American Pluralism and the Jewish Community

In a landmark volume of new essays destined to reshape the parameters of future discourse on American Jews and their relationships to major ideologies and organization of our time, Lipset has brought together many of the finest social analysts of Jewish life—both in the United States and overseas. Indeed, Canadian and Israeli perspectives add a comparative dimension that increases the special value of this book. S. N. Eisenstadt calls attention in his opening chapter to the thrust of the volume as a whole: a focus on the most distinguishing aspect of the American Jewish experience—the incorporation of Jews into all arenas and aspects of American life, and the effects of such incorporation on the structuring of Jewish life and self-perception. The work emphasizes the burgeoning of Jewish institutions, the visibility and acceptability of such institutions, and the changing Jewish definition of their collective identity. The work is conceived of as Festschrift, essays in honor of Earl Raab. Thus, the work has a community dimension that typifies Raab's work. The four essays in the final segment—"California is Different"—will come as a pleasant bonus in a work that otherwise features the more global dimensions of Jewish life in America. The first section on the "North American Community" features essays by S. N. Eisenstadt, Nathan Glazer, Arnold Eisen, Chaim Waxman, and Morton Weinfield. The second section on "Politics" contains contributions by Irving Kristol, Carl Sheingold, Eyton Gilboa, and Alan Fisher. The third segment is on "Jewish Community Life" with essays by Daniel Elezar, Larry Ruben, and Arnold Dashevsky. This is, in short, a major collective statement by scholars long associated with the subject. It will be of interest to political scientists and sociologists interested in ethnic studies and Jewish life in America.