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In the Catskills: A Century of Jewish Experience in "The Mountains"
Contributor(s): Brown, Phil (Editor)
ISBN: 0231123612     ISBN-13: 9780231123617
Publisher: Columbia University Press
OUR PRICE:   $26.96  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: April 2004
Qty:
Annotation: With selections from Isaac Bashevis Singer, Allegra Goodman, Moss Hart, TaniaGrossinger, and many others, this volume is a tribute to the legendary Jewishresort area of the Catskills. 40 halftones. 26 figures.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa)
- Literary Collections | American - General
- Literary Criticism | Jewish
Dewey: 974.738
LCCN: 2001042319
Lexile Measure: 1110
Physical Information: 0.91" H x 6.8" W x 8.3" (1.36 lbs) 415 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic
- Cultural Region - Northeast U.S.
- Ethnic Orientation - Jewish
- Geographic Orientation - New York
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Through fiction, memoir, music, photography, and art, In the Catskills highlights the Catskills experience over a century and assesses its continuing impact on American music, comedy, food, culture, and religion. It features selections from such fiction writers as Isaac Bashevis Singer, Herman Wouk, Allegra Goodman and Vivian Gornick; and original contributions from historians, sociologists, and scholars of American and Jewish culture that trace the history of the region, the rise of hotels and bungalow colonies, the wonderful flavors of food and entertainment, and distinctive forms of Jewish religion found in the Mountains.

What was life--the work, the play, the food, the romance--like at Catskills Mountains resorts? These very personal recollections capture the special sense of community and real sense of freedom that developed. Far from the welter of the city, Jewish families learned to vacation and enjoy themselves, to savor the social mobility and cultural space the resorts afforded, and to nourish their culinary and comic traditions. From "Bingo by the Bungalow" by Thane Rosenbaum to "Young Workers in the Hotels" by Phil Brown to "Shoot the Shtrudel to Me Yudel" by Henry Foner, this charming anthology captures an era that has had enormous impact on the Jewish experience and American culture as a whole.

"Whenever I speak about the Catskills," observes editor Phil Brown, "I am struck by the strength of people's desire to relive their experiences in the Mountains." If you've visited the Catskills yourself, or heard stories from your parents or grandparents, or are just interested in this extraordinary time and place, pack your bags and prepare to enjoy your stay In the Catskills.