Books published by Wayne State University Press

Through the ages, theology in Judaism has played roles of varying importance. But the role of theology is minor compared with that of law and observance. This book is devoted to a study of the evolution of normative Judaism from the time of Ezra (ca. 400 B.C.) to Judah I, the Prince (ca. 200 A.D.). Its focus on law represents a realistic approach to the history of applied Judaism.

Presents a history of the Catholic Church and community in southern lower Michigan from the 1830s to the 1950s. More than a chronicle of clerical successions and institutional expansion, the book also examines those social and cultural influences that affected the development of the Catholic community.

First published in 1958 by Charles Scribner's Sons, Independent Man is the only book-length biography of one of Michigan's most remarkable men. His many careers embraced both the business and political spheres. Couzens was a prominent businessman who helped shape Ford Motor Company, but he left the company when he and Henry Ford clashed over politics. Upon leaving Ford, Couzens began his political career, first serving as Detroit's police commissioner. He went on to a controversial term as mayor of Detroit and then represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate. This book reveals the life of a truly unique and inspirational man.

Originally published in 1919, The Iron Hunter is the autobiography of one of Michigan's most influential and flamboyant historical figures: the reporter, publisher, explorer, politician, and twenty-seventh governor of Michigan, Chase Salmon Osborn (1860-1949). Making unprecedented use of the automobile in his 1910 campaign, Osborn ran a memorable campaign that was followed by an even more remarkable term as governor. In two years he eliminated Michigan's deficit, ended corruption, and produced the state's first workmen's compensation law and a reform of the electoral process. His autobiography reflects the energy and enthusiasm of a reformer inspired by the Progressive Movement, but it also reveals the poetic spirit of an adventurer who fell in love with Michigan's Upper Peninsula after traveling the world.

It was Maurice Sugar, labour activist and lawyer for the United Auto Workers, who played a key role in guiding the newly-formed union through the treacherous legal terrain obstructing its development in the 1930s. Christopher Johnson chronicles the life of Maurice Sugar, from his roots in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the struggles of the early 1930s.

Unfolds the history of Jewish immigration, segregation, and integration; of Jewry's cultural exclusiveness and assimilation; of its internal division and indivisible unity; and of its role in the making of America. Volume I focuses on the American revolution and the early national period, from 1776 to 1840.

The field notes of a pioneering folklorist who collected the songs, stories, and cultural history of Great Lakes sailors in the 1930s.

Examines the ways in which the American experience influenced some of the major leaders of the yishuv, the Jewish settlement in Palestine, during and between the world wars. In six biographical chapters, Michael Brown studies Vladimir Jabotinsky, Chaim Nahman Bialik, Berl Katznelson, Henrietta Szold, Golda Meir, and David Ben-Gurian.

Focuses on two central elements: textual research to examine the aesthetic qualities of the narrative, their division into genres, the various versions and their parallels, and acculturation in Israel, as well as contextual research to examine the performance art of the narrator and the role of the narrative as a communicative process in the narrating society.

Spans a half-century of scholarly inquiry by the noted anthropologist and biblical scholar Raphael Patai. He essays collected in this volume, some of which are presented for the first time in English translation, provide a rich harvest of Jewish customs and traditional beliefs, gathered from all over the world and from ancient to modern times.

Between 1977 and 1992, practically all Ethiopian Jews migrated to Israel. As the sole Jewish community from sub-Sahara Africa in Israel, the Ethiopian Jews have met with unique difficulties. Based on fieldwork conducted over several years, For Our Soul describes the ongoing process of adjustment and absorption that the Ethiopian Jewish immigrants experienced in Israel.

The life and times of Sunnie Wilson reflected on the changes in Detroit over the last sixty years.

Unfolds the history of Jewish immigration, segregation, and integration; of Jewry's cultural exclusiveness and assimilation; of its internal division and indivisible unity; and of its role in the making of America. In the fourth and final volume of this set, Marcus deals with the coming and challenge of the East European Jews from 1852 to 1920.

An imposing literary figure in America and Europe during the first half of the twentieth century, Ludwig Lewisohn (1882-1955) struggled with feelings of alienation in Christian America that were gradually resolved by his developing Jewish identity, a process reflected in hundreds of works of fiction, literary analysis, and social criticism. This second volume portrays Lewisohn's last decades.

An imposing literary figure in America and Europe during the first half of the twentieth century, Ludwig Lewisohn (1882-1955) struggled with feelings of alienation in Christian America that were gradually resolved by his developing Jewish identity, a process reflected in hundreds of works of fiction, literary analysis, and social criticism.

Brook Farm, Oneida, Amana, and Nauvoo are familiar names in American history. Far less familiar are New Odessa, Bethlehem-Jehudah, Cotopaxi, and Alliance - the Brook Farms and Oneidas of the Jewish people in North America. A small group of immigrant Jews chose to ignore urbanization and industrialization and devote themselves to experiments in collective farming in America.

Examines the historical, cultural, and social history of the Canadian portion of the Detroit River community in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Riv-Ellen Prell spent eighteen months of participant observation field research studying a countercultural havurah to determine why these groups emerged in the United States during the 1970s. In her book, she explores the central questions posed by the early havurot and their founders. She also examines the havurah as a development of American Judaism.

Analyses the migration of American Jews to Palestine between the two world wars and explores the contribution of these settlers to the building of Palestine. From New Zion to Old Zion draws on international archival correspondence, newspapers, maps, photographs, interviews, and fieldwork to provide a well-researched portrait of Aliyah.

A history of Jewish fraternities and sororities in the early-twentieth-century United States.

Presents a critical reading of themes and stylistic strategies of major American Holocaust fiction to determine its capacity to render the prelude, progress, and aftermath of the Holocaust. The unifying critical approach is the textual explication of themes and literary method, comparative references to international Holocaust literature, and a discussion of extra-literary Holocaust sources.

Traces the ways utopian visions of communication have played themselves out in particular contexts of Israeli society through the twentieth century, encapsulating central trends in the evolving Israeli cultural conversation over the years.

A vivd and detailed portrait of serial murder brothers Luke Karamazov and Tommy Searl.

Letters to America features the work of poets who have had the courage to write about race with honesty and passion. Speakign from the experience of Black, Native American, Asian, Arabic, Indian, Hispanic, and white culture, their diverse voices unite in a dialogue of poems which acknowledge and celebrate our differences while exploring America's shameful history of racial intolerance. The poets in this anthology include Gwendolyn Brooks, Charles Bukowski, Joy Harjo, Langstong Hughes, Sharon Olds, James Wright, Etheridge Knight, Gary Soto, Garrett Kaoru Hongo, Audre Lorde, David Ignatwo, and others.

The lively ferment in Etruscan studies, generated in part by recent archaeological discoveries and fostered by new trends in interpretation, has produced a wealth of information about the people historians traditionally considered as inaccessible. Now, scholars are reconstructing a portrait of the wealthy, sophisticated Etruscans whose territory once extended from the Po River to the Bay of Naples.Unfortunately, the wider English-speaking public has had no single resource which synthesizes these new findings and interpretations about the Etruscans. In fact, some sources continue to propagate the traditional myth of the "enigmatic and isolated Etruscans." In response, the eminent Etruscan scholar Larissa Bonfante asked seven other internationally known classicists to join her in providing this "handbook" for thenon-specialist as an authoritative and readable guide to the burgeoning Etruscan scholarship.As Bonfante explains in the introductory chapter, "The Etruscans provide an excellent opportunity of turning archaeology into history: this we tried to do, in our chapters, according to our individual directions. Nancy Thomson de Grummond traces the interest in and knowledge of the Etruscans from the earliest days. Mario Torelli provides an independent account of Etruscan history, based on monuments and sources. Jean MacIntosh Turfa belies the cliche of the Etruscans' traditional 'isolation' by surveying the material evidence for their trade with thePhoenicians, Greeks, and other neighbors in the Mediterranean. Marie-Françoise Briguet, Friedhelm Prayon, David Tripp, and I survey Etruscan art, architecture, coinage, and daily lives, respectively, Emeline Richardson contributes what she calls a 'primer' in the Etruscan language, a basic archaeological introduction to the Etruscan language, meant to help newcomers read the inscriptions on many of the monuments illustrated and to see these with the interdisciplinary approach so characteristic of, and necessary in, Etruscan studies."The book is profusely illustrated with over 300 photos and maps. Notes and bibliographic references lead to standard texts on the Etruscans and to the more specialized literature in the field. The result is a reliable and lively volume which brings readers into the mainstream of the latest Etruscan scholarship.