Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860-1920 »

Melissa R. Klapper is an associate professor of history, Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ.

Jewish Girls Coming of Age in America, 1860–1920 draws on a wealth of archival material, much of which has never been published—or even read—to illuminate the ways in which Jewish girls' adolescent experiences reflected larger issues relating to gender, ethnicity, religion, and education.

Klapper explores the dual roles girls played as agents of acculturation and guardians of tradition. Their search for an identity as American girls that would not require the abandonment of Jewish tradition and culture mirrored the struggle of their families and communities for integration into American society.

While focusing on their lives as girls, not the adults they would later become, Klapper draws on the papers of such figures as Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah; Edna Ferber, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Showboat; and Marie Syrkin, literary critic and Zionist. Klapper also analyzes the diaries, memoirs, and letters of hundreds of other girls whose later lives and experiences have been lost to history.

Told in an engaging style and filled with colorful quotes, the book brings to life a neglected group of fascinating historical figures during a pivotal moment in the development of gender roles, adolescence, and the modern American Jewish community.

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on diaries and magazines, historian Klapper recreates the world of Jewish girls in late 19th- and early 20th-century America. These were years of massive immigration, expansion of the secondary school system and an increased sense of "the... importance of youth in modern society." Jewish girls were committed to maintaining Jewish identity and religious practice, but also wanted to read Black Beauty, go on dates (only very rarely with gentile boys) and attend dances. Readers watch as 18-year-old Emily Frankenstein and her boyfriend "spoon... on the porch swing," listen to Minnie Goldstein lead her high school debate team to victory and hum along as Lottie Strogoff practices the piano. One of this monograph's major themes is education: Jewish girls attended high school and often college, where they studied American history, and mixed and mingled with non-Jewish classmates. But parents also wanted their girls to be steeped in Yiddishkeit (all things Jewish) so many girls attended Sunday school (or Sabbath school) devoted to Jewish studies. This book's charm lies in its innovative and engaging focus on girlhood. Klapper doesn't overhaul historians' traditional understanding of Jewish-American history; rather she offers grace notes to a familiar narrative about the tensions between assimilation and tradition. The primary audience is academic, but the book will be accessible to other readers. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.