Credit to the Nation
Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873–1930
$56.15
- Hardcover
296 pages
- Release Date
4 September 2026
Summary
From a leading historian, the story of how entrepreneurial Jewish immigrants transformed commercial banking and enabled the economic and social advancement of Jews in America.
What are immigrants to do when business opportunities abound in their new home, but banks refuse essential financial support? How could they make the journey in the first place without helping hands? In this lively history, Rebecca Kobrin chronicles the turn-of-the-twentieth-century Jewish immig…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780674982987 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0674982983 |
| Author: | Rebecca Kobrin |
| Publisher: | Harvard University Press |
| Imprint: | Harvard University Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 296 |
| Release Date: | 4 September 2026 |
| Weight: | 599g |
| Dimensions: | 19mm x 156mm x 235mm |
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Critics Review
Explores the ways in which the Russian-Jewish immigrant experience left its mark on America’s financial capital. – Luka Ivan Jukic * Wall Street Journal *
You’ve heard of J. P. Morgan, but what about Sender Jarmulowsky? In her revealing book, Rebecca Kobrin provides a fascinating account of a forgotten cadre of banking titans who left a profound mark on America’s financial landscape and on its social fabric, by making it possible for many Jewish refugees to migrate to and thrive in the United States. – Daniel Schulman, author of The Money Kings
Rebecca Kobrin has opened an entirely new chapter in American Jewish history and introduced us to a whole new cast of characters within it. No scholar before her has identified this world of banking as a fundamental aspect of the story of Jewish immigration to America. With deep research and meticulous fealty to the sources, she lays out banking’s transnational connections as well as its impact on New York City and on the Jewish immigrants who flocked there to make it their home. – Hasia R. Diner, author of Hungering for America and Opening Doors
With a fervor both celebratory and indignant, Rebecca Kobrin tells the long-suppressed story of the immigrant Jews who created private banks in the Lower East Side, banks that loaned money to immigrant Jews who wanted to open a shop, start a business, even—a giddy ambition!—construct housing in Harlem and elsewhere. Kobrin depicts a financial system based on trust and the triumphantly successful desire to build the Jewish community in the New World. Credit to the Nation is a stirring and necessary addition to the history of America.” – David Denby, author of Eminent Jews
Rebecca Kobrin
Rebecca Kobrin is the Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University. She also codirects the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. She is the author of Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora.
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