A Pioneering Work

Publication Date: March 2006

Publisher: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

Author(s): David R. Parsons

Research Area: Culture and religion

Keywords: Jewish Identification; History; Religion; Anti-Semitism

Type: Book review

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The author reviews "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South" by Eli N. Evans, a work that is considered the first genuine attempt to chronicle and interpret the development of Jewish life in the American South. He writes that the book's conventional prose and interweaving of family memoirs with a broader historical narrative give it a special appeal. However, he maintains that it suffers somewhat from a clear lack of chronological or thematic order. On the whole though, the author believes that the book makes clear why Jewish communities are flourishing today in Southern soil.