From the Back Cover
Across three different centuries, the American Jewish Year Book has provided insight into major trends among Jews primarily in North America. Part I of the current volume contains two chapters: One is a critical assessment of the major American Jewish Population Surveys over the past fifty years (1970-2020). The second chapter is an assessment of the media coverage of Israel in the American Press. Subsequent chapters address recent domestic and international events as they affect the American Jewish community, and the demography and geography of the US, Canada, and World Jewish populations. Part II provides lists of Jewish institutions, including federations, community centers, social service agencies, national organizations, camps, museums, and Israeli consulates. The final chapters present lists of Jewish periodicals and broadcast media, Jewish Studies programs, books, journals, articles, websites, research libraries, and academic conferences as well as lists of major events in the past year, Jewish honorees, and obituaries. This volume employs an accessible style, making it of interest to public officials, Jewish professional and lay leaders, as well as the general public and academic researchers.
The American Jewish Year Book is a tremendously useful resource for scholars, Jewish community professionals, pundits, clergy, and policy makers. For over a century, it has offered comprehensive insight into North American Jewish demography, sociology, and culture. It remains a vital source for comprehending the complexities of American and Canadian Jewish life.
Robin Judd, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Hoffman Program for Leaders and Leadership in History, The Ohio State UniversityThe
American Jewish Year Book is the first draft of history, documenting the trends and topics of interest for such an organized community. Looking through the 100+ volumes, we can track how discussions have changed over time, which concerns have returned, and how we arrived at the current point in time. It is a valuable tool for anyone interested in trends in American Jewish life.
David Manchester, Director of the Berman Jewish DataBank and Director of Community Data and Research Development at The Jewish Federations of North America
Arnold Dashefsky, Ph.D. served as the inaugural holder of the Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, where he is now emeritus. He is the co-author, editor, or co-editor of seventeen books, including Americans Abroad, Charitable Choices, Ethnic Identification Among American Jews, among others, as well as numerous scholarly articles. A former associate head of the sociology department, he was the founding director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, located in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, and is the director emeritus and current senior academic consultant of the Berman Jewish DataBank.
Ira M. Sheskin, Ph.D. is the director of the Jewish Demography Project of the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami and professor of geography and sustainable development at the same institution. He has completed more than 50 major Jewish community studies for Jewish Federations throughout the country and was a member of the National Technical Advisory Committee of the Jewish Federations of North America from 1988 to 2003, which completed both the 1990 and 2000-01 National Jewish Population Surveys. His publications include books entitled Survey Research for Geographers, How Jewish Communities Differ, and Comparisons of Jewish Communities: A Compendium of Tables and Bar Charts.
