A source book that will be of special value to those who see and are concerned about the new anti-Semitism.
An old, noxious contagion of prejudice is on a rapid, virulent rise. These scholarly essays, collected by Rosenfeld (English and Jewish Studies/Indiana Univ.; The End of the Holocaust, 2011, etc.), review the epidemiology of anti-Semitism and seek to determine the etiology, roots, and history of this special form of bigotry.
Throughout history, many of the world’s problems have been blamed on the Jews. As this anthology’s contributors report, renewed Holocaust denial, naked prejudice in sectors of England, France, and the rest of Europe, calls for boycott, divestment, and sanctions, the rise of militant jihad, and the unique standards applied only to Israel since the start of the 21st century all attest to what has come to be known as “the New anti-Semitism.” Zionism and the establishment and achievements of the Jewish state in the Muslim heart of the Middle East are central to the rise of hatred of all things Jewish. Notions that were once limited to the lunatic right are now, frequently, proud badges of the left. Certain precincts of academe accommodate the myths and misanthropy of anti-Semitism, supported by spurious public intellectuals. Ignorant entertainers, as well, have their say, and the notorious forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion sells quite well everywhere. International organizations and national governments allied with Hamas and Hezbollah threaten a minuscule spot on the planet, Israel, as well as Jews worldwide. These various essays, fully footnoted, consider each of these matters and others in detail in an effort to parse and tease out the history and historiography of today’s anti-Semitism. Some are stunningly perceptive, some explore new dimensions, and while not all offer lapidary prose (they are written by academics, after all), each offers new insights about the thoughts and activities of current anti-Semites and the evil they purvey.
A source book that will be of special value to those who see and are concerned about the new anti-Semitism.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-253-01865-6
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Indiana Univ.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
