When in Doubt...Blame a Jew!: A Personal and People's Memoir of Anti-Semitism - Hardcover

Abbott, Arnold P

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1414034563 ISBN 13: 9781414034560

Publisher: 1st Book Library, 2004

Synopsis

An associate editor at Jeremy Tarcher, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc., wrote this: When In Doubt--Blame A Jew! is a tremendous piece of work - intelligent, engaging, and personal." What makes this book unique is that it comprises a melange of historic fact interspersed with endemic Jewish humor. It is the author's hope that it will provide factual information to counteract myriad myths, distortions, and false perceptions about who the Jews are, and their place in the world. Starting with Mary, and why she had to be a virgin (based on the ancient Jewish custom of banishing women to the hills during their menstrual cycle); through the Blood Libel and other unfounded accusations: to Henry Ford's fatherhood of the Tin Lizzie and worldwide hate; to famous Jews, followed by famous Jew-haters. There are also light moments such as: "The Joke Is On Us," "Jewish Alphabet Soup," and "Prophecy." The book applauds the Righteous Gentiles of World War II; acknowledges the revisionists of today; and steps into the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, offering a solution. With only 14 million Jews extant today, the book ends with a question - "A World Without Jews, What Would It Be Like?"

About this title

From the Author:

Arnold P. Abbott has been a rebel with many causes, all people with problems, based, for all of his life. At age nine, he read no less an American icon than Ralph Waldo Emerson, taking exception to his theme "On Self-Reliance" that the rich had no responsibility to help the poor. He replied with a poem, "Yes Ralph, These Are Your Poor," which was his first published poem, and although his poetic style has improved, he still stands by all of his thoughts expressed therein.

He spent seventeen years researching and writing "When In Doubt...Blame A Jew!" When asked to explain why it took so long to complete the work, he explained it this way. "The Jews have been blamed for every calamity that has occurred on this earth since the beginning of recorded time. They have also been targeted for total extinction by every reigning civilization that has arisen since ancient days, from the Assyrians; the Babylonians; the Greeks; the Romans; the Catholic Church; the Cossacks; to the Nazis; and now, to whatever lunatic fringe there is, waiting in the wings.There is also an ironic, albeit fact, that people who purport to hate the Jews rarely know the reason for that feeling. Take all that into consideration, and add to it thousands of years of concocted accusations circulating throughout the world, and you come to realize that every falsehood has to be confronted, answered, and corrected. This tedious task took years to complete, but along the way, it helped the author to realize how a tiny microcosm  of fourteen million Jews, surrounded by a hostile world of billions, still remains as a productive force, totally outnumbered, yet a major contributor to the intellectual storehouse of our globe."

About the Author:

Arnold Abbott has been describedas a realistic idealist, an eclectic iconoclast, and a rebel with manycauses.¿ Published at age 9, when he tookumbrage at Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay OnSelf Reliance, he wrote a poetic reply titled: "Yes Ralph, These Are YourPoor!"A proud liberal, he foughtfiercely in the Civil Rights movement of the 60's including going to Jackson, Mississippi to help register Negroes tovote.¿ A Pennsylvania delegate to the1964 Democratic National Convention, he gained notoriety, nationally covered,sitting with the Mississippi Freedom Delegation to protest the injustice ofbypassing them in favor of an unelected all-white group.Today, he works to better thelives of the homeless, through teaching culinary skills.

About this edition

• Publisher: 1st Book Library
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1414034563
• ISBN 13: 9781414034560
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384