This book documents a little-known aspect of the Jewish experience in America. It is a fascinating account of how a group of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany came to dominate cattle dealing in south central New York and maintain a Jewish identity even while residing in small towns and villages that are overwhelmingly Christian. The book pays particular attention to the unique role played by women in managing the transition to the United States, in helping their husbands accumulate capital, and in recreating a German Jewish community. Yet Levine goes further than her analysis of German Jewish refugees. She also argues that it is possible to explain the situations of other immigrant and ethnic groups using the structure/network/identity framework that arises from this research. According to Levine, situating the lives of immigrants and refugees within the larger context of economic and social change, but without losing sight of the significance of social networks and everyday life, shows how social structure, class, ethnicity, and gender interact to account for immigrant adaptation and mobility.

In this provocative reassessment of New Deal policymaking, Rhonda Levine argues that the major constraints upon and catalysts for FDR's policies were rooted in class conflict. Countering recent neo-Marxist and state-centered theories, which focus solely on administrative and bureaucratic structures or on the "fragmented character of the state apparatus," she contends that too little attention has been paid to the effect of class struggle on New Deal policymaking.

Drawing on a vast array of archival sources, Levine shows that Roosevelt's plans for economic recovery reflected compromises not only between capitalist and working classes, but also among factions within the capitalist class itself. The National Labor Relations Act, for example, was passed to defuse the increasing militance of the working class, while the National Industrial Recovery Act was created not only to overcome obstacles to industrial expansion but also to unify the sharply divided ranks of big business.

Levine demonstrates that the NLRA and related programs were a direct response to both unemployed workers' demands for federal relief and employed workers' resistance to decreased wages and increased hours. These concessions were linked to the Democratic Party's realignment with and assimilation of the working class, which, ironically, resulted in organized labor's support of the existing political and economic order. Ultimately, these policies and shifts laid the foundation for a new and more accelerated phase of industrial development after World War II.

At present, Marxism appears to have a strong footing within American sociology. This collection of essays not only focuses on current efforts to revitalize Marxism, but carefully examines the emerging new establishment within the field. It offers the only existing multidisciplinary critique of recent trends in neo-Marxist theory. Its unique critical approach and current information on debates in Marxist sociology will interest those involved in social theory, Marxism, political economy, and contemporary sociology.

At present, Marxism appears to have a strong footing within American sociology. This collection of essays not only focuses on current efforts to revitalize Marxism, but carefully examines the emerging new establishment within the field. It offers the only existing multidisciplinary critique of recent trends in neo-Marxist theory. Its unique critical approach and current information on debates in Marxist sociology will interest those involved in social theory, Marxism, political economy, and contemporary sociology.