Unfinished People: Eastern European Jews Encounter America

Ruth Gay's writing traverses the paths of history from the microcosm of personal memoir to millennial histories of peoples and nations. In The Jews of Germany, she traced one and a half centuries of Jewish life in Europe. In Unfinished People, Gay describes the lives of Jewish immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe and the process through which they forged new cultural identities in America. The materials for Gay's examination of Jewish life range from historical essays to personal remembrances. Short vignettes describe the role of Yiddish theater, the changing fashions of dress and family life, and her studied opinions on Jewish-American history and identity. Her opinions are sharp and her exposition is lucid and informative.