Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews in America

Irish and Jewish immigrants to America around the turn of the 20th century often made common cause, despite today’s popular misconception that the two groups were at loggerheads, reveals NYU historian Diner (We Remember with Reverence and Love) in this sweeping account. Notwithstanding a few early gang clashes, the Irish, who had arrived first and achieved hard-won positions of relative power in many American cities, usually took the Jewish newcomers under their wing, Diner finds. The Irish helped Jews combat the kinds of bigotry they themselves had faced: they taught newly arrived Jews how to acculturate, fought antisemitism alongside them, and recruited them into the labor movement so they could battle for better working conditions. Both groups saw the relationship as mutually beneficial, Diner writes, since they felt themselves to be natural allies against white Protestant elites. The author shows that antisemitism did not become common among Irish Americans until the 1930s—but that even then, Irish Americans were also among the most vocal in denouncing the global rise of bigotry against Jews. A fascinating thread of Diner’s many-stranded narrative is the importance of women labor organizers to the mentor-mentee relationship between Irish and Jewish Americans, especially the ties they forged when they worked together to challenge male labor leaders. Readers will be fascinated by this kaleidoscopic and invigorating view of American immigrant solidarity. (July)