The Politics of Nonassimilation - by David Verbeeten (Paperback)

About the Book

Over the course of the twentieth century, Eastern European Jews in the United States developed a left-wing political tradition. Their political preferences went against a fairly broad correlation between upward mobility and increased conservatism or Republican partisanship. Many scholars have sought to explain this phenomenon by invoking...

Book Synopsis

Over the course of the twentieth century, Eastern European Jews in the United States developed a left-wing political tradition. Their political preferences went against a fairly broad correlation between upward mobility and increased conservatism or Republican partisanship. Many scholars have sought to explain this phenomenon by invoking antisemitism, an early working-class experience, or a desire to integrate into a universal social order. In this original study, David Verbeeten instead focuses on the ways in which left-wing ideologies and movements helped to mediate and preserve Jewish identity in the context of modern tendencies toward bourgeois assimilation and ethnic dissolution. Verbeeten pursues this line of inquiry through case studies that highlight the political activities and aspirations of three "generations" of American Jews. The life of Alexander Bittelman provides a lens to examine the first generation. Born in Ukraine in 1892, Bittelman moved to New York City in 1912 and went on to become a founder of the American Communist Party after World War I. Verbeeten explores the second generation by way of the American Jewish Congress, which came together in 1918 and launched significant campaigns against discrimination within civil society before, during, and especially after World War II. Finally, he considers the third generation in relation to the activist group New Jewish Agenda, which operated from 1980 to 1992 and was known for its advocacy of progressive causes and its criticism of particular Israeli governments and policies. By focusing on individuals and organizations that have not previously been subjects of extensive investigation, Verbeeten contributes original research to the fields of American, Jewish, intellectual, and radical history. His insightful study will appeal to specialists and general readers interested in those areas.

Review Quotes

""This is an excellent book, based on extensive research. It makes a real contribution to the understanding of the Jewish immigrant experience in America, in its relation to leftist politics. I do not know of anything else in the field as good as this book."--David Gordon, author of Resurrecting Marx: The Analytical Marxists on Freedom, Exploitation, and Justice

"Verbeeten persuasively argues that the persistent left-liberal tradition among American Jews has served to affirm Jewish difference rather than, as most scholars and critics have maintained, to facilitate deracination. This is a fascinating and provocative-perhaps indispensable-study that has far-reaching implications not only for Jewish studies, but also for the history of political radicalism and the history of ethnicity and identity in the twentieth-century United States."--Leilah Danielson, author of American Gandhi: A.J. Muste and the History of Radicalism in the Twentieth Century

"David Verbeeten's study includes an assessment of the changing nature of American Jewish philanthropies, which is illuminating on more than one level. Verbeeten documents the political radicalization of Jewish philanthropies as their direction changed hand, from socially conservative German Jewish benefactors to politically more leftist but also more ethnically conscious Jews from Eastern Europe. For those who took over these institutions from a more conservative and better assimilated American Jewish community, there was no necessary conflict between political radicalism and ethnic loyalty. Indeed the two were seen by friends and admirers as eminently compatible. Verbeeten's study may have instructional value going well beyond the particular developments that he explores."--Paul Gottfried, author of Fascism: The Career of a Concept"

About the Author

David Verbeeten holds a PhD in politics and international studies from the University of Cambridge. He lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife and children, where he works in financial services.