Jews in the American academy, 1900-1940
Subtitle: the dynamics of intellectual assimilation
By: Susanne Klingenstein.
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 248
Subjects: Jews -- United States -- Biography.; Jewish college teachers -- United States -- Biography.; Jews -- Cultural assimilation -- United States.; United States -- Ethnic relations.
Description: Discusses the process of admission of Jewish academics into American universities. Focuses on the generation born in the 1880s (e.g. Leo Wiener, Harry A. Wolfson, Horace M. Kallen), and on Lionel M. Trilling (born in 1905). Examines their slow progress via professorships in philology, philosophy and, eventually, in English literature, as the latter department tended to see itself as the last bastion of Anglo-Saxon culture. Shows the interaction between these Jewish intellectuals and the universities which were somewhat hostile toward Jews. Discusses Columbia University's anti-Jewish policy with respect to admission of students and appointment of professors and trustees in the late 19th-early 20th centuries, and mentions other universities' reservations toward Jews.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-241) and index.