The Rest of Us, Stephen Birmingham
The Rest of Us, Stephen Birmingham
List: $44.99 | Sale: $31.50
Club: $22.49

"The Rest of Us"
The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews

Author: Stephen Birmingham

Narrator: Mel Foster

Unabridged: 17 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 07/02/2019


Synopsis

The New York Times–bestselling history of the Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland who altered the American landscape from New York to Hollywood.The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the "old country" to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined, and in no time they were moving up from the ghetto tenements of New York's Lower East Side to make their marks and their fortunes across the country in a variety of fields, from media and popular music to fashion, motion pictures, and even organized crime.Among the unforgettable personages author Stephen Birmingham profiles are radio pioneer David Sarnoff, makeup mogul Helena Rubinstein, Hollywood tycoons Samuel Goldwyn and Harry Cohn, Broadway composer Irving Berlin, and mobster Meyer Lansky. From the author of "Our Crowd", comes this treasure trove of fascinating tales and unforgettable "rags-to-riches" success stories that celebrates the indomitable spirit of a unique community.

About Stephen Birmingham

Stephen Birmingham (1929–2015) was an American author of more than thirty books. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he graduated from Williams College in 1953 and taught writing at the University of Cincinnati. Birmingham’s work focuses on the upper class in America. He’s written about the African American elite in Certain People and prominent Jewish society in Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, The Grandees: The Story of America’s Sephardic Elite, and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America’s Eastern European Jews. His work also encompasses several novels including The Auerbach Will, The LeBaron Secret, Shades of Fortune, and The Rothman Scandal, and other non-fiction titles such as California Rich, The Grandes Dames, and Life at the Dakota: New York’s Most Unusual Address.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mal

Some of the most remarkable figures in the history of the United States during the first half of the twentieth century were first- or second-generation Jews who had emigrated from the Russian Empire. The social historian Stephen Birmingham (1929-2015) told their colorful story in “The Rest of Us” mo......more

Goodreads review by Eloise

A brilliant book, masterfully written and researched. The Rest of Us is the wonderful finale to Stephen Birmingham's impressive triptych of the histories of American Jewry. This three part work doesn't simply account for the overlooked facets of the American Jewish experience (or American history) but......more

Goodreads review by Susann

Well worth reading I enjoyed this book more than many of the reviewers led me to believe I would. Some in depth looks at many key Jewish figures in the last century from movie moguls to liquor, fashion, cosmetic and radio industry personalities. A few editorial typos in the Kindle edition. What reall......more

Goodreads review by Mimi

This is the third book of Stephen Birmingham's trilogy about Jews in America. The first focuses on the Spanish Jews who were the first to settle in the US beginning in 1654, the Sephardim. It's followed by the book about the German Jews who began to come to America starting in the mid nineteenth cen......more