Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish SocietyHasidism, a kabbalah inspired movement founded by Israel Ba'al Shem Tov (c1700 1760), transformed Jewish communities across Eastern and East Central Europe. In Men of Silk, Glenn Dynner draws upon newly discovered Polish archival material and neglected Hebrew testimonies to illuminate Hasidism's dramatic ascendancy in the region of Central Poland during the early nineteenth century. Dynner presents Hasidism as a socioreligious phenomenon that was