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Shop nowUnfinished People
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Learn moreNearly three million Jews came to America from Eastern Europe between 1880 and the outbreak of World War I, filled with the hope of life in a new land. Most were young, single, uneducated, and unskilled; many were children or teens. They were, in a sense, unfinished citizens of either the old or the new world.
Within two generations, these newcomers settled and prospered in the densely populated Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods of New York City. Against this backdrop, Ruth Gay narrates their rarely told story, bringing alive the vitality of the streets, markets, schools, synagogues, and tenement halls where a new version of America was invented in the 1920s and 30s. An intimate, unforgettable account, Unfinished People is a unique and vibrant portrait of a resilient people in their daily trials and rituals.
Ruth Gay lives in Hamden, Connecticut, with her husband, Peter Gay. She is the author also of The Jews of Germany: A Historical Portrait.
Anna Fields (1965–2006), winner of more than a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award in 2004, was one of the most respected narrators in the industry. Trained at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, she was also a director, producer, and technician at her own studio, Cedar House Audio.
Reviews
“Beautifully written, meticulously researched.”
“[Reader] Fields amplifies the book's primary strength—making comprehensible a culture that seems alien even to the children of the author's generation.”
“Gay provides a glimpse into Jewish immigrant life absent from most historians’ accounts…This highly readable volume should have wide appeal.”
“An enjoyable, easily digestible introduction to her parents’ and her own generation’s uneven and sometimes uneasy acculturation.”
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