Stein, a professor who concentrates on Jewish Studies, takes a look at this episode which has not only been forgotten but its Jewish origins have been forgotten, too. The research was particularly thorough - the footnotes are as interesting as the text. "—Paul Lerner. Please try again. I did find the chapter on the Cape left out information that could have been included, and reflected possibly the fact that the author did not have all information available. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Rohn, Yale University Press (September 28, 2010). The thirst for exotic ornament among fashionable women in the metropoles of Europe and America prompted a bustling global trade in ostrich feathers that flourished from the 1880s until the First World War. "In telling the story of the rise and fall of the ostrich plume market and its intersections with a particular Jewish cultural world, Sarah Abrevaya Stein  aims to reframe Jewish social history as we know it. Not only that, but studying of the feather bust is probably healthful for those of us a hundred years later who have our own economic woes. In this remarkable book, Sarah Stein draws on rich archival materials to bring to light the prominent and varied roles of Jews in the feather trade. Buy this book. Please try again. Reinvent yourself and grow radical influence. It seems like a silly question, unless one takes into account the foibles of human enthusiasms and the price tags we put on them. Stein's new book reminds us that the modern Jewish experience has had far more than its share of economic ups and downs, but also that Jewish life and those who cherish it somehow manage to go on and on. "Sarah Abrevaya Stein's meticulously researched Plumes is delightfully intriguing in its detail—a forgotten page of Jewish history that shows the lengths enterprising people will go to for a difficult but profitable niche market. Sarah Stein joins the podcast to talk about her recent book, Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey through the Twentieth Century, and how looking closely at the history of one family can tell us the story of an entire century. From Yiddish-speaking Russian-Lithuanian feather handlers in South Africa to London manufacturers and wholesalers, from rival Sephardic families whose feathers were imported from the Sahara and traded across the Mediterranean, from New York’s Lower East Side to entrepreneurial farms in the American West, Stein explores the details of a remarkably vibrant yet ephemeral culture. There was a problem loading your book clubs. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. . Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. . "—Raquel Laneri, Forbes.com, "Assorted histories—world, fashion, economic, Jewish—converge in this fluent account of an esoteric trade and its far-flung principals. The author's article "Falling into Feathers: Jews and the Trans-Atlantic Ostrich Feather Trade", which is the basis for her book, Winner of the 2010 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature sponsored by the Jewish Book Council. It is a bit much to slog thru but read it from cover to cover. Having visited Oudtshoorn many times as a child and adult, I was always fascinated visiting an ostrich farm in the area. The Magic of Public Speaking is a comprehensive step-by-step system for creating highly effective speeches. . Borrow it Toggle Dropdown Albert D. Cohen Management Library; Architecture/Fine Arts Library; Archives and Special Collections; Bibliothèque Alfred-Monnin (Université de Saint-Boniface) . . Sarah Abrevaya Stein has done that, and more, in _Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce_ (Yale University Press). Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2010. Some of these items ship sooner than the others. . Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Plumes : Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce by Sarah Abrevaya Stein (2010, Trade Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! Wonderful read. In this remarkable book, Sarah Stein draws on rich archival materials to bring to light the prominent and varied roles of Jews in the feather trade. Sarah Abrevaya Stein is the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, professor of history, and holder of the Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA. . This is a strangely interesting account of a little-explored corner of economic history; it's also academic enough to be worth serious study and quirky enough to be worth reading for the vaguely interested reader. An unexpected and fascinating examination of the vanished Jewish trade in ostrich feathers, which thrived on three continents The thirst for exotic ornament among fashionable women in the metropoles of Europe and America prompted a bustling global trade in ostrich feathers that flourished from the 1880s until the First World War. I would have loved to have seen a photo of the Bimah from the synagogue which still exists in the C.P. Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century, Extraterritorial Dreams: European Citizenship, Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century, Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700–1950 (Stanford Studies in Jewish History and Culture), Saharan Jews and the Fate of French Algeria, Making Jews Modern: The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires (The Modern Jewish Experience), Dare to Matter: Choosing an Unstuck and Unapologetic Life of Significance. Sarah Abrevaya Stein’s ninth book is Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century.Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, the book uses the Levy family’s correspondence to tell the story of their journey spanning generations and the globe. The material is particularly fascinating, especially as I have an ostrich feather fan and a single plume inherited from my great-grandmother, and I am sure that people tried to establish ostrich farms in Australia before WW1, just as the South African farmers took our - South Australian - wattle seed at that time and set up wattle farms for the bark used in tanning, and killed an industry here because they had cheap (slave) labour. Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2014, Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2015, Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2009. "A fascinating and timely new book . A Thirst for Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World, Eugenics in the Garden: Transatlantic Architecture and the Crafting of Modernity (Lateral Exchanges: Architecture, Urban Development, and Tran), Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins, Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. Sarah Abrevaya Stein. Please ensure you're using that browser before attempting to purchase. Why is it that diamonds are regarded as high value and feathers are not? There is no mention of the Safari Ostrich farm which still exists today and the family who farmed there for generations. as well as prescient (over-reliance on credit, neglecting to diversify your assets, the belief that a commodity will never, ever lose value—sounds vaguely familiar). Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2019. And author of Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century.. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28 (336p) ISBN 978-0-374-18542-8. An unexpected and fascinating examination of the vanished Jewish trade in ostrich feathers, which thrived on three continents The thirst for exotic ornament among fashionable women in the metropoles of Europe and America prompted a bustling global trade in ostrich feathers that flourished from the 1880s until the First World War. No magic, it's a science and I'm here to be your unique teacher. Sarah Abrevaya Stein has done that, and more, in _Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce_ (Yale University Press). Excellent purchase. Unable to add item to List. "In telling the story of the rise and fall of the ostrich plume market and its intersections with a particular Jewish cultural world, Sarah Abrevaya Stein … Please try again. . ... Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century and Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Amid a raft of commodity histories. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. I was amazed at what I found online about South Africa after reading this book. . Or that ostrich feathers could be "harvested" with no harm at all to the bird? --Katherine Sorrels. Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce. Read this book to become visible in a seemingly noisy online world from day #1. Sarah Abrevaya Stein is the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, as well as Professor of History and the Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies at UCLA. She discovers that Jews fostered and nurtured the trade across the global commodity chain and throughout the far-flung territories where ostriches were reared and plucked, and their feathers were sorted, exported, imported, auctioned, wholesaled, and finally manufactured for sale. "—Ian Paulsen. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2014. The Idea Lifestyle Bundle: An Effective System to Fulfill Dreams, Create Successful... Healthcare from the Trenches: An Insider Account of the Complex Barriers of U.S. . The cover of this book appeals to the general reader, but I feel the style is is more suited for the academic. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. It also tells the previously untold story of Jewish cultureal and economic history. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2009. Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce (Yale University Press, 2008) Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (2010) ... Aron Rodrigue and Sarah Abrevaya Stein, co-editors, translation and glossary by Isaac Jerusalmi (Stanford University Press, 2012) She is the author or editor of nine books, including Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century and Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, […] Become persistent. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History, In the Museum of Man: Race, Anthropology, and Empire in France, 1850–1950, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. In this remarkable book, Sarah Stein draws on rich archival materials to bring to light the prominent … I knew nothing about the subject, but Sarah Stein … kept me going right to the last page … her comprehensive, meticulous, and fascinating history … [is] a vast subject, which she admirably outlines in straightforward language … a terrific [story].”, Jonathan Mirksy, Literary Review, March 2009, “I loved this book. _Plumes_ is an academic treatise, full of footnotes and wide research, but the peculiarity of its topic makes it funny and sad as well.