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Anyone who has seen Maxwell Street has
a story about Maxwell Street. You didn’t have to shop
there, work there, or eat there. You didn’t have to
be Jewish. You just had to go there, or merely pass-by, in
order to experience something that stuck in your mind forever.
Only a few blocks south of Chicago’s downtown, Maxwell
Street was predominately a Jewish enclave, but you could also
hear the Blues, bargain with Gypsies, and find bargain hunters
from all walks of life. This book focuses on the stories of
the last Jewish generations that lived and worked in the Maxwell
Street market area. Beginning in the late 19th century, it
was there that thousands of Jewish immigrants first grasped
the American dream. The descendents of those first Jewish
peddlers absorbed the legacies left them; some went on to
be among the most notable and successful personalities of
the 20th century. On Maxwell Street, the best merchandise
was knowledge. Authors Shuli Eshel and Roger Schatz collected
these stories after Ms. Eshel, in cooperation with the Maxwell
Street Historic Preservation Coalition, directed and produced
the highly-praised documentary, Maxwell Street: A Living
Memory, The Jewish Experience in Chicago. This book offers
more detailed accounts of those stories and others collected
from hundreds of people responding to the documentary’s
release.
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