East Side/East End: Eastern European Jews in London and New York, 1870-1920

by Selma C. Berrol

Overview

This book is a comparative study of similar people in different environments at the same point in time. The six chapters discuss why eastern European Jews came to London and New York, the differences and similarities in the settlement process, the schools they found and the use they made of them, and the mobility they achieved. The study concludes that individual and societal conditions made it impossible for more than a small proportion of the generation that grew to maturity before the first world war to use schooling as a road to the middle class. In general, the Russian and Polish Jews who came to New York reached the middle class sooner than those who remained in London and thus can be said to have made the better choice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275947729
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/1994
Series:	Modern Hebrew Classics
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

SELMA BERROL is a Professor in the Department of History at Baruch College./e She is the author of four books and many academic articles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Leaving Home
Unwelcome and Unwanted
In the Classroom
Schooling as a Ladder
Getting Ahead
A Better Life: London or New York
Essay on the Sources
Index

Editorial Reviews

Based on education and economic data from both sides of the Atlantic, Berrol (history, City U. of New York) argues that scholars have exaggerated the importance of public schools in the upward mobility of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe. The general case was that only in the third generation would the Jews take advantage of secondary schooling. The main factor in social mobility was simply time; people in New York rose into the middle class slightly sooner than did those in London, but the patterns are similar. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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