By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — The quarterly journal Western States Jewish History used to be a compendium of stories both in the popular press and in academic media about Jewish communities west of the Mississippi and about their famous denizens. It was started more than a half century ago by Los Angeles Rabbi Will Kramer and California historian Norton Stern, both of blessed memory, whose columns appeared in the now defunct Jewish Heritage newspapers.
More recently Western States Jewish History has become a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the same subjects. Many authors are university professors whose articles count toward their tallies of published academic papers.
In the current edition, Volume 53, Issue 1, the history journal’s publisher Jonathan L. Friedmann reviews “See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture” authored by Mathew Klickstein and published in paperback by Fantagraphics.
Friedmann, a professor at the Academy for Jewish Religion California, notes that Jews have played a central role in developing American popular entertainment. “Whether the subject is musical theater, commercial music, motion pictures, radio, television, comic books, animation, toys, science fiction, or something else, the stories follow a similar pattern,” he writes. “Shut out of established fields, a small cadre of resilient and creative Jews — typically immigrants or children of immigrants — embraced new technologies and emerging areas of commerce, turned formerly disreputable fields into major industries, and, in the process, helped shape the very fabric of American culture.”
Klickstein’s book tells of Comic-Con’s growth “from an informal gathering of ‘geeks’ into a centerpiece of San Diego’s bustling, gentrified, tourist-trapping downtown area,” Friedmann writes. He goes on to quote one of 50 interviewees quoted in Klickstein’s book, the late Trina Robbins, as explaining why San Diego is the Comic-Con venue. “San Diego’s a great city for a vacation. Much better for a vacation in mid-summer than New York.”
Other articles in the current edition of Western States Jewish History include “Jews and ‘Others’ in the American West: A Roundtable;” “He Who Saves One Life Saves the World: How the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society Tuberculosis Sanatorium Promoted Health Equity in Early Twentieth Century Denver;” “Crusade Against the Stage Jew: Rabbi William Friedman vs. Vaudeville’s Jewish Caricatures” and “Philip Moddel: German Music, Irish Spirit and the Choral Treasure of Anaheim, California.”
Friedmann’s review of the Comic-Con oral history was among ten books on a variety of subjects reviewed by contributors to the journal. Information about submissions and subscriptions to Western States Jewish History is available via Friedmann’s email.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. He is also a former editor of Western States Jewish History.