Why the Jews? - How Jewish Values Transformed Twentieth Century American Pop Culture

The author explores the important role that Jewish performers and middlemen played in the evolution of popular culture throughout the century, from stage and big screen to radio, television, and the music industry. He concludes with a discussion of Jewish values that helps explain the role that Jews continue to play in American popular culture.

List of contents

Preface
Introduction: Jewish Values and Popular Culture
Chapter 1 Contrasting Immigrant Religious Beliefs
Chapter 2 Irish Catholic Immigrants and Wholesome Vaudeville
Chapter 3 Jewish Vaudeville Ascendancy
Chapter 4 Jewish Influence during the Silent Film Era
Chapter 5 The 1930s Movie Moguls: Louis B. Mayer and Warner Brothers
Chapter 6 The Jewish Community and Black Music
Chapter 7 The Jewish Role in the Rise of the Broadway Musical
Chapter 8 Jewish Jazz Performers and Middlemen
Chapter 9 Radio and Early Television: Jewish Owners, Comedy Writers, and Vaudevillians
Chapter 10 The Postwar Period
Chapter 11 The Origins of Jewish Views on Bodily Pleasure
Notes
Index
About the Author

About the author

Robert Cherry, recently retired professor of economics at Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center, contributes to The Forward, The Jerusalem Post, Israel Studies, and Contemporary Jewry. He has written dozens of articles and four books on discrimination, and has written extensively on the American Jewish community and the Holocaust. He is the author of Who Gets the Good Jobs? Combating Race and Gender Earnings Disparities, Prosperity for All? The Economic Boom and African Americans, Discrimination: Its Economic Impact on Blacks, Women, and Jews, and The Imperiled Economy: Macroeconomics from a Left Perspective.

Product details

• Authors: Robert Cherry, Cherry Robert
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.03.2021
• EAN: 9781538143124
• ISBN: 978-1-5381-4312-4
• No. of pages: 254
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; USA, Popular Culture, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, Social & cultural history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / Jewish, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, RELIGION / Judaism / Rituals & Practice, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Jewish Studies, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Jewish Studies, Judaism: life & practice, United States of America, USA, Relating to Jewish people & groups, History of the Americas, Social groups: religious groups & communities, Relating to Jewish people and groups