Hasidic People A Place In The New World [Paperback]

In this engrossing social history of the New York Hasidic community based on extensive interviews, observation, newspaper files, and court records, Jerome Mintz combines historical study with tenacious investigation to provide a vivid account of social and religious dynamics.Hasidic Peopletakes the reader from the various neighborhood settlements through years of growth to todays tragic incidents and conflicts. In an engaging style, rich with personal insight, Mintz invites us into this old world within the new, a way of life at once foreign and yet intrinsic to the American experience.By letting [his] subject speak for itself, Mintz [allows his] readers to encounter religious belief in all its unwieldy complexity...[His] work reveals a degree of immersion in his subject that few, if any, outsiders have ever achieved.A wonderful study...At every opportunity Mintz presents verbatim quotations from Hasidim to allow their point of view to permeate the volume.Readers are escorted through New York's Hasidic community...They not only meet the residents but also learn why they are there, how they live and work and pray, and discover something of their internal politics...This rich ethnography offers detailed insights into a dynamic movement and a volatile community, and its charismatic and demanding leadership.