September 1, 2019
In response to a precipitous rise in the price of kosher meat and the perception they were being gouged, thousands of immigrant Jewish women took to the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1902, intending to shut down every kosher butcher shop in New York City’s heavily Jewish quarter until prices came down. The book tells the twin stories of mostly uneducated but deeply observant female immigrants who discover their collective power as consumers and of the Beef Trust, the Midwestern cartel that conspired to keep meat prices high despite efforts by the U.S. government to curtail its nefarious practices. With few resources and little experience but steely determination, this group of women organized themselves into a potent fighting force and in their first foray into the political arena in their adopted country, successfully challenged powerful, vested corporate interests and set a pattern for future generations to follow.
