"The Rest of Us"
The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews
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"The Rest of Us"
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Narrated by:
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Mel Foster
About this listen
The New York Times - bestselling history of the Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland who altered the American landscape from New York to Hollywood.
The wave of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who swept into New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by way of Ellis Island were not welcomed by the Jews who had arrived decades before. These refugees from czarist Russia and the Polish shtetls who came to America to escape pogroms and persecution were considered barbaric, uneducated, and too steeped in the traditions of the "old country" to be accepted by the more refined and already well-established German-Jewish community. But the new arrivals were tough, passionate, and determined, and in no time they were moving up from the ghetto tenements of New York's Lower East Side to make their marks and their fortunes across the country in a variety of fields, from media and popular music to fashion, motion pictures, and even organized crime.
Among the unforgettable personages author Stephen Birmingham profiles are radio pioneer David Sarnoff, makeup mogul Helena Rubinstein, Hollywood tycoons Samuel Goldwyn and Harry Cohn, Broadway composer Irving Berlin, and mobster Meyer Lansky. From the author of "Our Crowd", comes this treasure trove of fascinating tales and unforgettable "rags-to-riches" success stories that celebrates the indomitable spirit of a unique community.
©1984 Stephen Birmingham (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. From “The East European Immigrant Jew in America (1881–1981): Isaac Don Levine, Letters of an Immigrant,” American Jewish Archives, April 1981, Volume XXXIII, Number 1. By permission of American Jewish Archives. From The New York Times, September 1, 1967. © 1967 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. From BRONFMAN DYNASTY by Peter C. Newman. © 1978 by Peter C. Newman. Reprinted by permission of the author and the Canadian publishers, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto.Listeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 144
William Randolph Hearst, known to his staff as the "Chief", was a brilliant business strategist and a man of prodigious appetites. By the 1930s, he controlled the largest publishing empire in the United States, including 28 newspapers, the Cosmopolitan Picture Studio, radio stations, and 13 magazines. He quickly learned how to use this media stronghold to achieve unprecedented political power. In The Chief, David Nasaw presents an intimate portrait of the man famously characterized in the classic film Citizen Kane.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating but
- By Michael on 02-17-22
By: David Nasaw
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Tokyo Underworld
- The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan
- By: Robert Whiting
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
In the ashes of postwar Japan lay a gold mine for certain opportunistic, expatriate Americans. Addicted to the volatile energy of Tokyo's freewheeling underworld, they formed ever-shifting but ever-profitable alliances with warring Japanese and Korean gangsters. At the center of this world was Nick Zappetti, an ex-marine from New York City who arrived in Tokyo in 1945 and whose restaurant soon became the rage throughout the city and the chief watering hole for celebrities, diplomats, sports figures, and mobsters.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Man with a fork in a world of soup
- By Kindle Customer on 09-01-20
By: Robert Whiting
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When Women Invented Television
- The Untold Story of the Female Powerhouses Who Pioneered the Way We Watch Today
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
It was the Golden Age of Radio and powerful men were making millions in advertising dollars reaching thousands of listeners every day. When television arrived, few radio moguls were interested in the upstart industry and its tiny production budgets, and expensive television sets were out of reach for most families. But four women - each an independent visionary - saw an opportunity and carved their own paths, and in so doing invented the way we watch TV today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read T.V.
- By cindy on 05-18-21
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House of Glass
- The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family
- By: Hadley Freeman
- Narrated by: Hadley Freeman
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother, Sara, lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Performance
- By Derek on 08-30-22
By: Hadley Freeman
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Stealing Home
- Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
- By: Eric Nusbaum
- Narrated by: David Owen Nelson
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 355
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 301
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 299
Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Once Upon a Time at Dodger Stadium
- By James Gamble on 03-06-21
By: Eric Nusbaum
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Mobituaries
- By: Mo Rocca
- Narrated by: Mo Rocca
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,029
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,738
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,726
Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries - reading about the remarkable lives of global leaders, Hollywood heavyweights, and innovators who changed the world. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. His quest to right that wrong inspired Mobituaries, his number one hit podcast. Now with Mobituaries, the audiobook, he has gone much further, with all new essays on artists, entertainers, sports stars, political pioneers, founding fathers, and more. Even if you know the names, you’ve never understood why they matter...until now.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very good, but.....
- By Christopher on 11-15-19
By: Mo Rocca
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Genius & Anxiety
- How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947
- By: Norman Lebrecht
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent volume, beautifully designed, is an urgent and necessary celebration of Jewish genius and contribution.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Post-anxiety
- By Amaze on 03-27-20
By: Norman Lebrecht
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Self Made
- Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker
- By: A'Lelia Bundles
- Narrated by: A'Lelia Bundles
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
The daughter of slaves, Madam C.J. Walker was orphaned at seven, married at 14, and widowed at 20. She spent the better part of the next two decades laboring as a washerwoman for $1.50 a week. Then - with the discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for Black women - everything changed. By her death in 1919, Walker managed to overcome astonishing odds: Building a storied beauty empire from the ground up that would be run by four generations of Walker women until its sale in 1985.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Please read the book and not rely on the Netflix series
- By Sweet Pea's Mommy on 04-27-20
By: A'Lelia Bundles
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Flapper
- A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern
- By: Joshua Zeitz
- Narrated by: Daniella Rabbani
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Story4 out of 5 stars 78
Blithely flinging aside the Victorian manners that kept her disapproving mother corseted, the New Woman of the 1920's puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, and necked in roadsters. More important, she earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted. Her newfound freedom heralded a radical change in American culture.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good Book, Poor Performance
- By redsrule1 on 03-16-14
By: Joshua Zeitz
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Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters
- The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire
- By: Richard Hack
- Narrated by: Dan Cashman
- Length: 17 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 687
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 373
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 375
Howard Hughes was a true American original: legendary lover, record-setting aviator, award-winning film producer, talented inventor, ultimate eccentric, and, for much of his lifetime, the richest man in the United States. His desire for privacy was so fierce and his isolation so complete that even now, 25 years after his death, inaccurate stories continue to circulate, and many have been published as fact. Hughes explodes the illusion of his life and exposes the man behind the myth. He was a playboy whose sexual exploits with Hollywood stars were legendary.
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5 out of 5 stars
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GOOD READ
- By Randall on 04-25-09
By: Richard Hack
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Possessed
- The Life of Joan Crawford
- By: Donald Spoto
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
New York Times best-selling author Donald Spoto has brilliantly explored the lives and careers of numerous Hollywood stars and entertainment icons. In Possessed, his subject is the inimitable Joan Crawford, one of the most electrifying divas of the Golden Age of American film. A more thorough, revealing, and sympathetic portrait of the often maligned movie star - most notably lambasted, perhaps, in the scandalous best seller, Mommie Dearest - Possessed is a fascinating study of the real Joan Crawford, a remarkable actress, businesswoman, mother, and lover.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An concise assessment of Joan's life
- By Walter Solley on 10-17-20
By: Donald Spoto
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The Last Lone Inventor
- A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television
- By: Evan I. Schwartz
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story5 out of 5 stars 21
In a story that is both of its time and timeless, Evan I. Schwartz tells a tale of genius versus greed, innocence versus deceit, and independent brilliance versus corporate arrogance. Many men have laid claim to the title "father of television," but Philo T. Farnsworth is the true genius behind what may be the most influential invention of our time. Driven by his obsession to demonstrate his idea, by the age of 20 Farnsworth was operating his own laboratory above a garage in San Francisco and filing for patents. The resulting publicity caught the attention of RCA tycoon David Sarnoff, who became determined to control television in the same way he monopolized radio.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Thank you, Philo.
- By JPALJ on 03-29-20
By: Evan I. Schwartz
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The Rothschilds
- A Family Portrait
- By: Frederic Morton
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
No family in the past two centuries has been as constantly at the center of Europe's great events, has featured such varied and spectacular personalities, has had anything close to the wealth of the Rothschilds. To this day they remain one of the most powerful and wealthy families in the world. In Frederic Morton's classic tale, the family is brought vividly to life.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Engaging read but dubious sentiment
- By T.G. on 04-23-20
By: Frederic Morton
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The Fifties
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 34 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 569
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 505
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 500
The Fifties is a sweeping social, political, economic, and cultural history of the 10 years that Halberstam regards as seminal in determining what our nation is today. Halberstam offers portraits of not only the titans of the age: Eisenhower, Dulles, Oppenheimer, MacArthur, Hoover, and Nixon; but also of Harley Earl, who put fins on cars; Dick and Mac McDonald and Ray Kroc, who mass-produced the American hamburger; Kemmons Wilson, who placed his Holiday Inns along the nation's roadsides; and more.
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5 out of 5 stars
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one of the very best
- By Chester Chellman on 09-25-18
By: David Halberstam
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The Castle on Sunset
- Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont
- By: Shawn Levy
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 552
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 470
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 472
Since 1929, Hollywood’s brightest stars have flocked to the Chateau Marmont as if it were a second home. An apartment building-turned-hotel, the Chateau has been the backdrop for generations of gossip and folklore: where director Nicholas Ray slept with his 16-year-old Rebel Without a Cause star Natalie Wood; Jim Morrison swung from the balconies; John Belushi suffered a fatal overdose; and Lindsay Lohan got the boot after racking up nearly $50,000 in charges in less than two months. Much of what has happened inside the Chateau’s walls has eluded the public eye - until now.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Was enjoying it until...
- By leigh on 04-22-20
By: Shawn Levy
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The Grandees
- America's Sephardic Elite
- By: Stephen Birmingham
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
In 1654, 23 Jewish families arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York) aboard a French privateer. They were the Sephardim, members of a proud orthodox sect that had served as royal advisors and honored professionals under Moorish rule in Spain and Portugal but were then exiled by intolerant monarchs. A small, closed, and intensely private community, the Sephardim soon established themselves as businessmen and financiers. They became powerful forces in society, with some, like banker Haym Salomon, even providing financial support to George Washington's army during the American Revolution.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing American History - Jews Made a Profound Impact
- By Jimmy Rosen on 12-27-21
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The Cartiers
- The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire
- By: Francesca Cartier Brickell
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 542
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 465
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful Experience to Listen to This Story
- By BB on 01-12-20
What listeners say about "The Rest of Us"
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-02-22
Excellent history of the American jews
I love to listen to stories on ling drives. This was a great explanation of the immigration of eastern European jews and their contributions to the US.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Etoile NEOhio
- 11-15-22
Book 3 of 3
This has been a very enlightening and educational series about the social history of Jewish immigration to the United States. This book highlights the wave of Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe in the very early 20th century. It uses some very famous people as exemplars, most interesting to me was the story of David Sarnoff.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Doug Easterling
- 01-26-22
The most interesting of the 3 groups of Jews
Tho perhaps the least heralded of Birmingham's trilogy, but I found this the most entertaining & informative.
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1 person found this helpful