created the "Goldbergs" radio and TV series; and Henry Morgenthau, who served as treasury secretary in FDR's cabinet. Also: the rise of the Hollywood movie studios; the popularity of the Catskills, where comedy---and food---ruled; the anti-semitism Jews faced in the U.S. from the likes of Henry Ford; the Leo Frank case.

The chronicle of the Jewish American experience concludes with the years following World War II, from the crowning of Bess Myerson as Miss America (the first Jewish woman to win the competition) in 1945 to Matisyahu, a Hasidic Jew rap artist. Included: support for the creation of Israel; the success of Jewish comedians on TV during the 1950s; the involvement of Jews in the civil-rights movement of the 1960s; the ordination of women rabbis in the 1970s.