Here is a world that, thanks to Sholom Aleichem, still lives in the Jewish imagination. In this book, Maurice Samuel takes us to the townlets and villages of the famous Pale of Settlement, the unwilling homeland of the grandfathers of most American Jews. He recreates the folklore, the outlook, and the memories that were the living material of a great writer, and weaves them into the fabric of the writings themselves. However far the reader may be from that world, he will learn something of the essence and vitality of that tragic culture. Cover by Ben Shahn.

(Key Words: Jews, American Jews, Sholom Aleichem, Maurice Samuel, Judaica, Ben Shahn).