Through thoughtful and candid recollections of the challenges they faced in becoming accepted academics, sixteen scholars of American Jewish history retell the story of how the study of Judaism rose from being long dismissed as an amateurish enterprise not worthy of serious consideration in the world of ideas to a respected field in communication with all humanities scholars.

Introduction: A Community of Scholars Who Grew a FieldJeffrey S. GurockChapter 1—Finding My Way: Uniting American Jewish Women's History and U.S. Women's HistoryJoyce AntlerChapter 2—Reconstructing American Jewish Historical StudiesDianne AshtonChapter 3—A Meandering and Surprising CareerMark K. BaumanChapter 4—How I Became an American Jewish Historian and What That Meant For My Professional LifeHasia DinerChapter 5—A Scholar-Athlete’s Discovery of American Jewish HistoryJeffrey S. GurockChapter 6—Object LessonsJenna Weissman JoselitChapter 7—How I Learned to Call America “the States” and Became an American Jewish HistorianEli LederhendlerChapter 8—Sidewalk Histories or Uncovering the Venacular Jewishness of New York CityDeborah Dash MooreChapter 9—Becoming an “All-of-a-Kind” Jewish HistorianPamela S. NadellChapter 10—Joining Historians as an Anthropologist at the Table of American Jewish CultureRiv–Ellen PrellChapter 11—My Life in American Jewish HistoryJonathan D. SarnaChapter 12—From Kremenets to New York: My Personal Journeys as a HistorianShuly Rubin SchwartzChapter 13—Finding My Place in “the Great Tradition”Gerald SorinChapter 14—Peripatetic JourneysBeth S. WengerChapter 15—The Past from the PeripheryStephen J. WhitfieldChapter 16—On Rabbis, Doctors and the American Jewish ExperienceGary Phillip Zola

“While all of the scholars assembled in this volume are well known for their intellectual perspicacity, their essays here shine light on the humanness of the scholar—the struggles and triumphs each experienced as children, young adults, students, and beyond. In many ways a coming-of-age story narrated by multiple voices, Conversations with Colleagues offers an unprecedented exploration of the evolution and structure of American Jewish history as a field. Jeffrey Gurock’s excellent introduction serves as a guide, enabling the reader to see how each of the scholars fits into a broader set of questions about the organization of intellectual knowledge and its connection to the human beings who create those schemes of organization. Those of us in the field undoubtedly will feel humility and gratitude as we read these pieces; and for those outside of the field, whether historians, scholars, or, simply, readers, the same stories will resonate for their warmth, intelligence, humor, and remarkable self-understanding.”— Lila Corwin Berman, Murray Friedman Chair of American Jewish History, Director of the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History, Temple University

Sixteen senior scholars of American Jewish history converse on the intellectual and personals roads they have traveled in becoming leaders in their areas of expertise. They also imagine and chart the direction the writing on American Jews will take in the coming era.