The Begetting of America's Jews: Seeds of American Jewish Identity in the Representations of American Jewish Women

It is through the images of the family in popular culture and literature that American Jews give form to the stresses, strains, and anxieties produced by their assimilation into American culture. This ''counter-memory'' is in sharp contrast to the official picture of a love affair between American Jews and American society. The cultural representations of the Ghetto Girl and the Jewish American Princess are examined in detail for what they tell us about American Jews' feelings about living in middle-class American society.