Strangers & Natives

A Newspaper Narrative of Early Jewish America 1734 -1869

By Ron Rubin, Jonathan D. Sarna

Format: Softcover

Pages: 232

ISBN: 9781602803282

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Foreword by Jonathan D. Sarna
Developed by Peri Devaney

Strangers and Natives: A Newspaper Narrative of Early Jewish America, 1734 - 1869 focuses on the daily life and customs of the Jewish community and the Jewish people; the formation of Jewish congregations and organizations; and the involvement of Jews in education, literature, journalism, politics, the marketplace, the military, and history itself. While there are numerous historical accounts of early American Jewry quoting documents, diaries and memoirs, this is the first that uses periodicals from that time period. Using scans of the original newsprint, most from the author s own extensive collection, Strangers and Natives displays the actual written words - the first blush of history - in visual form.

About the Author

Ron Rubin, PhD, a political science professor emeritus at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York, is a well-published author. Rubin retired from BMCC after fifty years as the political science department's most senior professor. A graduate of Yeshiva University High School, New York University (BA and Ph.D.) and Brown University (MA), he was first published in 1959 as Editor-In-Chief of the NYU Huntington Hill Historical Society's Historian.
A prolific writer, Rubin has had more than 100 works published globally since then. His books include Controversies Over the Objectives of the U.S. Information Agency (Praeger, 1968), The Unredeemed: Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union (Quadrangle Books, 1968), Rudy, Rudy, Rudy: The Real and the Rational(Holmes & Meier, 2000) and Anything for a T-Shirt: Fred Lebow and the New York City Marathon (Syracuse University Press, 2004). In 2013 more than 75 of Dr. Rubin's commentaries - focusing solely on topics relating to Israel, the global Jewish community and the American Jewish community - were anthologized in A Jewish Professor's Political Punditry: Fifty Plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin, edited by Peri Devaney (Syracuse University Press).
Rubin resides with his wife, Miriam, in Riverdale, New York, where he is an active member of the Jewish community.

Peri (Perel Chana) Devaney is an editorial, marketing and administrative consultant with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the State University of NY at Buffalo. Her editorial career includes more than 30 years of writing and editing newsletters and brochures as a volunteer for non-profit organizations and schools. In the late 1980s, as Executive Director of a major international association, AFCOM, she served as Founding Editor of its highly acclaimed magazine and was responsible for editorial content, design, advertising and staff development.
Devaney left association work to form PERIodicals and devote more time to her editorial work and to the Jewish community. Under the PERIodicals banner, in addition to continuing her work for non-profit organizations, she served as editorial consultant and rewrite editor on two books by Harvey Rosenthal: Diary of a Dirty Little War: The Spanish American War of 1898 [Praeger, 2000] and Richmond Pearson Hobson: Naval Hero from Magnolia Grove [Yucca Tree Press, 2001]. From 2000-2013, in addition to her work with PERIodicals, she served as Administrator for Jews for Judaism, an international non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening and preserving Jewish identity and counteracting deceptive proselytizing.
A native of Long Island, NY, Devaney lived in Buffalo, NY, Albany, NY and Vermont before moving to California. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband Michoe-l, who is also known as ''the Cowboy Chassid'' at home and as ''Cantor Bob'' in Nevada.

Praise for Strangers & Natives:

"From the earliest colonial printings to the rise of newspapers as a serious political force in the 19th and 20th centuries, newspapers are among the most significant sources of information with respect to the American past. Ron Rubin's new book, Strangers and Natives, based exclusively on newspaper accounts, plumbs these great resources in a fascinating and thought-provoking account of American Jewry. The book traces some of the direst moments in this history - for example, Grant's infamous expulsion of Jews from Tennessee - as well as some of the happiest, including Jewish political and social triumphs and holiday celebrations. A must-read for anyone interested in learning how the media portrayed, understood, and promoted the Jewish experience in early America."

-Louise Mirrer, Ph.D., President and CEO, New York Historical Society

"Professor Ron Rubin has produced a truly extraordinary and colorful compendium of newspaper stories that transport the reader back in time to experience Jewish life in early America. This fascinating and diverse array of newspaper accounts - written both by Jews and about Jews - sheds new light on what E pluribus unum really meant to our American forebears. General readers and scholars alike will find a treasure-trove of interesting facts in this page-turning documentary volume."

-Dr. Gary P. Zola, Executive Director, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, and the Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of the American Jewish Experience, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion