Theatrical liberalism : Jews and popular entertainment in America

Finalist for the 2013 National Jewish Book Award, American Jewish Studies For centuries, Jews were one of the few European cultures without any official public theatrical tradition. Yet in the modern era, Jews were among the most important creators of popular theater and film–especially in America. Why? In Theatrical Liberalism, Andrea Most illustrates how American Jews used the theatre and other media to navigate their encounters with modern culture, politics, religion, and identity, negotiating a position for themselves within and alongside Protestant American liberalism by reimagining key aspects of traditional Judaism as theatrical. Discussing works as diverse as the Hebrew Bible, The Jazz Singer, and Death of a Salesman—among many others—Most situates American popular culture in the multiple religious traditions that informed the worldviews of its practitioners. Offering a comprehensive history of the role of Judaism in the creation of American entertainment, Theatrical Liberalism re-examines the distinction between the secular and the religious in both Jewish and American contexts, providing a new way of understanding Jewish liberalism and its place in a pluralist society. With extensive scholarship and compelling evidence, Theatrical Liberalism shows how the Jewish worldview that permeates American culture has reached far beyond the Jews who created it. Andrea Most is Associate Professor of American Literature and Jewish Studies in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. Her first book, Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical, won the 2005 Kurt Weill Prize for the Best Book on Musical Theatre. For centuries, Jews lived in diverse countries with vibrant theatrical cultures, yet they were one of the few peoples without a sanctioned theatrical tradition of their own. In the modern era, however, Jews came to be among the most important creators of popular theater and film in America. Why? In Theatrical Liberalism, Andrea Most illustrates how American Jews used theater to navigate encounters with modern culture, negotiating a position for themselves within and alongside Protestant liberalism by reimagining key aspects of traditional Judaism as theatrical. Discussing works from the Hebrew Bible to The Jazz Singer and Death of a Salesman, Most situates American popular culture in the religious traditions that informed the worldviews of its practitioners. Theatrical Liberalism offers a comprehensive history of the role of Judaism in the creation of American entertainment, reexamining the distinction between the secular and the religious, providing a new way of understanding both modern Jewish culture and liberalism, as well as their crucial contributions to a pluralist society. With extensive scholarship and compelling evidence, this engaging volume shows how the Jewish worldview that permeates American culture has reached far beyond the Jews who created it. For centuries, Jews lived in diverse countries with vibrant theatrical cultures, yet they were one of the few peoples without a sanctioned theatrical tradition of their own. In the modern era, however, Jews came to be among the most important creators of popular theater and film in America. Why? In this book, the author illustrates how American Jews used theater to navigate encounters with modern culture, negotiating a position for themselves within and alongside Protestant liberalism by reimagining key aspects of traditional Judaism as theatrical. Discussing works from the Hebrew Bible to The Jazz Singer and Death of a Salesman, the author situates American popular culture in the religious traditions that informed the worldviews of its practitioners. This book offers a comprehensive history of the role of Judaism in the creation of American entertainment, reexamining the distinction between the secular and the religious, providing a new way of understanding both modern Jewish culture and liberalism, as well as their crucial contributions to a pluralist society. With extensive scholarship and compelling evidence, this engaging volume shows how the Jewish worldview that permeates American culture has reached far beyond the Jews who created it