Holiday Gift: Lone Stars Of David–The Jews Of Texas

A holiday gift exchanged this year at my home was the book Lone Stars of David–The Jews of Texas.

The book is a collection of essays about being Jewish in Texas and the impact Jews have had over the years on Texas.

The book is published by Brandeis University Press.

From the publishers description of Lone Stars —

“Jewish life in the United States is too often told from an East Coast perspective. Lone Stars of David presents a different panorama, with narratives of Jews who ventured to Texas before the battle of the Alamo, who fought for the Confederacy, who herded cattle up the Chisholm Trail, who drilled for oil, and who forged Jewish communities far from New York’s Lower East Side. These essays also describe how Texas Jews faced the Ku Klux Klan and how they respond today to Christian fundamentalism.”

0.6% of Texans today are Jewish. That comes out to around 130,000 people.

While I’ve not yet time to read much of Lone Stars, it looks like a quality publication.