Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Summer 2011
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 31:3 (Summer 2011).
Abstract
Bryan Stone's The Chosen Folks deserves widespread appeal. Those interested in Jewish studies, Texas history, and immigration will certainly find it a useful analysis. What's more, those concerned with the frontier-where Jewish, Texan, immigrant, and other identities intertwine, influence, and define each other-will especially benefit. Stone aptly applies the modern reconceptualization of the frontier to describe the experiences of Jews-"the quintessential frontierspeople"-in Texas, "a quintessential frontier."
Throughout the book Stone uses the frontier to organize and interpret the Texas Jewish experience. For example, the Republic of Texas's location on a geographic frontier allowed Jews to develop an interior frontier wherein they could express or hide their Jewishness in accord with their circumstances. Furthermore, the geographic frontier enhanced Jews' sense of being both insiders and outsiders in the newly formed state. Living great distances from centers of Jewish life, they identified with the dominant Anglo culture. Their Jewish heritage, however, distinguished them to some extent from the Anglo majority.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.