The Drawing of the Mark of Cain: A Social-Historical Analysis of the Growth of Anti-Jewish Stereotypes - Softcover

Van Arkel, Dik

Softcover

ISBN 10: 908964041X ISBN 13: 9789089640413

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Anti-Semitism is an exceptional historical phenomenon whose history extends at least two millennia into the past, as its discriminatory vitriol affecting many countries and a wide range of societies. Yet despite that history, the conditions of anti-Semitism are not universal. Many countries have no tradition of anti-Semitic thought, and even in those nations where anti-Semitism periodically rears its head, there have been long periods when it was nearly dormant. This definitive study tackles the complex roots and manifestations of anti-Semitism over the centuries, tracing the rise of anti-Jewish stereotypes and the circumstances in which racial prejudice has led to tragic consequences. As the large-scale social changes of the past two millennia have given extra impetus to the reappearance of cultural bias, this is a timely and important contribution to social historical scholarship.

About this title

About the Author

Dik van Arkel is professor emeritus of social history at Leiden University.

Review

“This is a fascinating book. It is the result of many years of thorough, wonderfully rich and innovative investigation into a very complex subject. Van Arkel’s methodologically and conceptually stringent—and at the same time factually solid—research has yielded this lucid and fundamental inquiry into the history of anti-Semitism that no student of the subject should ignore.”

(Hans Blom, emeritus professor of history at the University of Amsterdam and former director of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation)

Edition details

• Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 908964041X
• ISBN 13: 9789089640413
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 592