Book of the Day: In 1934, Rabbi Marcus was sure things would work out in Germany

Marcus, Jacob R., Ph.D., The Rise and Destiny of the German Jew (Dept. of Synagogue and School Extension of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1st ed., 1934). Hardcover, no dust jacket, octavo, 417 pp. In one of his first books, America’s great Jewish historian considered the political situation in Germany during the advent of Nazism. Surveying the scene from German unification in 1871 forward, Marcus was confident German Jews would adapt and thrive under the newly installed Hitler, a 1935 review in Foreign Affairs summarized. Few at that time could foresee what was to come; Marcus felt the long-established and highly-intellectual Jewish community could flourish there in all seasons.

Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995) was “the first trained historian of the Jewish people born in America and the first to devote himself fully to the scholarly study of America's Jews. Through the American Jewish Archives, which he founded in 1947, and through a parade of books—culminating in a magisterial, three-volume history entitled The Colonial American Jew: 1492–1776 (1970) and an even larger four-volume history of United States Jewry: 1776–1985 (1989-93), completed in his tenth decade of life—he defined, propagated, and profession­alized his chosen field, achieving renown as its founding father and dean,” the AJA website remembers. Marcus took his Ph.D in Jewish history from the University of Berlin in 1925.

Very good condition. Inscribed by the author on the front paper. Rare. HBB price: $45.

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