'Who Is American?' Exploring the complicated history of Jewish citizenship in the US – review

Professor Lila Corwin Berman's book, Who Is American? Belonging and the Question of Jewish Citizenship, challenges the assumption that Jewish citizenship in the U.S. was always straightforward. The book explores how Jews' legal status was periodically re-evaluated, with classifications shifting between "a race," "nationality," and "religion." Early 20th-century debates saw the American Jewish Committee lobby to remove "Hebrew" as a racial classification in immigration statistics, arguing for religious identity. However, a 1909 federal judge granted Jews an "extraordinary exception" for citizenship, despite their "Asiatic origins," due to their suffering. The rise of Zionism and the establishment of Israel fueled suspicions about Jewish loyalty, leading to laws defining behaviors that could trigger loss of citizenship. The book concludes by detailing ongoing debates, such as whether Jews are a "protected class" under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the implications of defining Jewishness by race, noting that legal categories affecting citizenship are now more "malleable" than ever.