"Without reaffirming or criticizing these tenets of the American Jewish heritage, Wenger thoroughly and engagingly tells the story of their origin and evolution."
"[Subtle] and compelling."
"History Lessons is a work of scholarship, but it is an especially lucid and accessible one, and the book has a unique appeal for a nonacademic Jewish readership. Indeed, we are the subject of Wenger's impressive study, and it is fascinating to read about ourselves in its pages."---Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal of Greater LA
"History Lessons is a lucid and engaging work of scholarship with potential broad appeal. Wenger has produced the first in-depth study examining the ways in which American Jews have constructed a shared American Jewish heritage."---Rebecca J. W. Jefferson, AJL Reviews
"History Lessons is an impressive work of historical scholarship and cultural studies. Its writing is lively, accessible, and thankfully free of academic jargon. It will certainly find its audience among scholars of Jewish history and of American history."---Pamela S. Nadell, H-Judaic
"Arguing that American Jews have created a distinctive American Jewish heritage that interweaves Judaism with democracy, Wenger's compelling and elegant book shows that this heritage rewrites both Jewish and American history into a relatively seamless whole."—Deborah Dash Moore, director of the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan
"Wenger's work provides a powerful framework that will hopefully guide future research but also inform a general readership about the nature of American Jewish life."---SMC, Jewish Book World
"History Lessons offers a remarkable trove of historical literature built upon fact and myth, mostly authored outside the academy, but instructive in understanding how American Jews constructed a new identity in their adoptive land."---Hadassa Kosak, Journal of American History
"History Lessons tells an important story, one that analyzes the ways in which a minority group—in this case, American Jews up to the end of World War II—constructed a history for themselves. Wenger has tackled a virtually untapped vein of material. There is certainly nothing like this book in American Jewish history."—Hasia R. Diner, New York University
"History Lessons provides fascinating and essential reading for anyone keen to learn more about the more neglected dimensions of the cultural history of American Jews."---Alan Gibbs, Journal of American Studies
"Now we see through Wenger's discussion yet another intriguing context: the newcomers coming of age and staking 'claim [to] their share in American Jewish heritage.' It is precisely this keen insight that makes this solidly conceived and well-written book important reading."---Jeffrey S. Gurock, Journal of Church and State