There Was a Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream (revised and updated)

The first edition of There Was a Fire is a National Jewish Book Award Finalist

"Terrific and tragically obscure . . . I can hardly believe how good it is."-Eric Alterman, The Nation

This book is about the power of memory, the human need for narrative, and the ability of music to encode and deliver the two. It outlines the role of the Jews who came to America from Eastern Europe during the late 19th and 20th centuries and helped define the spirit of the American Dream: a concern for the avera...