Smoothing the Jew

"A deft cultural history of Jewish comic strips in the first half of the twentieth century, Smoothing the Jew is concisely and elegantly written. Informative and rigorous, it traces aesthetic and political values in comics and related popular forms, revealing dynamics of self-creation and multiplied identities as cartoonists harnessed the thorny and productive power of image-making in an uncertain age. A significant contribution across fields." ~Hillary Chute, author of Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere

“A lively, well-researched, and insightful exploration of a comic strip character who deserves to be better known, as he helped pave the way for Jews to join the American mainstream.” ~Ted Merwin, author of In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2006)

"Smoothing the Jew is a fascinating, well-researched account of a narrow but impactful piece of early twentieth century Jewish American cultural history. Marx’s highly readable study will appeal to anyone interested in this complicated, pivotal moment in comics and Jewish representation." ~Tahneer Oksman, author of "How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses?": Women and Jewish American Identity in Contemporary Graphic Memoirs