A Jewish Feminine Mystique? : : Jewish Women in Postwar America / / ed. by Hasia Diner, Shira Kohn, Rachel Kranson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Antler, Joyce,; Boim Wolf, Rebecca,; Del Negro, Giovanna P.,; Diner, Hasia R.,; Horowitz, Daniel,; Kobrin, Rebecca,; Kohn, Shira,; Kranson, Rachel,; Laughlin, Kathleen A.,; Mohl, Raymond A.,; Nasar, Audrey,; Sicherman, Barbara,; Sinkoff, Nancy,; Smith, Judith,; Waxman, Deborah,
• TeilnehmendeR: Antler, Joyce.; Horowitz, Daniel.; Kobrin, Rebecca.; Kranson, Rachel.; Laughlin, Kathleen.; Mohl, Raymond A.; Nasar, Audrey.; Negro, Giovanna Del.; Sicherman, Barbara.; Sinkoff, Nancy.; Smith, Judith.; Waxman, Deborah.; Wolf, Rebecca.
• HerausgeberIn: Diner, Hasia,; Kohn, Shira,; Kranson, Rachel,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (284 p.) :; 9 illustrations

In The Feminine Mystique, Jewish-raised Betty Friedan struck out against a postwar American culture that pressured women to play the role of subservient housewives. However, Friedan never acknowledged that many American women refused to retreat from public life during these years. Now, A Jewish Feminine Mystique? examines how Jewish women sought opportunities and created images that defied the stereotypes and prescriptive ideology of the "feminine mystique." As workers with or without pay, social justice activists, community builders, entertainers, and businesswomen, most Jewish women championed responsibilities outside their homes. Jewishness played a role in shaping their choices, shattering Friedan's assumptions about how middle-class women lived in the postwar years. Focusing on ordinary Jewish women as well as prominent figures such as Judy Holliday, Jennie Grossinger, and Herman Wouk's fictional Marjorie Morningstar, leading scholars explore the wide canvas upon which American Jewish women made their mark after the Second World War.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. "Some of Us Were There before Betty": Jewish Women and Political Activism in Postwar Miami -- 2. The Polishness of Lucy S. Dawidowicz's Postwar Jewish Cold War -- 3. "Our Defense against Despair": The Progressive Politics of the National Council of Jewish Women after World War II -- 4. "It's Good Americanism to Join Hadassah": Selling Hadassah in the Postwar Era -- 5. "A Lady Sometimes Blows the Shofar": Women's Religious Equality in the Postwar Reconstructionist Movement -- 6. Beyond the Myths of Mobility and Altruism: Jewish Immigrant Professionals and Jewish Social Welfare Agencies in New York City, 1948-1954 -- 7. Negotiating New Terrain: Egyptian Women at Home in America -- 8. The Bad Girls of Jewish Comedy: Gender, Class, Assimilation, and Whiteness in Postwar America -- 9. Judy Holliday's Urban Working-Girl Characters in 1950s Hollywood Film -- 10. The "Gentle Jewish Mother" Who Owned a Luxury Resort: The Public Image of Jennie Grossinger, 1954-1972 -- 11. Reading Marjorie Morningstar in the Age of the Feminine Mystique and After -- 12. "We Were Ready to Turn the World Upside Down": Radical Feminism and Jewish Women -- 13. Jewish Women Remaking American Feminism/ Women Remaking American Judaism: Reflections on the Life of Betty Friedan -- Biographies of Contributors -- Index