Yet another take on Columbus and his ilk, this one placing him in a Christian context of intolerance and genocidal tendencies; by Univ. of Hawaii historian Stannard (The Puritan Way of Death, 1977; Shrinking History, 1980, etc.). Starting with the fact that the Admiral of the Ocean Sea abducted natives on his first voyage and participated in the wholesale slaughter of innocent Indians by his crew, and, on his second voyage, sailed back to Spain with hundreds of slaves, Stannard notes that the massive job of depopulating the Americas was accomplished largely by the pestilence brought by the Europeans—everything from swine influenza and the bubonic plague to smallpox. In North and South America, natives were killed off so rapidly that, between disease and the lethal practices of Spanish and other conquerors, tribal groups had been decimated by an average of 95% in the first century of contact—about one hundred million dead, according to current estimates. Genocide on this scale has no parallel, but Stannard carefully links the New World bloodbath with Christian assaults against other groups of nonbelievers and perceived subhumans through the centuries, from Jews and Muslims to the tribes of Africa, showing a consistent pattern of extermination based on racial preference, sexual asceticism, and the tenets of faith—a pattern from which the Nazi's Final Solution was, he says, a logical outgrowth. Vivid and relentless, combining a formidable array of primary sources with meticulous analysis—a devastating reassessment of the Conquest as nothing less than a holy war, one that continues today from Guatemala to the sands of Arabia.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-19-507581-1
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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