Jewish Americans is both the latest entry in Salem's Great Lives from History series and the inaugural title in the publisher's Great Lives from History heritage series. The 529 men and 124 women included in Jewish Americans represent a wide and diverse group. Besides men and women of recognized stature such as Benjamin Cardozo, Hannah Arendt, and Albert Einstein, who would be expected in a Great Lives from History title, there are entrants such as Al Capp, Winona Ryder, and Herb Alpert whose contributions speak more to inclusion on the basis of heritage. Nor have the infamous (Bernie Madoff excepted) been overlooked. Nestled in alphabetical order between Paul Berg, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Rabbi Henry Berkowitz, founder of the Jewish Chautauqua Society, interested readers will find the biography of David Berkowitz, the notorious “Son of Sam” serial killer.

As is the case with biographical dictionaries that strive for popular appeal editorial decisions may be puzzling. Why include conductor André Previn but not James Levine? Why a joint entry for the Warner Brothers, with biographical details for Henry, Albert, Sam, and Jack, but no joint entry for the Marx Brothers, just a separate essay for Groucho, the more famous sibling? In popular advice columnist Abigail Van Buren's entry, Dear Abby's twin sister and rival columnist Ann Landers receives more press, though not her own entry, than do either Harpo, Chico, or Zeppo.

Biographical essays in Jewish Americans conform to a standardized pattern. Sketches are arranged in alphabetical order according to the name by which each person is familiarly known (Jerry Lewis; Mike Nichols; Golda Meir) with a notation as to their field of endeavor (entertainer; theater and film director; politician) and a sentence, two at the most, summarizing the individual's career followed by when and where the individual was born, alternative versions of the individual's name, and primary area of achievement. The body of each signed biographical sketch is divided into clearly defined sections: the subject's early life, his or her life's work, the subject's significance, a short listing of further readings, and see also references to sketches for similarly engaged individuals. Black and white photographs and sidebars with additional information are included in some but not all of the biographies. Each biographical essay offers specific information about the subject's Jewish connections and provides a guide to the pronunciation of the name by which the subject is known.

Jewish Americans is further enhanced by a series of indexes that list subjects according to their occupational categories, country of origin for those who were foreign-born, an A–Z listing of names with page references to other sketches in which that person is mentioned, and a subject index. Additional enhancements include a mediagraphy listing television shows and feature films portraying the Jewish experience; a listing of novels, plays, poetry collections, and short story collections written by Jewish Americans that speak to the Jewish experience; a listing of American Jewish libraries and research centers with contact information and specific collection focus; Jewish-American organizations and societies with their contact information; and a directory of Jewish American related websites.

The American National Biography Online (Oxford Univ. Pr. under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies, 2000–2008) remains unchallenged by Jewish Americans as the gold standard for authoritative, scholarly biographical essays though, unlike Jewish Americans, all subjects must be deceased to qualify for inclusion. Although the ANB includes many people of Jewish heritage or Jewish religion, some covered in Jewish Americans (Bugsy Siegel, Rebecca Gratz, Weegee) and some not (Maurice Bloomfield, Joey Adams, Joseph Choynski), these people are not singled out as Jewish Americans. The same is true of the Jewish American women whose biographies appear in the three-volume Notable American Women, 1607–1950 (Belknap Pr. of Harvard Univ. Pr., 1971) and Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century (Belknap Pr., 2004).

Jewish Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia 2 vols. (Routledge, 1997) includes a great many more biographies of Jewish American women than the 124 covered in Jewish Americans. Whereas Jewish Americans is strictly a biographical dictionary, Jewish Women in America includes not only biographies but also articles. Like Jewish Americans, Jewish Women in America follows an alphabetical arrangement. All entries are signed, some are enhanced with black and white photographs, and each concludes with a bibliography of varying length.

A limited number of signed biographical essays are also to be found scattered throughout many of the topical chapters in the Encyclopedia of American Jewish History 2 vols. (ABC-Clio, 2008), most fully in the chapter addressing American Jews and labor. References for further reading are included and black and white photographs accompany some of these sketches as well.

By far the largest biographical undertaking of its kind already on reference shelves is the two-volume The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography (Carlson Publishing, 1994) with its notations for nearly 24,000 American

Jews. Like the ANB but not Jewish Americans, subjects in The Concise Dictionary must be deceased to be included. Biographical entries are arranged in alphabetical order and are, indeed, concise. Birth place, date of birth, and date of death are followed by educational attainment, occupation, any notable activities, and source or sources of this information. To achieve conciseness, abbreviations such as “AJYB, 24:112” are used throughout. A listing of these abbreviations appears in the beginning of each volume.

Jewish Americans is an optional purchase for academic reference collections though institutions striving for completeness of biographical coverage or a comprehensive Judaica collection may decide otherwise. Jewish Americans will appeal to those religious libraries, public libraries, and school libraries where its heritage aspect is an important purchase consideration.