Jewish on Their Own Terms: How Intermarried Couples are Changing American Judaism

Over half of all American Jewish children are being raised by intermarried parents. This demographic group will have a tremendous impact on American Judaism as it is lived and practiced in the coming decades. To date, however, in both academic studies about Judaism and in the popular imagination, such children and their parents remain marginal. 
Jennifer A. Thompson takes a different approach. In Jewish on Their Own Terms, she tells the stories of intermarried couples, the rabbis and other Jewish educators who work with them, and the conflicting public conversations about intermarriage among American Jews. Thompson notes that in the dominant Jewish cultural narrative, intermarriage symbolizes individualism and assimilation. Talking about intermarriage allows American Jews to discuss their anxieties about remaining distinctively Jewish despite their success in assimilating into American culture. 
In contrast, Thompson uses ethnography to describe the compelling concerns of all of these parties and places their anxieties firmly within the context of American religious culture and morality. She explains how American and traditional Jewish gender roles converge to put non-Jewish women in charge of raising Jewish children. Interfaith couples are like other Americans in often harboring contradictory notions of individual autonomy, universal religious truths, and obligations to family and history.
Focusing on the lived experiences of these families, Jewish on Their OwnTerms provides a complex and insightful portrait of intermarried couples and the new forms of American Judaism that they are constructing.

Politics & Social Sciences

Thompson, Jennifer A.

Anthropology

Rutgers University Press

Over half of all American Jewish children are being raised by intermarried parents. This demographic group will have a tremendous impact on American Judaism as it is lived and practiced in the coming decades. To date, however, in both academic studies about Judaism and in the popular imagination, such children and their parents remain marginal.  Jennifer A. Thompson takes a different approach. In Jewish on Their Own Terms, she tells the stories of intermarried couples, the rabbis and other Jewish educators who work with them, and the conflicting public conversations about intermarriage among American Jews. Thompson notes that in the dominant Jewish cultural narrative, intermarriage symbolizes individualism and assimilation. Talking about intermarriage allows American Jews to discuss their anxieties about remaining distinctively Jewish despite their success in assimilating into American culture. In contrast, Thompson uses ethnography to describe the compelling concerns of all of these parties and places their anxieties firmly within the context of American religious culture and morality. She explains how American and traditional Jewish gender roles converge to put non-Jewish women in charge of raising Jewish children. Interfaith couples are like other Americans in often harboring contradictory notions of individual autonomy, universal religious truths, and obligations to family and history.Focusing on the lived experiences of these families, Jewish on Their OwnTerms provides a complex and insightful portrait of intermarried couples and the new forms of American Judaism that they are constructing.

An engaging and beautifully illustrated overview of one of the finest Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections in the United States Featuring 90 highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s stellar collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, this handsome volume includes iconic works such as Paul Cézanne’s Large Bathers, Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Edgar Degas’s Interior, Édouard Manet’s Le Bon Bock, Toulouse-Lautrec’s At the Moulin Rouge, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Great Bathers.Providing a rich and encompassing view of the artists and the innovative works they created, the entries consider both the experimental techniques employed in the paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings, as well as how these objects functioned within the contexts of the art market, social history, and politics. An introductory essay examines the circumstances and individuals—including Mary Cassatt’s brother, the Philadelphia railroad executive Alexander J. Cassatt—that led to the formation of one of the most distinguished Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections in the United States.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Philadelphia Museum of Art

A new study of Mary Cassatt that explores the centrality of work to both her inventive technical practice and her distinctive approach to modern subjects&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Mary Cassatt's (1844-1926) sensitive depictions of the social, intellectual, and professional lives of modern women often emphasize the work involved in the undervalued sphere of feminized activity. From her renowned portrayals of women and children that foreground the labor of caregiving--whether performed by hired help or mothers--to her images of embroidering, theatergoing, and reading, her female subjects are actively engaged, and often engrossed, in what they are doing. &nbsp;&nbsp; Highlighting Cassatt's attention to women's roles in the making of modern life, this study connects her recurring subjects and rigorous techniques to her own understanding of her status as a professional artist. Rather than inspiration, genius, or sentiment, it was intense effort that Cassatt most identified with in her processes of pastel drawing, intaglio printmaking, and oil painting, which resulted in an ever-evolving style that left the labors of art-making visible. Drawing on previously unpublished letters, Cassatt family correspondence, and groundbreaking insights from technical examination of her works, Mary Cassatt at Work places the artist's carefully constructed professional identity within the wider social contexts of Parisian modernity. &nbsp; Distributed for the Philadelphia Museum of Art&nbsp; Exhibition Schedule: Philadelphia Museum of Art (May 18-September 8, 2024) The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (October 5, 2024-January 26, 2025)

Mary Cassatt at Work

Garber, Laurel

Philadelphia Art Museum

The first collection of Monet’s paintings of the Thames exhibited in London since 1904\nThis beautiful volume accompanies a major exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery that reunites for the first time in 120 years an extraordinary group of Claude Monet’s Impressionist paintings of London. The exhibition realizes the artist’s unfulfilled ambition of showing the group on the banks of the Thames, just a stone’s throw from where many of them were created.\nMonet (1840–1926) is world renowned as the leading figure of French Impressionism, but many forget that some of Monet’s most remarkable Impressionist paintings were made not in France but in London. They depict extraordinary views of the Thames as it had never been seen before, full of mysterious light and radiant colors. Captured over three stays in the capital between 1899 and 1901, the series—depicting Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge, and the Houses of Parliament—was unveiled at a landmark exhibition in Paris in 1904. Monet fervently wanted to show them in London the following year, but plans fell through. Until now, they have never been the subject of an exhibition in the UK.\nMonet and London: Views of the Thames realizes Monet’s ambition of showing this extraordinary group of paintings in London. By presenting the paintings Monet himself selected in 1904, it provides visitors with the unique experience of seeing the show Monet curated and the works he felt best represented his ambitious artistic enterprise, brought together more than a century after their inaugural exhibition. The catalogue is richly illustrated and includes twenty-one entries and four original essays that shed new light on this famous series.

Monet and London: Views of the Thames

Fowle, Frances

Individual Artists

Paul Holberton Publishing

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Books by Thompson, Jennifer A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thompson, Jennifer A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Jewish on Their Own Terms: How Intermarried Couples are Changing American Judaism

Jewish on Their Own Terms: How Intermarried Couples are Changing American Judaism

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Mary Cassatt at Work

Monet and London: Views of the Thames