The Spirit of the Ghetto
Hutchins Hapgood, 1869–1944 (Author)
Jacob Epstein, 1880–1959 (Illustrator)
The Spirit of the Ghetto: Studies of the Jewish Quarter in New York
New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1902
The Spirit of the Ghetto by Hutchins Hapgood was the first serious attempt to explore a rich inner life of the Jewish immigrant community by an American outsider. A Harvard graduate and well-known New York reporter, Hapgood began his career at the daily newspaper New-York Commercial Advertiser. Soon, following the progressive journalistic trends of his time, he became interested in Jewish immigrants’ lives through his friendship with Abraham Cahan (1860–1951), a chief editor of Forṿerṭs (Forward), a leading Jewish newspaper, and himself an immigrant from Lithuania.
Hapgood didn’t try to idealize or embellish the life of the Jewish newcomers, nor did he call to change it. Instead, he followed the path of realistic narrative. He captured the most interesting, often dreamy, and artistic characters along with the vibrant atmosphere of the Lower East Side in a series of engaging essays that collectively formed the book.
Jacob Epstein, the book’s illustrator and a gifted young artist, was only 20 when he met Hapgood. Epstein was born into an Orthodox family and grew up on the Lower East Side. His knowledge of the ghetto and its types, plus his talent as an attentive observer, greatly complemented and further developed Hapgood’s detailed narratives. Epstein’s visual renderings introduced a whole gallery of ghetto inhabitants and situations that struck a chord with their expressiveness and realism. Epstein used the honorarium from Hapgood’s book to pursue his studies in Paris, where he lived from 1902 to 1905. He then settled in London and later became a celebrated sculptor.
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