Jonathan D. Sarna

The fascinating story of how, in December 1862 on the pretense of addressing the smuggling of goods into the Confederacy, General Ulysses Grant, issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from the "Department of the Tennessee," a group of states under Grant's command. Although the order was quickly rescinded by President Lincoln, the scandal came back to haunt Grant when he ran for president in 1868, and he would spend the remainder of his life trying to atone for it. A little-known episode from the Civil War and the first instance in which American citizens were persecuted as a collective ethnic or religious group. A more egregious example is, of course, the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Carol Matas write about this incident in the young adult novel, The War Within (Simon & Schuster, 2001).… (mere)

I thought this book was a little disappointing. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I found that it was really a detailed look at the relationship between American Jews and Ulysses S. Grant during and after the Civil War. Grant's order to expel the Jews was short-lived and quickly overturned by Lincoln. Its effect wasn't widespread and wasn't felt by the larger pockets of southern Jews. Based on the title of the book, I was expecting more details about the people who were affected by the order; i.e. their personal hardships or change in social status. The discussion of the short-term effects of the order to expel the Jews was actually only a small portion of this book. The rest of the book was about Grant's apparent attempt to restore his relationship with American Jews by involving them in his presidential administration.

I will say that the author has really done his research. Per his estimate, the number of Jews living in America during the mid-1800s was relatively small, so they aren't a common subject in Civil War or Reconstruction literature. In this regard, I doubt you'll find better research than what's in this book. The author is also a good writer, which is refreshing in a book about a somewhat obscure topic. I just unfortunately did not find this to be a page-turner, but it may be a good read for people with interest in Grant or American Jews during the Reconstruction era.… (mere)

Illuminating essays about the Jewish community of Boston. Though there's a good deal of overlap -- several pieces discuss the migration of Jews from Roxbury and Dorchester to the suburbs --most of the essays are written lucidly, especially the ones about synagogues and schools. The one exception is the piece about Zionism, which doesn't explain the difference between one vague philosophical label and another and doesn't really prove that Boston-area Zionists had a major impact on the movement. I also wish that the maps could've been bigger, as they were too difficult to read. These are minor flaws, though, in an overall excellent work.… (mere)