Quite the contrary. The author presents clear historical data to show that many great minds which grew out of the shtetl refused to shed their Jewishness in order to achieve fame in the world at large.
In his cogent analysis, the author reveals the great personalities that blossomed in the caldron of shetetl life, greats like The Baal Shem Tov, Y.I. Peretz, Franz Rosenzweig, Januz Korczak, and many others.