Conclusion

The trajectory of this book began on the East Side, home to all of the publications in this book. It then discussed an issue common to all these publications: support for voluntary Americanization. It then switched to the American Main Street, to discuss the attitude of these publications toward issues of concern to all women, Jewish or non-Jewish, native-born citizen or immigrant—whether women should study, work, or vote. The book returned to the Jewish Street to discuss issues of particular interest to the Jewish community: attitudes toward assimilation, Zionism, Socialism, and Jewish education for Jewish youth. From the Jewish Street we entered the home, to consider how these publications reconfigured the woman’s role in traditional holidays. Still within the home, we narrowed our view further, to the mirrors reflecting how Jewish-American women would present and see themselves. This world of possibilities, alternatives, and modifications played out on pages targeting women, both in the three mass circulation newspapers and the two women’s magazines.