Aacdemy Chicago to publish history of the Jews in Chicago

Avengers and Defenders
Glimpses of Chicago’s Jewish Past

By Walter Roth

The presence of Jews in Chicago goes back to 1841 with the arrival of four Jewish pioneers. Within five years the first synagogue in the city was a reality. Walter Roth, a scholar of Jewish history in the city, looks at the more colorful and little-known aspects of the rich history of Jews and their involvement in all aspects of city life.

In this compelling new collection of essays, Roth looks at trouble in the city – Jewish connections to the Haymarket Bomb tragedy, to the Peoria Street Riots of November 1949, to the Memorial Day Massacre of 1937, to the Iroquois Theater fire, and to the murder of Jake Lingle. In a section called Business in the City, Roth discusses Albert Lasker, the father of modern advertising, Ernest Byfield, founder of the Pump Room, William Paley, the head of CBS, Benjamin Rosenthal and the Chicago Mail Order Company, and the demise of the Foreman State Bank. There are sections on culture in the city (Meyer Levin and Isaac Rosenfeld), and science in the city (Leo Strauss, Martin D Kamen and Gunther Stent). Further sections deal with such subjects as the Mexican adventure of Paul Rothenberg, Shalom Schwartzbard, Julian Marx, and the Lovers of Zion.

“Walter Roth’s meticulous research brings alive in equal measure some of the best-known and least remembered, but fascinating, episodes in Chicago Jewish history. Roth clearly loves Chicago and its Jewish community.”
-- Michael Feldberg, Executive Director, American Jewish Historical Society

Walter Roth is an attorney and President of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, and author of The Accidental Anarchist and the critically acclaimed Looking Backward: True Stories from Chicago’s Jewish Past, both available from Academy Chicago Publishers.