Publishers Weekly
03/22/2021
Historians Deutsch (The Jewish Dark Continent) and Casper deliver a rich chronicle of the Satmar Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, focusing on how the group’s “commitment to extreme ideological purity” and “remarkably flexible pragmatism” have been crucial to its success. Arriving from Hungary in the 1940s, Satmar Hasidim sought to make Williamsburg a “holy ‘camp in the desert’ ” that would protect their culture from secular influences and exemplify authentic Jewish life outside of Israel. The authors document the displacement of Williamsburg’s preexisting Jewish population by Satmar Hasidim in the 1950s and ’60s, and detail contentious relations with African American and Puerto Rican neighbors in the ’70s and ’80s over access to public housing and rising crime rates. Gentrification created internal divisions, as some community members waged “war” against the artistn (the Yiddish term Hasidim use to refer to hipsters), whose presence they perceived as an economic and moral threat, while others welcomed the prosperity that redevelopment projects brought to the area. Deutsch and Casper wade deep into local politics, detailing protests over a bike lane and the construction of an incinerator, but stay tethered to the larger point that the Satmar Hasidim have both changed and been changed by their neighborhood. This expert account enlightens. (May)
From the Publisher
With a decade of research going into the book, based in part on numerous interviews with Satmar community members, the authors have written a fascinating and engaging work that captures the remarkable story of the rebuilding of the Satmar community.”—Ben Rothke, Times of Israel“Nathaniel Deutsch and Michael Casper unpack the history of Jewish Williamsburg and the collision of its pious Jewish community with the forces of commerce and urban development.”—Shira Hanau, New York Jewish Week“This expert account enlightens.”—Publishers Weekly“Groundbreaking. . . . To fully understand Satmar, of course, one has to be born into it. But to understand how political prowess and real-estate know-how shaped the group’s current iteration in Brooklyn, it would be wise to start with this outstanding book.”—Laura E. Adkins, Los Angeles Review of Books“Fascinating and colorful.”—Tzach Yoked, Haaretz“Extremely well-written, copiously documented, and objective in analysis.”—Edward Shapiro, Jewish Book Council“Given the rapid pace of change and the intense interaction between collective identity and capital in New York City, Deutsch and Casper’s ability to produce a narrative that is coherent without being reductive is especially impressive.”—Jonathan Boyarin, Marginalia Review of Books“Fascinating. . . . A Fortress in Brooklyn gives us an in-depth case study of how one often-misunderstood group struggled to secure a future for themselves in New York, and of the conflicts and contradictions that that effort engendered.”—Samuel Stein, Jewish Currents“A brilliant study.”—Joshua Shanes, The Forward“A spellbinding narrative of how the Satmar community went from a small group of post-war stragglers in Brooklyn to significant players in the New York City political and real estate worlds. . . . Fascinating and engaging.”—Ben Rothke, jewishlink.news“A Fortress in Brooklyn will delight with its Yiddish, and also offers a compelling and interesting take on real-estate development and the mosaic of urban life.”—Bennett Baumer, The Indypendent“Deutsch and Casper muddy any clear-cut understanding of what it means to be Jewish in America. In doing so, the pair fill an important scholarly gap, inviting researchers to further question any straightforward consideration of Jewish-American identity.”—Gabe S. Tennen, Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City HistoryWinner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award, American Jewish Studies category, sponsored by the Jewish Book CouncilWinner of the Saul Viener Book Prize sponsored by the American Jewish Historical SocietyWinner of the Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards in the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania, sponsored by the Association for Jewish Studies“A Fortress in Brooklyn is one of the most creative and iconoclastic works to have been written about Jews in the United States. This book makes you rethink everything you know about American Jewish history and identity.”—Eliyahu Stern, Yale University“Deutsch and Casper have written a fascinating study of a little known—and even less understood—group and its engagement with gentrification. Anyone who wants to understand the peculiar dynamic that is contemporary Brooklyn needs to read this book.”—Deborah Dash Moore, author of Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People“A Fortress in Brooklyn sheds light on one of New York City’s most enigmatic subcultures, charting the evolution of Williamsburg from embattled American shtetl to icon of urban chic. Absorbing and well researched, it is a signal contribution to our understanding of Brooklyn in all its richness and complexity.”—Thomas J. Campanella, author of Brooklyn: The Once and Future City“In this rich, revelatory book, Deutsch and Casper meticulously chronicle how Williamsburg’s Satmar Hasidim were shaped by, and in turn reshaped, the urban landscape of postwar Brooklyn, successively grappling with the challenges of poverty, street crime, deindustrialization, and gentrification.”—Michael Woodsworth, author of Battle for Bed-Stuy: The Long War on Poverty in New York City“In studying the intersections of religion, race, and real estate in Hasidic Williamsburg, Deutsch and Casper take us beyond the stereotypes to show us life on its gritty, exalted, charged, and ever-changing streets.”—Naomi Seidman, University of Toronto
