Bagels, Bongos, and Yiddishe Mambos, or The Other History of Jews in America

"Bagels, Bongos, and Yiddishe Mambos" focuses on Jewish-Latin recordings of the 40s–60s. Arguing that standard models of understanding Jews and race are inadequate in thinking about the mid-century Jewish-Latin interchange, this essay suggests that Jews were drawn to Latin music neither to demonstrate their whiteness, nor to pretend to be Latin, but rather to find new ways of being Jewish.