American Judaism » (1)

Nathan Glazer is professor emeritus of education and sociology at Harvard University.

First published in 1957, Nathan Glazer's classic, historical study of Judaism in America has been described by the New York Times Book Review as "a remarkable story . . . told briefly and clearly by an objective historical mind, yet with a fine combination of sociological insight and religious sensitivity."

Glazer's new introduction describes the drift away from the popular equation of American Judaism with liberalism during the last two decades and considers the threat of divisiveness within American Judaism. Glazer also discusses tensions between American Judaism and Israel as a result of a revivified Orthodoxy and the disillusionment with liberalism.

"American Judaism has been arguably the best known and most used introduction to the study of the Jewish religion in the United States. . . . It is an inordinately clear-sighted work that can be read with much profit to this day."—American Jewish History (1987)

Introduction, 1989
I. Introduction
II. Beginnings of American Judaism, 1654-1825
III. The German Immigration and the Shaping of Reform, 1825-94
IV. Reformers and Conservatives, 1880-1900
V. The East European Migration, 1880-1900
VI. Judaism and Jewishness, 1920-45
VII. The Jewish Revival, 1945-56
VIII. The Religion of American Jews
IX. Epilogue
Appendix. Declaration of Principles Adopted by a Group of Reform Rabbis at Pittsburgh, 1885
Notes
Important Dates
Suggested Reading
Index