This book considers some of the most famous Yiddish writers in America, the controversies their works aroused-in Yiddish and English-during the Holocaust, and the ways in which reading them contributes to a revision of American Jewish cultural development. "In her fascinating study of this traditional view/assumption, Norich examines the premises of historical and cultural pressures that determined Jewish fate from the optimistic 18th-centruy Enlightenment to its violent end in the concentration-camp universe Including helpful notes and an extensive bibliography, this thought-provoking study will reward a broad audience with fresh insights and better understanding."