Imagining Early American Jews, with Michael Hoberman

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Michael Hoberman examines how the Jewish experiences of the American Revolution, slaveholding in the early republic and antebellum period, and westward migration have been imagined, commemorated, and frequently mythologized. Focusing on how historical relationships between Jews and Native Americans and Jews and Blacks are interpreted in light of current political developments, he suggests that the stories Americans tell about early American Jews help to shape their views about the racial and cultural complexities of the American present. He analyzes current-day popular representations of Jewish history in the United States, including historical novels and the curation of early synagogues and house museums. Finally, he introduces several current-day descendants of early American Jews whose genealogical backgrounds inform their sense of identity.

Timely and original, Imagining Early American Jews shows how non-specialists’ interpretations and representations of the past are key to understanding Jewish American history and identity.

Michael Hoberman is a professor of English Studies at Fitchburg State University. He is the author of A Hundred Acres of America: The Geography of Jewish American Literary History and New Israel/New England: Jews and Puritans in Early America and co-editor of Jews in the Americas, 1776-1826, among other titles. His writings appear in Tablet Magazine and other popular and scholarly venues.