Postville

Description:

"In 1987, a group of Lubavitchers, one of the most orthodox and zealous of Jewish sects, opened a kosher slaughterhouse just outside tiny Postville, Iowa (pop. 1,465). When the business became a worldwide success, Postville found itself both revived and divided. The town's initial welcome of the Jews turned into confusion, dismay, and even disgust. By 1997, the town had engineered a vote on what everyone agreed was actually a referendum: whether or not these Jews should stay.". "Stephen G. Bloom found himself with a bird's-eye view of this battle and gained a new perspective on questions that haunt America nationwide. What makes a community? How does one accept new and powerfully different traditions? Is money more important than history? In the dramatic and often poignant stories of the people of Postville - Jew and gentile, puzzled and puzzling, unyielding and unstoppable - lies a great swath of America today."--BOOK JACKET.

subjects: Politics and government,  Jews,  Ethnic relations,  Hasidim,  History,  Culturele minderheden,  Joden,  Platteland,  United states, social conditions, 1980-,  New York Times reviewed,  Hasidism,  Iowa, history, local,  Jews, united states, history,  Iowa, politics and government,  United states, ethnic relations

People: Stephen G. Bloom

Places: Postville,  Iowa,  Postville (Iowa)