World History Tananbaum Summary

This book presents an historical overview of the lives of the Jewish immigrants in the London during 1880 to 1939 which saw the rise of the Jewish community Tananbaum centers the book on women and children. Many themes are explored such as education, the role of women and the extent of Jewish assimilation in London at the time. The focus on women relates to Tananbaum previous works such as the British Jewish Women and Jewish Women, Philanthropy, and Modernization: The changing roles of Jewish women in modern Europe, 1850-1939. Additionally Tananbaum being a Jewish woman herself may mean that her argument presented is biased as it relates to her on a more personal level.

In terms of structure this book is sectioned into themes rather than a chronological order yet this presentation has a negative effect as many of the themes are not written in depth meaning that the argument being made is often loss or not there at all. Furthermore, many of the themes cross over and there is a lack of distinction between them such as that of chapter four The Impact of Education: Anglicization of Jewish East Enders Begins with Schooling and chapter five Religious Education: Conflicting Educational Views within the Jewish Community both which cover education with a slight difference as one relates to religion yet it would appear that at the time religion was a very important aspect of education, holding great influence.

Tananbaum’s argument when looking at anglicization of the Jews within British ‘most thorough attempts at anglicization started with children’ for many would have been educated learning English alongside Hebrew and were integrated within the society mixing with Jews and non-Jews unlike there parents many of whom Tananbaum states