Deborah Dash Moore tells [the] unique story [of 15 Jewish GIs] with
eloquence and restraint.--Irma Kurtz"Jewish Chronicle"
(02/11/2005)
In this impressively written book, Moore takes as her focus a
number of Jewish individuals--among them rabbis, college graduates,
manual laborers, and her own father--and demonstrates how military
service in World War II transformed their worldviews. The
transformation often began during military training, where many
Jews broke out of their insular ethnic world and discovered the
diversity of America. During their military service, they
confronted anti-Semitism, racism, the fear of combat, the
loneliness of being a minority, and the challenge of living a
Jewish life in a military that regarded ham products as one of the
four basic food groups. Moore's greatest strength is her ability to
integrate the story of the individual into the wider issues facing
America. In the process, she helps lay to rest the notion that
there was a single Jewish response to the wartime
experience.--Frederic Krome"Library Journal" (08/01/2004)
Moore has produced a lucid account of Jewish military service
during World War II, telling her tale largely through the
experiences of 15 Jewish soldiers, including her own
father...Deborah Dash Moore ably conveys the subtleties and
intricacies of why my father and others serving during World War II
did not surrender or feel compelled to hide their Jewishness.
Throughout her narrative, she points out that military service
empowered these young men as Jews as well as Americans.--Judy
Bolton-Fasman"Jerusalem Report" (01/10/2005)
Moore's greatest strength is her ability to integrate the story of
the individual into the wider issues facing America.--Frederic
Krome"Library Journal" (08/01/2004)
Moore's history demonstrates just how significant soldiering was to
the full acceptance of Jews in the U.S....[A] trenchant and fluent
book...As Moore deftly weaves a narrative from the varied
experiences of her informants--tracking them from Hitler's invasion
of Poland in 1939 to battlefield victory and the liberation of the
death camps in 1945--she refuses to merely celebrate. Her book
includes instances of anti-Semitism in boot camp here and on the
fronts overseas. In one especially searing moment, a Jewish
chaplain is excluded from an ecumenical memorial service after the
battle for Iwo Jima because he is an outspoken foe of racial
segregation in the American military. Such unclouded vision makes
Moore all the more credible in describing the more-common process
of Jews proving their mettle to gentiles and securing their place
in a more-tolerant postwar America.--Samuel G. Freedman"Chicago
Tribune" (06/12/2005)
The great surprise of the season in World War II books is Deborah
Dash Moore's wonderful "GI Jews: How World War II Changed a
Generation"...It is an enjoyable read. Moore, a Vassar professor,
writes well and knows how to tell a story...She has an eye for
interesting characters and for what makes them interesting...She
keeps up a lively pace and intersperses evocative vignettes with
insightful analysis of what these Jewish troops' experiences meant
to them, their families, their communities and the nation as a
whole...For postwar generations, her book reveals how the
experience of the war changed the generation that fought it and why
it helped launch the civil rights movement, the Great Society and
America's rise to global predominance. "GI Jews" should not be
missed by anyone with an interest in World War II or the history of
the American people.--Kenneth M. Pollack"Washington Post Book
World" (06/05/2005)
is her ability to integrate the story of the individual into the
wider issues facing America. In the process, she helps lay to rest
the notion that there was a single Jewish response to the wartime
experience.
Such unclouded vision makes Moore all the more credible in
describing the more-common process of Jews proving their mettle to
gentiles and securing their place in a more-tolerant postwar
America.
Deborah Dash Moore tells Ýthe¨ unique story Ýof 15 Jewish GIs¨ with
eloquence and restraint. -- Irma Kurtz "Jewish Chronicle"
(02/11/2005)
Serving in WWII made American Jewish soldiers feel both more Jewish
and more American, writes historian Moore in this insightful study.
Relying mainly on memoirs and oral interviews of 15 veterans, Moore
shows how many of them had taken their Jewish identity for granted
in the Jewish enclaves where they grew up...The stories these
soldiers tell are compelling, and Moore does an admirable job of
knowing when to interpret and when to let the experiences speak for
themselves.
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