Growing Up Jewish in America: An Oral History

Compilers of two previous oral histories, the Frommers (It Happened in Brooklyn) here mix the experiences of some 100 interviewees--a good fraction of them writers or Jewish community officials--into a rich mosaic portrait. They cover much ground, from life in New England (``a benignly non-Jewish environment''), the isolating South and the comforting frenzy of New York. Interviewees discuss politicization, the impact of the Holocaust, the effects of Zionism and the ongoing tensions about assimilation and anti-Semitism. Some anecdotes are arresting, and all are quite short. Thus, this book is an accessible introduction to the varieties of the American Jewish experience, but the reader is reminded that there exists a rich body of reportage, fiction and memoir that delves far deeper into such stories. Photos. (Nov.)