Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. In Jacob's Cane, New follows her lineage through Baltimore and back to the Baltic, encountering five generations of relatives shaped by the mass murders of the Second World War and the opportunities they found in America. A fascinating and beautifully told family saga, Jacob's Cane transforms the way we think about the immigrant experience of countless Americans. **

Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, scholar Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. Treading back across the paths of her ancestors, she travels from Baltimore to the Baltic to London in order to find and understand an immigrant world profoundly affected by modern German culture, from the Enlightenment through the Holocaust. Deeply ambitious in its narrative sweep, Jacob's Cane captures the rich texture of life on several continents as New's family searches to establish itself in the tobacco trade. A fascinating history of one family's story of progress, innovation, and struggle, Jacob's Cane will change the way we think about the Jewish American experience.