A didactic tour de force presented approachably.
A leading scholar of Judaism explores just about every manifestation of contemporary anti-Semitism, with plenty of history included for context.
Lipstadt (Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies/Emory Univ.; Holocaust: An American Understanding, 2016, etc.), a winner of the National Jewish Book Award, relates the grim reality of anti-Semitism through an unusual format: an invented correspondence between herself and two fictional characters, one a brainy Jewish university student named Abigail, the other a non-Jewish university law professor deeply worried about pervasive hatred of Jews on campus and elsewhere. The epistolary structure is unvarying, so some readers may find it artificial and tiresome—but as the information in each piece of correspondence builds on the previous letters, a coherent and frightening narrative begins to take shape. Lipstadt personalizes the book by citing anti-Semitic issues she has faced. Even after devoting most of her career to the study of the Shoah, she writes, she had a very difficult time piecing this book together. Writing about the depressing present and dark-looking future caused her unexpected anguish. As part of the correspondence driving the narrative, the author defines anti-Semitism, offers a five-pronged taxonomy of hatred, provides contextual explanations such as the similarities and differences between Jews and blacks as targets of hatred, delves into non-Jews who rationalize their evil ways, examines the phenomenon of Holocaust denial, and looks at anti-Semitism on college campuses. Another noticeable element throughout the book is the conundrum of Israel as a special land created to safeguard Jews. The author and her two composite correspondents wrestle with the Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, including what could and should be done to achieve de-escalation in the region. Lipstadt closes the book on a somewhat upbeat note by explaining how and why Jews should reject being cast as victims and nothing more. “You will encounter antisemitism along the way,” she writes, “but I entreat you to avoid letting this ‘longest hatred’ become the linchpin of your identity.”
A didactic tour de force presented approachably.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8052-4337-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Schocken
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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
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