To date, there is a wealth of linguistic studies on the fate of immigrant languages: languages loss and language shift and the revitalization of languages in danger of extinction. A common focus of sociological study is on the ways immigrants adapt to their new life and the ways their new homeland receives them. However, little literature exists on these topics in regard to Yiddish and its existence in the United States. Yiddish has a unique position among immigrant languages for two reasons. First, it exists only in diaspora; second, Yiddish flourished in its first decades due to the already-established literacy and dedication to culture and arts of its speakers. This book offers a history of Yiddish in America and gives us a new perspective from which to view language loss and maintenance, for immigrant languages of the past and today.

Susan J. Dicker is a retired professor of English at Hostos Community College, CUNY, USA.