In August 1654, a few Ashkenazic Jews arrived in the Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York), and thus began the astonishing phenomenon of American Jewry. In this stunning book of narrative and photographs, Dr Saul Landa gives us a glimpse of its beauty. This book is the culmination of a four-year odyssey, visiting eighteen communities, travelling tens of thousands of miles, taking thousands of photographs, reviewing thousands of archival images, and surviving the trauma of one car accident and one traffic violation.