Purchasing Power: The Economics of Modern Jewish History

Rebecca Kobrin, Adam Teller (eds), Bernard Dov Cooperman, Carstein L. Wilke, Cornelia Aust, Glenn Dynner, et al.

ISBN 10: 0812247302 / ISBN 13: 9780812247305

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015

About this Item

Inscribed by editor. Jacket is lightly worn along edges. Ink markings in the margins of some pages. Inside pages are otherwise clean.

Seller Inventory # 1136322

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Purchasing Power: The Economics of Modern Jewish History
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0812247302
• ISBN 13: 9780812247305
• Binding: Hard cover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Business & Economics
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

How has the ability of Jews to amass and wield power, within both Jewish and non-Jewish society, influenced and been influenced by their economic activity? Purchasing Power answers this question by examining the nexus between money and power in modern Jewish history. It does so, in its first section, by presenting a series of case studies of the ways in which the economic choices made by Jewish businessmen could bring them wealth and influence. The second section focuses on transnational Jewish philanthropic and economic networks. The discussions there reveal how the wielding of power by Jewish organizations on the world stage could shape not only Jewish society but also the international arena.

In this way, the contributors to this volume reposition economics as central to our understanding of the Jewish experience from early modern Rome to contemporary America. Its importance for the creation of the State of Israel is also examined. As the editors write: "The study of culture and identity has proved valuable and enlightening (and, in some senses, also comfortable) in understanding the complexities of Jewish history. Perhaps we should now return to the issues of the material bases for Jewish life, and the ways in which Jews have exploited them in their search for wealth and power. Our understanding of the Jewish past will be immeasurably enriched in the effort."

Contributors: Cornelia Aust, Bernard Cooperman, Veerle Vanden Daelen, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Glenn Dynner, Abigail Green, Jonathan Karp, Rebecca Kobrin, Adam D. Mendelsohn, Derek Penslar, Adam Sutcliffe, Adam Teller, Carsten L. Wilke.

About the Author

Rebecca Kobrin is Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University. She is author of Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora and editor of Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism. Adam Teller is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies and History at Brown University.