At Home in America

At Home in America follows the second generation of Jewish immigrants in New York City from the 1920s through the 1960s. This social history traces how these children of immigrants created new identities and communities as American Jews. The book examines key neighborhoods in New York where Jewish Americans built their lives, including the Bronx, Brooklyn, and suburban areas. Through extensive research and oral histories, Moore documents how these communities developed their own institutions, cultural practices, and ways of balancing Jewish and American identities. The work explores major historical events and social changes that shaped this generation, from the Great Depression to World War II to postwar prosperity. Moore analyzes how Jewish Americans responded to these challenges while maintaining connections to both their heritage and their new homeland. This history reveals broader patterns about immigrant assimilation, urban life, and the evolution of American Jewish identity in the twentieth century. The book demonstrates how one immigrant group navigated the complex process of becoming American while preserving their distinct cultural identity.

Limited reader reviews exist online for this academic work about second-generation Jews in New York. The few available reviews focus on its value as a scholarly resource: Readers highlight: - Detailed research on Jewish immigrant children adapting to American life - Documentation of cultural changes between generations - Clear writing that remains accessible despite academic content - Strong use of primary sources and oral histories Main criticisms: - Focus is narrow, primarily on New York middle-class Jews - Some sections are dense with demographic data - Could include more personal narratives Available Ratings: Goodreads: 3.67/5 (3 ratings, 0 written reviews) Amazon: No ratings or reviews WorldCat: No user reviews The book appears in academic syllabi and scholarly citations but has limited public reader engagement online, making it difficult to compile a comprehensive view of reader reception.

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🔹 Author Deborah Dash Moore pioneered the study of American Jewish urban history and has written extensively about Jews in New York City, where much of "At Home in America" takes place. 🔹 The book focuses on second-generation Jewish immigrants in New York during the interwar period (1920s-1930s), examining how they created a unique American Jewish identity distinct from their parents' European roots. 🔹 New York's Jewish population reached nearly 2 million by 1925, making it the largest Jewish community in history at that time and the focal point for the cultural transformation described in the book. 🔹 The title "At Home in America" reflects a key theme of the book: how Jewish immigrants' children managed to feel genuinely American while maintaining their Jewish identity, something their parents often struggled to achieve. 🔹 The book was one of the first major works to examine how urban neighborhoods, particularly in the Bronx and Brooklyn, shaped Jewish American identity and culture in the early 20th century.