Reviews

Rothschild Buildings: Life in an East-End Tenement Block 1887 - 1920 by Jerry White

nyertryingtoreadeverything's review

informative slow-paced

5.0

I really appreciated this fantastic book. This gives a great history of working class Jewish people and a new insight for me into the East end. While a lot of Jewish history books are appropriately focused on the Holocaust and the second World War it was interesting to read a book which explored Jewish British history separate from that. The way the author recorded many oral histories and contextualized them into what was happening in London, the Jewish community and the wider world kept me engaged throughout. 

kjcharles's review

Absolutely fascinating. This is basically an oral history, covering the lives of the mostly Jewish inhabitants of a model housing block in the late 19th and early 20th century. It's got relationships, childhood, all sorts of stuff about jobs and trades and entertainments, appalling stuff about the grinding poverty of so many, the cruelty and exploitation of Victorian/Edwardian capitalism, and an evocation of a sense of community that was almost painful when you think of what we've lost. (Which isn't to say it's nostalgic; there's no nonsense about the good old days here.)

If you're into London history, especially of Jewish/working class people, this is a must-read. Well written, and the voices are vivid and ring off the page.