The Catskills: Its History and How It Changed America

by Stephen M. Silverman and Raphael D. Silver

Review by Maron L. Waxman for Jewish Book Council

Mention the Catskills and most Jews immediately call to mind the Borscht Belt. But as Stephen Silverman, a Time Inc. veteran, and Raphael Silver, a real estate developer and film producer, demonstrate in this richly illustrated volume, the Catskills have far more stories to tell than a Grossinger’s tummler.

The story begins with Henry Hudson, who sailed up the river now named for him—he called it the “Great River of the Mountains”—in 1609, seeking the northwest passage to Asia. The search was futile, but Hudson claimed the territory for the Netherlands. A trading post was established a few years later and settlement followed, with the English taking over in 1664. Soon after, the Catskills became an active center of American social, economic, and cultural history, perhaps influencing if not, as suggested in the subtitle, changing it.

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