July 15, 2005

Americans and Jews

To the Editor:

Alan Wolfe's "The Great Jewish-American Synthesis" (The Chronicle Review, June 3) is an interesting example of confusing facts with history. This is compounded by the fact that Wolfe wants to draw practical conclusions from his historical argument about the importance of Jewish identity.

Wolfe states that Jewish immigrants from Europe had a profound impact on American culture in the 20th century in theater, psychology, politics, and the academy. He further states