Acknowledgments

This is first and foremost a book about women, and so it’s fitting that so many women have offered me generous help in the conception and writing of it. I am deeply grateful to:

• Dr. Pamela Nadell, Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University. She has been a valued friend and constant source of wise counsel who helped me frame the subject, pointed me to many valuable sources and reviewed the entire manuscript.
• Dr. Jenna Weissman Joselit, Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of History at the George Washington University, who helped me think about the broader issues raised in the work and improve the book immeasurably.
• Dr. Miriam Isaacs, former Visiting Associate Professor of Yiddish Language and Culture at the University of Maryland, who led me expertly and enjoyably through several dozen contemporary Yiddish-language articles about the boycott.

I also thank Dr. Elissa Sampson, Visiting Scholar and Lecturer, Cornell University; Dr. Judith Rosenbaum, executive director of the Jewish Women’s Archive; and Dr. Annie Polland, executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, for their advice and counsel.

For help with the finer points of Jewish law and religious customs I turned to two childhood friends, Rabbi Yisroel Finman and Levi Rosenhand; to two cousins, Jennifer Shaw Racz and Yehoshua Racz; and to two aunts, Frieda Friedenberg and the late Silvia Seligman, all of whom were generous with their time and assistance. Another cousin, Mara Sokolsky, graciously corrected the Yiddish spellings in the book.

I am indebted to descendants and relatives of several of the women profiled in this book. They include Addie Edelson, Stanley Edelson, Rosalyn Edelson, Walter Rybeck, Carole Haber, Peter Snyderman, Matthew Snyderman, Joyce Braunhut, Ted Astor and Eric Lurio.

Many friends and family members read all or portions of the manuscript and gave me valuable feedback on it. Harvey Solomon has been a faithful sounding board and cherished friend. I’m also indebted to Dr. James Banner, Chris Billing, Lawrence Gotfried, Rita Gotfried, Daniel Grossman, Steven Herman, Susan Levine, Stephen Mink, Sara Sill, and Suzanne Zunzer. Others, including Marsha Cohan, Natalie Lichtenstein, Erica Ling, Dr. Cynthia Rohrbeck, Madelyn Ross, Deborah Strauss, Dr. Philip Wirtz, and Dori Jones Yang have been constant sources of support throughout the process.

Thanks also go to Laura Apelbaum, former executive director, and Wendy Turman, deputy director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, and Arianne Brown, senior cantor of Adas Israel Congregation, all of whom have pointed me in useful directions.

Many others helped gather materials. My thanks to Rivka Schiller of Rivka’s Yiddish; Melanie J. Meyers and Boni J. Koelliker of the American Jewish Historical Society; Ilya Slavutskiy of The Center for Jewish History; Patrizia Sione and Melissa Holland at the Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University; and Chelsea Dowell of the Museum at Eldridge Street. Also to Tina Mullins, Joseph P. Healey Library, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Dr. Beverly Bossler, professor at the University of California, Davis; and Kenneth Cobb, assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services.

And, finally, my heartfelt thanks to my literary agent, Peter W. Bernstein, who has consistently offered wise counsel on the structure and direction of the book and who shepherded me expertly through the proposal process; to copyeditor Amy Pattullo, for her skilled guidance and gentle touch; to Judy Staigmiller, indexer; and to Tom Swanson, Ann Baker, Anna Weir, Andrea Shahan, Tish Fobben, Emily Wendell, and their colleagues at Potomac Books and the University of Nebraska Press, for their belief in the manuscript and in me.