----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Published by EH.NET (January 2002) Derek J. Penslar, _Shylock's Children: Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe_. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. xii + 374 pp. $45 (cloth), ISBN: 0-520-22590-2. Reviewed for EH.NET by Andrew C. Godley, Department of Economics, Reading University. <[log in to unmask]> Derek Penslar, Professor of Jewish history at the University of Toronto, has embarked on an ambitious research agenda, and this monograph is a very encouraging first fruit. First Penslar wants to understand and contextualize the debate on the 'Jewish problem' in modern Europe, and so ultimately to explore the societal origins of mid-twentieth century European anti-Semitism. Because so much of contemporary discussion was framed in economic terms, Penslar focuses on how the perception of the Jews in nineteenth century Europe altered with the emerging intellectual framework of modern political economy. Thus, Jewish economic man emerged during the halcyon days of laissez faire out of earlier Physiocratic stereotypes of the pauper and plutocratic merchant Jew. This is a worthwhile contribution in itself, because for too long Jewish history has seemed insulated from and unconcerned with the emerging research agendas of other areas of history, notably economic history. Penslar therefore joins with many of the current younger generation of Jewish historians in trying to understand the modern Jewish experience firmly within the context of the host societies and economies in which they were living. The real step forward here, however, is not so much in a deep and detailed understanding of changing Gentile perceptions, but of how Jews internalized those stereotypes. Penslar articulates this internalization of shifting Gentile perceptions through the writings of several leading (mostly) German Jewish intellectuals in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The emotional and intellectual underpinning of so much of this output, argues Penslar, was the fragile progress of emancipation. Much of the tone of Jewish writing on Jewish self-identity was therefore apologetic and romantic. Penslar then traces the principal outcome of this process, which was in an ever-growing investment in communal philanthropy. First, this was for the simple ameliorative purpose of reducing communal poverty and so avoiding Gentile stigma. Ultimately, and fully in keeping with the spirit of late nineteenth century social reformism, Jewish philanthropic agencies embarked on wholescale social engineering. The Jewish communal elite invested in programs to divert migration streams, to alter the occupational profile and to improve the educational backgrounds of the teeming Jewish masses from the East. The overwhelming majority of these interventions were wholly unsuccessful. The one outstanding exception was of course Zionism. While Zionism was exceptional in terms of its eventual success, it was a program wholly representative of the matrix of Jewish self-perception. Penslar outlines how early Zionists, in common with most westernized Jews as well of course as Gentile opinion, saw Jewish culture as arrested and backward (p. 66) and so how, "mainstream Zionist thinking contained much of general Jewish social policy's sense of embarrassment and shame, its internalization of economic anti-Semitism and desire to demonstrate to the gentiles that Jews are not inveterate schnorrers" (p. 239). This is an impressive work. While not a work of economic history, Penslar's monograph provides important insights for any researcher interested in Jewish economic history. While not quantitative, he is perfectly comfortable with a numerical approach and so avoids falling into the familiar trap of placing undue emphasis on unrepresentative cases. The book is well researched, original in conception and ground breaking. Above all, however, he provides a valuable bridge between Jewish and economic historians and one that will be well traveled in the coming years. Andrew Godley is lecturer in economics at the University of Reading and author of _Jewish Immigrant Entrepreneurship in New York and London, 1880-1914: Enterprise and Culture_ (Palgrave, 2001). Copyright (c) 2002 by EH.Net. All rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational uses if proper credit is given to the author and the list. For other permission, please contact the EH.Net Administrator ([log in to unmask]; Telephone: 513-529-2850; Fax: 513-529-3308). Published by EH.Net (January 2002). All EH.Net reviews are archived at http://www.eh.net/BookReview ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]