The Tragedy of a Generation is the story of the rise and fall of an ideal: an autonomous Jewish nation in Europe. It traces the origins of two influential but overlooked strains of Jewish thought--Yiddishism and Diaspora Nationalism--and documents the waning hopes and painful reassessments of their leading representatives against the rising tide of Nazism and, later, the Holocaust.

Joshua M. Karlip presents three figures--Elias Tcherikower, Yisroel Efroikin, and Zelig Kalmanovitch--seen through the lens of Imperial Russia on the brink of revolution. Leaders in the struggle for...