Mendelsohn, Rag Race; Jews; New York Clothing Industry; Immigration;

In Rag Race, a well researched and beautifully written work, Adam D. Mendelsohn seeks to explain how the majority of Jewish immigrants who migrated to the United States between 1820 and 1924 arrived penniless, yet today their descendants stand out as exceptionally successful.  Drawing upon the social and economic historiography of Britain, Australia, and the United States, Mendelsohn weaves together the disparate historical threads into a seamless narrative.  He compellingly argues that the Jews who flocked to the United States during the age of mass migration were aided appreciably by their association with a particular corner of the American economy--the rag trade, riding the coattails of the clothing trade from the margins of economic life to a position of unusual promise and prominence shaping both their societal status and the clothing industry as a whole.  Moreover, The Rag Race demonstrates that differences within the garment industry in America and England contributed to a very real divergence in social and economic outcomes for Jews in each setting.  The book, part of the Goldstein-Goren Series in American Jewish Life, is an outstanding example of comparative history and offers significant insights into immigration history. It has been the recipient of numerous awards, including:
-Winner, National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies from the Jewish Book Council, 2014
-Winner, Jordan Schnitzer Book Award from the Association for Jewish Studies, 2014
-Finalist, Book Prize for the Southern Jewish Historical Society, 2015
-Best Book Prize from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, 2016
Finalist, Sam Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, 2016
Hardcover with dust jacket, 1st ed, 296 pp., b/w ills., signed.  No visible wear; near fine. Online median price $50+.
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