The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South Book

Tremendous book even if you are neither Jewish or Southern. Evans writes a very entertaining and, at times, hilarious personal memoir of his upbringing as the son of the Jewish mayor of Durham, North Carolina during the civil rights struggles (and his uncle was mayor of Fayetteville). Along the way he weaves in some fascinating tidbits of Southern Jewish history -- colonial South Carolina was the first place Jews could vote. There are also some tremendous profiles of forgotten Jewish figures of American history, not all of them positive such as the New York Rabbi who defended slavery (a Rabbi in South Carolina was the largest Jewish slave holder). Evans also writes an outstanding essay on the key role Jews have played in the development of Atlanta.

The only reason I don't give this five stars is because Evans does, in my view, go a little overboard on such topics as dating and his family to the point of being repetitious. He gives a very detailed treatment to the huge and largely forgotten controversy that Zionism created between southern Jews. In the back is a list of Southern Jewish officeholders throughout history. I would have liked to learn more about Franklin Moses, the Jewish governor of Reconstruction-era South Carolina who was known as the "Robber Governor". Why? He's never mentioned in the text at all. Still, it's well worth the time.