Economy in Jewish History

Gideon Reuveni is Director of the Centre for German Jewish Studies at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Reading Germany: Literature and Consumer Culture in Germany before 1933 (Berghahn, 2006) and the co-editor of several other books on different aspects of Jewish history. Presently he is working on a book on consumer culture and the making of Jewish identity in Europe.

• Chapter 1. Prolegomena to an ‘Economic Turn’ in Jewish HistoryGideon ReuveniPART I: RETHINKING THE ECONOMY IN JEWISH HISTORYChapter 2. Can Economic History Date the Inception of Jewish Modernity?Jonathan Karp Chapter 3. Wandering as Circulation: Dostoevsky and Marx on the ‘Jewish Question’Kirill PostoutenkoChapter 4. Money Makes the Jew Go Round: West German Jewry and the Search for FlexibilityAnthony D. KaudersPART II: JEWS IN THE MARKETPLACEChapter 5. All Talk or Business as Usual? Brokerage and Schmoozing in a Swiss Urban Society in the early 19th CenturySusanne BennewitzChapter 6. Socialists, Bankers and Sephardic Jews: The Pereire Brothers and the Crédit MobilierHelen M. DaviesChapter 7. Buying, Selling, Being, Drinking; Or, how the Coffeehouse became a Site for the Consumption of new Jewish Modalities of BelongingSarah Wobick-SegevChapter 8. Consuming Powers: The “Jewish Department Store” in German Politics and CulturePaul LernerPART III: JEWISH ECONOMIES IN NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL CONTEXTSChapter 9. Going Native: Moritz Jellinek and the Modernization of the Hungarian EconomyMichael L. MillerChapter 10. Jews, Plumes, and Global Commerce in the Modern PeriodSarah Abrevaya SteinChapter 11. Trading in Torah: Bootleg Bibles and Secondhand Scripture in the Age of European ImperialismAdam MendelssohnChapter 12. Cut to Zionism: The Emergence of the Diamond Industry in British-Ruled PalestineDavid DeVriesNotes on ContributorsBibliographyIndex

“The book at first appears to be incoherent because of the diversity of the subjects treated, but one can remember it surprisingly as a fairly homogeneous whole after having read it from the beginning to the end… [when] the reader is left with a kind of holographic image of a vast and multifaceted Jewish economic activity, which spans many centuries and which admirably and miraculously continues to flourish.”  ·  The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought“The volume under review is a signal contribution to the recent wave of new research…The result [of this volume’s approach] is rewarding for readers interested in thematic explorations about society, culture, and money, as seen from an insider/outsider perspective.”  ·  Journal of Interdisciplinary History“The theme…is a vitally important one, Reuveni’s Prolegomena lays out a compelling interpretation of the field…. The volume as a whole is valuable in providing the reader with an overview of the engagement of Jews in the economy, or how Jews were imagined to participate in the economy, particularly in Europe.”  ·  Leora Auslander, University of Chicago“This is an impressive essay collection that [offers] an innovative approach to modern Jewish history…. Another strong point is that several contributions are based on archival research and deal with little studied contexts, such as Africa or indeed Hungary.”  ·  Tobias Brinkmann, Penn State University