The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000

Two sections deal with antisemitism. Pp. 169-182 discuss the immigration era of the late 19th-early 20th centuries, when anti-Jewish rhetoric characterized Jewish immigrants as dirty, poor, and prone to crime. American Jews reacted by trying to "improve" their poor cousins, by sending them away from New York, and by establishing social aid and defense organizations. They protested against oppression of Jews abroad, e.g. in Russia and Romania, and attempted to convince the USA to keep its gates open to Jewish immigration. Pp. 207-222 discuss the increase in the 1930s of antisemitism, both populist and elite, and including pro-Nazism, until the U.S. entry into World War II. American Jews then attempted, with little success, to help rescue Jews from Europe. Maintains that even a unified Jewish community could not have attained more, given the American social and political climate. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)