Guardians, Millionaires, and Fearless Fighters: Transforming Jewish Gangsters into a Usable Past

"Guardians, Millionaires, and Fearless Fighters" examines Jewish gangster narratives of the second half of the twentieth century. The essay focuses on the strategies male writers use to rewrite Jewish gangster history as a way to refashion Jewish masculinity. The writers under review champion what they see as the Jewishness of Jewish criminals, the moments when they embody values celebrated in mainstream Jewish American narratives. Both the passage of time and greater assimilation in American culture make such selective interpretations of the historical record possible. Remembering these criminals of another era as honorary Jews enables contemporary Jewish men to claim kinship with tough guys of the past without much, if any, social cost.