The Jewish Book Council has awarded the American Jewish Studies Celebrate 350 Award to College of Charleston Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program Assistant Professor Shari Rabin for Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America (NYU Press). The Celebrate 350 Award is the highest honor in the American Jewish Studies category of the National Jewish Book Awards.

Shari Rabin

Jews on the Frontier vividly recounts the story of a neglected era in American Jewish history, offering a new interpretation of American religions, rooted not in congregations or denominations, but in the politics and experiences of being on the move. This book shows that by focusing on everyday people, we gain a more complete view of how American religion has taken shape. This book follows a group of dynamic and diverse individuals as they searched for resources for stability, certainty, and identity in a nation where there was little to be found.

Rabin will discuss Jews on the Frontier alongside CofC Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Matthew Cressler on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, at 6 p.m.in Arnold Hall, 96 Wentworth St. The event is free and open to the public.

Rabin, a historian of American religion and modern Judaism, is the director of the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture.