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Steven T. Katz
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The Shtetl: New Evaluations (Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies Series, 1) Paperback – November 1, 2009

by Steven T. Katz (Editor)
4.4 out of 5 stars 5
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Dating from the sixteenth century, there were hundreds of shtetls―Jewish settlements―in Eastern Europe that were home to a large and compact population that differed from their gentile, mostly peasant neighbors in religion, occupation, language, and culture. The shtetls were different in important respects from previous types of Jewish settlements in the Diaspora in that Jews had rarely formed a majority in the towns in which they lived. This was not true of the shtetl, where Jews sometimes comprised 80% or more of the population. While the shtetl began to decline during the course of the nineteenth century, it was the Holocaust which finally destroyed it.

During the last thirty years the shtetl has attracted a growing amount of scholarly attention, though gross generalizations and romanticized nostalgia continue to affect how the topic is treated. This volume takes a new look at this most important facet of East European Jewish life. It helps to correct the notion that the shtetl was an entirely Jewish world and shows the ways in which the Jews of the shtetl interacted both with their co-religionists and with their gentile neighbors. The volume includes chapters on the history of the shtetl, its myths and realities, politics, gender dynamics, how the shtetl has been (mis)represented in literature, and the changes brought about by World War I and the Holocaust, among others.

Contributors: Samuel Kassow, Gershon David Hundert, Immanuel Etkes, Nehemia Polen, Henry Abramson, Konrad Zielinski, Jeremy Dauber, Israel Bartel, Naomi Seidman, Mikhail Krutikov, Arnold J. Band, Katarzyna Wieclawska, Yehunda Bauer, and Elie Wiesel.

This is the first book published in the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies Series.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    November 1, 2009
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.84 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0814748317
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0814748312
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This important and comprehensive collection provides a fascinating re-evaluation of one of the main locations of Jewish life in Eastern Europe down to the Holocaust and beyond." -- Antony Polonsky,Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studiesat the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Brandeis University

"[A]nyone looking to really understand the Jewish past, not just the romanticized version of it, will find this book a perfect antidote." ― The Reporter

"Talk about stereotype busting! Not only are we forced to readjust our sights . . . but in the best moments of Katz’s collection we learn how to distinguish what is factually true from what is mythically imagined. Even more importantly, we begin to see . . . the world of the shtetlach that the fog and night of the Holocaust forever destroyed." ― New Jersey Jewish News

"The quality of the essays is uniformly good, and after reading them, readers will be fully acquainted with the elusive concept of the shtetl. The essays are well documented." ― Choice

"The book is a must-buy for all libraries." ― AJL Newsletter

About the Author

Steven T. Katz is Slater Professor of Jewish and Holocaust Studies and former Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University. His many publications include The Holocaust in Historical Context.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYU Press (November 1, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0814748317
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0814748312
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.84 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 5

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Steven T. Katz

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4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
5 global ratings

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B Spolsky
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2015
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very useful
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JackAmazon1
5.0 out of 5 stars Very strong foundation for emerging field of scholarship
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
The study of Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement and throughout Eastern Europe and Russia during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries is a mostly new area of scholarship and has already made great inroads into deconstructing the mythology of life in the 'shtetl' archetype. This collection of essays and studies makes an excellent introduction to the subject even for those without prior knowledge of Jewish or regional history. It is part of the required reading for 'HIST 355 - Soviet Jewish History' at U of I Urbana Champaign and has relevance in other historical fields as well. Highly recommended.
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