Fighting to become Americans

by Riv-Ellen Prell

Why would an American ethnic group use racist terms to describe itself? Riv-Ellen Prell asks this compelling question as she observes how deeply antisemitic stereotypes - particularly gender stereotypes - infuse Jewish men's and women's views of one another. Through her careful reading of these fluctuating yet consistent Jewish gender stereotypes, Prell offers an innovative history of American Jewish acculturation in the twentieth century. Exploring Jewish self-representations in popular culture - magazines, fiction, sermons, films, stand-up comedy, and articles and letters in the Jewish press - Prell examines gender stereotypes like the turn-of-the-century "Ghetto Girl," the devouring Jewish mother of the postwar years, and, more recently, the "Jewish Prince" and the "JAP." Fighting to Become Americans is a provocative book for anyone interested in the dynamics that divide minority groups.