"A highly readable book. . . . The intelligent perspective of a person steeped in American Jewish history informs the work."---Elisabeth Israels Perry, The Journal of American History
"A nostalgic, affectionate, but also clear eyed account. . ."
"This is both an enjoyable and important contribution to local and ethnic history."
"In this pathbreaking book, Hasia Diner significantly advances the field of American Jewish history. Anyone interested in the history of American Jewry, in New York City, or in issues of historical memory will want to read it."—Daniel Soyer, Fordham University
"Hasia Diner has written a richly researched and deeply informed account of the distinctive role New York's Lower East Side holds in American Jewish memory. She knows what the Lower East Side was; her book goes further and tells us what it has become in memory and nostalgia."—Nathan Glazer, Harvard University
"[An] engaging, informative book, which explores the role of this neighborhood in American Jewish culture . . . Diner lovingly examines the poignant and powerful narrative that has grown up about the neighborhood."---Lev Raphael, The Jerusalem Report
"Diner, the inspired historian, has found her way to a particular intersection that no one else has located quite so precisely . . . the exact place where cultural identity, historical myth and geographical location run together, in a tangle of traffic and honking horns, a strangely emotional place. . . ."---Paul Berman, The New York Times Book Review
"A provocative account of how the Lower East Side of New York became a mythical citation in the American Jewish narrative. Diner contends that the Lower East Side has played a far greater role in the collective memory of American Jews than it actually played in their lives. . . . Admirably researched, this offers a perceptive revisionist analysis of American Jewry's most distinctive former address."
"The cumulative impact of Diner's pellucid prose, rich insights, and masterful control of variegated cultural, literary, and historical sources is invigorating indeed."---Benny Kraut, American Historical Review
"A useful contribution of American Jewish history."---Morton I. Teicher, The Jerusalem Post
"[A] beautifully written, handsomely illustrated, and powerfully argued book . . . a unique and impressive contribution. It deserves to be read, pondered and debated."
"Lower East Side Memories is a powerfully explicated, imaginatively researched, sensitively elaborated, and spiritedly written work of historical scholarship. Few subjects have been so fortunate as to inspire the passion, dedication, imagination, excitement, and scholarly acumen and range that give this book such vibrancy and power."—Moses Rischin, author of The Promised City
". . . In articulate and convincing prose . . . Diner illustrates how American Jews came to romanticize as a place of lost authenticity."---Hope Edelman, The Chicago Tribune
"In this inventive and often startling reevaluation of popular belief, Diner examines the historical reality of the Lower East Side . . . Diner's research and conclusions are both convincing and original."