"The Rest of Us" The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews eBook Stephen Birmingham
Download As PDF : "The Rest of Us" The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews eBook Stephen Birmingham 
The New York Times–bestselling history of the Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland who altered the American landscape from New York to Hollywood.
The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the “old country” to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined, and in no time they were moving up from the ghetto tenements of New York’s Lower East Side to make their marks and their fortunes across the country in a variety of fields, from media and popular music to fashion, motion pictures, and even organized crime.
Among the unforgettable personages author Stephen Birmingham profiles are radio pioneer David Sarnoff, makeup mogul Helena Rubinstein, Hollywood tycoons Samuel Goldwyn and Harry Cohn, Broadway composer Irving Berlin, and mobster Meyer Lansky. From the author of “Our Crowd”, comes this treasure trove of fascinating tales and unforgettable “rags-to-riches” success stories that celebrates the indomitable spirit of a unique community.
The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the “old country” to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined, and in no time they were moving up from the ghetto tenements of New York’s Lower East Side to make their marks and their fortunes across the country in a variety of fields, from media and popular music to fashion, motion pictures, and even organized crime.
Among the unforgettable personages author Stephen Birmingham profiles are radio pioneer David Sarnoff, makeup mogul Helena Rubinstein, Hollywood tycoons Samuel Goldwyn and Harry Cohn, Broadway composer Irving Berlin, and mobster Meyer Lansky. From the author of “Our Crowd”, comes this treasure trove of fascinating tales and unforgettable “rags-to-riches” success stories that celebrates the indomitable spirit of a unique community.
"The Rest of Us" The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews eBook Stephen Birmingham
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"The Rest of Us" The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews eBook Stephen Birmingham Reviews
It was not as good as his previous books about the Jewish experience. His background material was very well presented, but the stories he chose to represent the experience were too long and involved. It seemed that after Mr. Birmingham did all his research on the prominent
immigrants of the 20th century, he wanted to use every last fact he uncovered!
This is one of the most comprehensive historical accounts of the immigration of the Jewish population of the United States. The book explains the different types of Jews and the philosophies they brought when they came to this country. The author names many famous Jews and follows them throughout a second and even third generation. Everything is documented to back up his narrative.
An interesting and readable story of the upper movement and integration/adaptation of Eastern Jewish immigrants using famously successful individuals and their family/ descendants as examples. Quite entertaining for many parts and contains some less known facts, but most of the prominent folks described are probably familiar to many readers. At times the book tends to be repetitive may be because it is told by passing years and therefore each of the individual character had to be reintroduced some how in separate chapters. It may read a lot better if each family is followed chronologically. Overall, not a bad book.
Stephen Birmingham has a delightful way of explaining American history. The Sephardic Jews got to America first, and looked down at the German Jewish peddlers then bankers who came next, who, in turn, frowned up the unwashed masses from Poland and Russia who followed. Needless to say, the Eastern European Jews--this book is about them--soon pulled themselves out of the ghetto and found some other group about which to disapprove. Birmingham is particularly good about the history of the many Jewish gangsters who grew up on the Lower East Side, including Meyer Lansky, who taught their pals in the Mafia that crime does indeed pay. if you know how to do it right.
Fascinating stories of a small number of the more than one million eastern european (mostly polish and russian) jews who arrived in New York at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Incredibly gifted people who, within a very short time, became famous and rich, in the movies, radio, TV, entertainment and fashion industries. Even in crime!. Surprisingly, one of the people the reader inevitably gets to like most, is mobster Meyer Lansky, who had a personality much more attractive and alluring than movie greats like Samuel Goldwyn or Lous B. Meyer or the cosmetics lady Helena Rubinstein! Common in all of them They were were (mostly street-)smart and hungry Hungry for recognition, hungry for respect, hungry for luxury, riches, the good life. And in a hurry. Most passed through Ellis Island, and from there to the Lower East Side of New York, the eastern europeain jewish ghetto, and not a very good address at that time, and all did their best to get out of there as soon as possible, and very successfully so.
Excellently well written, a fascinating read.
A book about a limited number of highly successful members of a huge tsunami of Eastern European immigrants who came to the United States from the mid-1800's until the early 1900's who preserved and continued a rich culture destroyed by World War 2. However, this book missed the opportunity to document the success and metamorphosis of this unique American sub culture on the nature of every aspect of the rich American culture at large.
The Rest of Us is the wonderful finale to Stephen Birmingham's impressive triptych of the histories of American Jewry.
This three part work doesn't simply account for the overlooked facets of the American Jewish experience (or American history) but takes us back to homeland(s) in the Old World from time to time and connects many dots that create a captivating picture of people and places.
It is also a brilliant piece of writing where the personal and the private waltz with the public to provide a comprehensive tableaux that was previously unavailable.
Even though I am a great fan of "the Grandees" and "Our Crowd", "The Rest of Us" is very special to me as my family hails from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
A wonderful read overall, and not only for researchers or Jews.
This is a very readable history of the huge immigration wave of Jews into the US between 1880 and 1914. The book starts with the story of Julia Richman, who became a reformer and educator, perhaps, to put some of the story in a more intimate context, but the real value of the book is in the explanation of the situation in Eastern Europe, especially Russia, that led to the mass migration. The various czars had changing laws that often restricted the livelihood of Jews and required mandatory, twenty-five year conscription of young men from the age of about thirteen to fifteen that usually resulted in death or at least, a permanent loss to their family. My own grandfather was one such escapee--running from Latvia to Sweden by boat, shipping out as a sailor rather than being kidnapped and turned over to the Army.
When the immigrants landed in New York, life was chaotic, but it was at least free of the murderous aspects of life in Europe, where rape and murder by mercenaries of the Czar was common (my grandmother told me a few stories of hiding under tables to escape the swords.) The tenements were crowded and unsanitary but many men and women escaped the poverty to become highly successful. The story of Samuel Goldwyn and David Sarnoff were particularly interesting.
The schism between the better educated and more liberal German Jews and the culturally different Eastern Europeans was fascinating. Intermarriage could be a problem--diverse groups didn't understand each other, and even their Yiddish was accented beyond recognition sometimes.
I've read various histories, but this book is highly engaging and puts a different light on the way Jews arrived in the US and made it their home. Highly recommended historical reading
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