The Journey Home

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 3, 1997

This overview of the lives of outstanding American Jewish women from 1890 to the present emphasizes their achievements against the background of their religion. According to Antler (Lucy Sprague Mitchell: The Making of a Modern Woman), the accomplishments of Jewish women have been marginalized in most histories of American life. She has taken 50 women from many backgrounds including literature (Edna Ferber, Gertrude Stein), show business (Sophie Tucker, Fannie Brice), Zionism (Henrietta Szold, Jessie Sampter) and feminism (Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug), and here gives a well-researched and lively portrait of each as well as highlighting their connections to their religion. Antler convincingly argues that Jewish women took activist roles in 20th-century social movements because fighting for justice is part of the Jewish tradition. She also describes how each woman came to terms with having both a female and a Jewish identity.