Stand­ing on the Crack uncov­ers the his­to­ry of five Jew­ish fam­i­lies who immi­grat­ed to the US between 1867 and 1913. Bring­ing her ances­tors to life, the author shares the sto­ries of those who shape Seattle’s ear­ly years, its Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty, and its retail cul­ture. Seat­tle grew from a small, ram­shackle town with dirt roads to today’s bustling metrop­o­lis with the Space Nee­dle as its sym­bol. This book tells Seat­tle and Portland’s his­to­ries through the eyes of Jew­ish mer­chants who set­tled in the Pacif­ic North­west with hopes and dreams for them­selves and their chil­dren. The sto­ries are told by plac­ing their jour­neys in con­text as the book takes the read­er on a jour­ney through his­to­ry. Through sto­ry­telling, the book high­lights the impor­tance of research­ing and pass­ing on fam­i­ly his­to­ries. As the book pro­gress­es, it guides the read­er towards ​“how to” con­duct their own such research. The book both edu­cates and entertains.