{"product_id":"peddlers-merchants-and-junk-dealers-jewish-life-in-small-town-vermont-paperback-softback-9781479842384","title":"Peddlers, Merchants, and Junk Dealers; Jewish Life in Small-Town Vermont (Paperback \/ softback) 9781479842384","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003ePeddlers, Merchants, and Junk Dealers\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eJewish Life in Small-Town Vermont\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMargaret K. Nelson (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781479842384\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 28 July 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e264 pages, 19 b\/w images, 6 tables\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.406 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Nelson's work is a revelation – and about far more than Jewish life in small-town Vermont.  This work illuminates the work lives, family lives, religious experiences and gender arrangements of non-urban Jews everywhere. It speaks to the history of religious and ethnic minorities broadly, and to immigration and economic and social mobility in the 19th and 20th centuries. These are tales told with engagement and compassion, attentiveness and even love.  This is a well researched and beautifully written study that scholars and teachers will use for years.\" - Felicia Kornbluh, author of \u003ci\u003eA Woman's Life Is a Human Life\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Peggy Nelson's \u003ci\u003ePeddlers, Merchants, and Junk-Dealers\u003c\/i\u003e is an insightful and painstakingly researched study of a Jewish American story we need to know better and a Vermont story that is hardly known at all. Nelson combines genealogy, sociology, and ethnography to create a lively portrait and a compelling narrative.\" - Michael Hoberman, author of \u003ci\u003eImagining Early Jews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Through its richly detailed account of specific people and local features, this vivid case study captures dynamics that played out in small towns across North America.\" - David M. Freidenreich, Pulver Family Professor of Jewish Studies, Colby College \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sharply focused but broadly resonant, \u003ci\u003ePeddlers, Merchants and Junk Dealers\u003c\/i\u003e supersedes the common \"pack-peddler to professional\" narrative of rural Jewry, and offers the fine-grained insight of a sociologist into the complexities of this understudied sector of American Jewish life. It shows us sociology making history.\" - Robert S. Schine, author of \u003ci\u003eJewish Thought Adrift: Max Wiener 1882-1950\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eProvides a rare study of Jews in small town America\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor many years, histories of Jews in the United States focused on Jewish migrants who settled in large cities. \u003ci\u003ePeddlers, Merchants, and Junk Dealers\u003c\/i\u003e offers a rare study of Jews in small town America, illuminating the experiences of Jewish families in towns where they constituted one of, at most, a few Jewish families. In particular, the volume explores the occupational niches of Jews in rural Vermont, from peddling to the ownership of junk yards and dry goods stores that were disparagingly known as \"the Jew Store.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book also looks specifically at the experiences of Jewish women and children in families headed by men in these occupations. These families lived in communities where they were often isolated from relatives and friends, and without a Jewish congregation. Margaret K. Nelson carefully investigates various aspects of this small-town experience, including how generations of immigrants were regarded by others, how they held onto the practice of their religion, and how they were able to socially integrate into their communities. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy narrating the trajectory of Jewish immigrant experiences through men's occupations, the volume places the experiences of Jews in Vermont alongside those of other marginalized groups, particularly the families of Chinese restaurant owners and South Asian motel managers, as they established and sustained their own distinctive economic activities in small towns. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShowcasing the largely unexplored history of Jews in very small towns, \u003ci\u003ePeddlers, Merchants, and Junk Dealers\u003c\/i\u003e provides a novel account of Jewish community and belonging as minorities in rural communities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"NYU Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52591114420504,"sku":"9781479842384","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/peddlers-merchants-and-junk-dealers-jewish-life-in-small-town-vermont-paperback-softback-9781479842384","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}