Can I read Unfinished people : Eastern European Jews encounter America on EtoBox?

Unfinished people : Eastern European Jews encounter America by Gay, Ruth is a history book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Unfinished people : Eastern European Jews encounter America about?

Ruth Gay's intimate, unforgettable account of the richly textured lives of a resilient people. Nearly three million Jews came to America from Eastern Europe between 1880 and the outbreak of the First World War. Mostly young, single, and uneducated, they possessed hope for a new life in a new land. Culturally, they skated on thin icemolded by a daily existence vastly different from what they found in America. For many, New York City provided a refuge, for in its densely populated, Yiddish-speaking enclaves, it was possible to cling to customs from life in the old country. Here Ruth Gay colorfully shades in details of the immigrant story rarely the tenacious resistance to assimilation by many Jews from the shtetl. We see housewives to whom nothing but a perfectly cleaned floor would do; we discover that a bed was a prized possession for people who stood on their feet all day; and we learn how food, especially, was a means of preserving the noodles, kosher meats, fresh cheeses, and the breads and the "plezl-crisp." Through hard work, laughter, and storytelling, the Eastern European Jews in New York maintained a sense of community longer than most immigrant groups until a new generatio

Who reads Unfinished people : Eastern European Jews encounter America?

Author

Gay, Ruth

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated

Published

1996

Language

EN

ISBN

9780393039917

Category

history

Subjects

Fiction, Religion, Sociology

Rating

3.96 / 5 (22 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14