The Jew Store cover art

The Jew Store

A Family Memoir

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

In 1920, in small-town America, the ubiquitous dry goods store was usually owned by Jews and often referred to as "the Jew store". That's how Stella Suberman's father's store, Bronson's Low-Priced Store, in Concordia, Tennessee, was known locally. The Bronsons were the first Jews to ever live in that tiny town of one main street, one bank, one drugstore, one picture show, one feed and seed, one hardware, one barber shop, one beauty parlor, one blacksmith, and many Christian churches. Aaron Bronson moved his family all the way from New York City to Tennessee to prove himself a born salesman - and much more.

Told by Aaron's youngest child, The Jew Store is that rare thing - an intimate family story that sheds new light on a piece of American history. With a novelist's sense of scene, suspense, and, above all, characterization, Stella Suberman turns the clock back to a time when rural America was more peaceful but no less prejudiced, when educated liberals were suspect, and when the Klan was threatening to outsiders. In that setting she brings to life her remarkable father, a man whose own brand of success proves that intelligence, empathy, liberality, and decency can build a home anywhere.

©1998 Stella Suberman (P)2016 Tantor Americas Cultural & Regional Historical Judaism Memoir

Critic reviews

"Suberman's fine writing and her ability to record tones and scents as well as images make this a lively and engaging story." ( School Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant
A common story to decendants of early 20th century immigrants. In many ways, the second half of Fiddler on the roof. Like all immigrants, leaving is hard and in the 1920's a matter of life and death. Just as my family fled the rampaging pogroms of the Ukraine, those who remained behing were murdered 20 years later. The reception on arriving in America was less than warm. The jew as alien inferior is a LONG American tradition. Black, Irish, Welsh, Catholic, Chinese, Indin, Turkish or Japanese, all are treated as alien. In the case of jews, their religion has been actively anathema since Constantine and Byzantium.

This is a story of jews penetrating deep into the bigoted and isolated interior of America. Struggling to survive, become American and remaining true to their faith. This was a beautifully told and interesting story that parllels the lives of jews who moved west.

For non-jewish readers, this is not an odd or unusual story, this is their family history. Realistic and flowing, if you want to know what 20th century jewish immigrants experienced, this is it.

1920's jewish immigrant experience and isolation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.