Antisemitism Through the Ages (STUDIES IN ANTISEMITISM SERIES) - Softcover

Reisner, Nathan H.

9780080358505: Antisemitism Through the Ages (STUDIES IN ANTISEMITISM SERIES)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0080358500 ISBN 13: 9780080358505

Publisher: Pergamon, 1988

Is there a common denominator to be found between the Jew-hatred of antiquity and the antisemitism of modern times? Is antisemitism essentially constant and timeless or has it changed over the centuries? This book presents a collection of essays addressing these questions throughout the totality of Jewish history: in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, in the Christian world and in the Muslim countries, and particularly in the twentieth century. It examines and assesses not only the various forms and manifestations of antisemitism in history but also the diverse interpretations which have been placed upon it by contemporaries and historians.

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Language Notes:

Text: English, Hebrew (translation)

Review:

The tone of the book is calm and dispassionate, although the sentiments of the authors could not have been. As befits work emanating from a university the style is scholarly... There is no doubt about the general validity of the volume; it substantially adds to knowledge... Indeed for future work in this area this volume will prove a useful source and is to be welcomed on that account.
New Community
There is, however, little doubt that this collection will represent an important addition to the book shelves of those interested in the history of their people.
Jewish Book News & Reviews
An excellent attempt by historians to review Jewish-gentile relations through the ages under the rubric of 'antisemitism' can be found in the volume edited by Shmuel Almog...the essays are tight and informative and, moreover, go beyond the specific thesis implied in the book's title. Still, taken as a whole, the volume may channel the reader into a potential, narrow lineal view on the rise of anti-Jewism hostility, namely that antisemitism has existed as a background undercurrent throughout the last two millenia, primarily in the Christian West but mutatis mutandis in the Islamic orbit as well. Such a perception is problematic in that prejudgment of any action against Jews as antisemitic is historically inaccurate because it obscures or ignores the overall historical context. As John Gager pointed out recently (The Origins of Anti-Semitism, Oxford, 1983), for every source that is negative about Jews in the ancient world there are as many that are positive, if not merely indifference. Hence, any study of Jewish-gentile relations that stresses hostility to Jews and animosity to Judaism in any given society needs to investigate and develop the phiel-Semitic tendencies contemporary to the anti-Semitic ones.
American Jewish History
Bernard Rechter
...a factual, scholarly introduction...by a range of distinguished writers...into the history of Jew hatred, ranging in time from ancient Rome to the contemporary scene.
The Australian Jewish News

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