I found this book hard to follow. The writing was turgid, repetitious, and over-qualified. I'm actually not sue what it says. The 2nd generation is the people who came of age in the 1910's & 1920's, and she writes about the new neighborhoods that they settled into & about American Jewish institutions. This is the 2nd book I've read by this author & I think she is making a career out of writing about a certain section of the population but that there really isn't enough content to justify whole books.