History Lessons: The Creation of American Jewish Heritage

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History Lessons: The Creation of American Jewish Heritage. By Beth Wenger. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. xiv +282 pp.

For anyone thinking that nothing more could be said about the blending of Jewish and American cultures, Beth Wenger's important book will provide an instructive and enriching surprise. She recenters the Americanization analysis from its long-standing focus upon Jewish religion, institutions, and politics to an American Jewish body of lore. In this middle ground, she locates a heritage distinctive to Jews in America. She finds it in the everyday creations encountered by most Jews--newspapers, children's books, public monuments, pageants, and parades. While intellectual and religious leaders contributed to those items and events, by and large these popular creations produced a …