A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York Paperback – Illustrated, April 15, 2009

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This is a brilliant, bold, and original interpretation of Yiddish-speaking socialists and their origins less in Russian-Jewish radicalism and more in German-American socialism. The author's consistently lucid prose takes readers back to a fascinating time in American and Jewish life.

VERY MEDIOCRE AND TOO SENTIMENTAL. HE DOES NOT ASK THE HARD QUESTION: WHY DID JEWS EVOLVE FROM SOCIALISM AS A KIND OF RELIGION TO NEOCONS. HE FAILS TO DIFFERENTIATE YIDDISH SOCIALISTS, WHO WERE NOT BRIGHT PEOPLE, FROM REAL YIDDISH INTELLECTUALS WHO HAD THEIR OWN WORLD, WERE QUITE URBANE AND KNEW ABOUT OTHER CURRENTS OF THOUGHT, AND A MUCH KEENER KNOWLEDGE OF YIDDISH.COMPARED TO YURI SLEZKINE'S SUPERB "THE JEWISH CENTURY," THIS IS QUITE UNIMPRESSIVE.