The Golden Age Shtetl : A New History of Jewish Life in East Europe / Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Petrovskiĭ-Shtern, Ĭokhanan, author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (445 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The shtetl was home to two-thirds of East Europe's Jews in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, yet it has long been one of the most neglected and misunderstood chapters of the Jewish experience. This book provides the first grassroots social, economic, and cultural history of the shtetl. Challenging popular misconceptions of the shtetl as an isolated, ramshackle Jewish village stricken by poverty and pogroms, Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern argues that, in its heyday from the 1790s to the 1840s, the shtetl was a thriving Jewish community as vibrant as any in Europe.Petrovsky-Shtern brings this golden age to life, looking at dozens of shtetls and drawing on a wealth of never-before-used archival material. Illustrated throughout with rare archival photographs and artwork, this nuanced history casts the shtetl in an altogether new light, revealing how its golden age continues to shape the collective memory of the Jewish people today.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction. What's in a Name?

Chapter one. Russia Discovers Its Shtetl

Chapter two. Lawless Freedom

Chapter three. Fair Trade

Chapter four. The Right to Drink

Chapter five. A Violent Dignity

Chapter six. Crime, Punishment, and a Promise of Justice

Chapter seven. Family Matters

Chapter eight. Open House

Chapter nine. If I Forget Thee

Chapter ten. The Books of the People

Conclusion. The End of the Golden Age

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9780691168517

0691168512

9781400851164

1400851165

OCLC:

870088603