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The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America.

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The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America. Edited by Marc Lee Raphael. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. vi + 490 pp.

What purpose does an anthology of historical essays serve? As I read Marc Lee Raphael's recent anthology on Jews and Judaism in America, I considered two answers: one involving access and the other involving the shape of the field. An anthology can be a wonderful pedagogical tool, allowing students relatively affordable access to the breadth of a field. (Ones that appear often on syllabi in the areas in which I teach include Jon Butler and Harry Stout's Religion in American History [1997] and Jonathan Sarna's The American Jewish Experience [1997].) Anthologies also serve as statements about how history is written and how it should be written, manifestos of sorts. (Two that come to mind are Thomas Tweed's Retelling U.S. Religious History [1997] and Riv-Ellen Prell's Women Remaking American Judaism [2007].) Both...

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