The History of Anti-Semitism, Volume 2: From Mohammed to the Marranos / Edition 1

by Léon Poliakov, Natalie Gerardi

Overview

Covering the story of prejudice against Jews from the time of Christ through the rise of Nazi Germany, The History of Anti-Semitism presents in elegant and thoughtful language a balanced, careful assessment of this egregious human failing that is nearly ubiquitous in the history of Europe.

From Mohammed to the Marranos focuses on the Sephardim, the Jews of North Africa and Iberia. Poliakov relates the great achievements of Spanish Jewry under the Muslim Caliphs followed by their gradual and painful decline during and after the Christian reconquest. The author explains the emergence of the Marrano culture, Jews who converted to Christianity, and the dispersion of those Jews who refused to convert in the face of expulsion and death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812218640
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	10/05/2003
Series:	History of Anti-Semitism Series , #2
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 9.21(d)

About the Author

Leon Poliakov (1910-97) wrote extensively on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism. His many books include Harvest of Hate: The Nazi Program for the Destruction of Jews in Europe and Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe. He helped establish the Centre de Documentation Juive in 1943.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	vii
	Prologue
1	The Jews of Europe in the Eighteenth Century	3
	Germany
	France
	Great Britain
	A glance at the other European countries
2	The United States of America	41
3	The Men of the Ghetto	47
Part 1	The Century of Enlightenment
4	The English Deists	59
5	France in the Enlightenment	70
	The Protestant attitude
	Montesquieu: the physiocrats
	Voltaire
	Rousseau
	Diderot and the Encyclopedie
	The "Holbachic Synagogue"
	The system builders
	The regenerators
6	Germany	157
	The good Germany
	The good Jew
	German philosophy and the Jews
	The Berlin Jewish salons
Part 2	Emancipation
7	The Emancipation	213
	Emancipation in France
	Emancipation in Germany
	Emancipating tendencies in the Russian Empire
8	Effects of Emancipation	255
	The Jews' point of view
	The non-Jews' point of view
Part 3	The Racist Reaction
9	England	323
	Jews in Walter Scott and Disraeli
10	France	338
	The Jews' entry into society
	Ghosts from the past: the wandering Jews
	Future threats: the Socialist movements
11	Germany	380
	Arndt, Jahn and the Germanomanes
	The detour of economic anti-Semitism
	Borne and Heine: young Germany or young Palestine?
	The atheists' crusade
	The case of Richard Wagner
	Conclusion	458
	Notes	475
	Index	571

Editorial Reviews

"Léon Poliakov's work on antisemitism is of enormous importance. As a work of scholarship it is almost without peer. One could have imagined that Poliakov's study might have given a long overdue burial to the longest hatred. Sadly-tragically-it has taken on a new urgency in our time as the images and issues have been resurrected at the beginning of the twenty-first century."

Michael Berenbaum

"Poliakov has demonstrated brilliantly how widely and deeply versed he is in his subject."

Economist

"Poliakov has shown that anti-Semitism is no chance phenomenon but an emanation of European culture."

Times Literary Supplement

"Highly recommended without exception."

Choice

"Poliakov has demonstrated brilliantly how widely and deeply versed he is in his subject."

Economist

"A scholarly but eminently readable tracing of the sources and recurring themes of anti-Semitism."—Library Journal

"Poliakov has shown that anti-Semitism is no chance phenomenon but an emanation of European culture."—Times Literary Supplement

"Léon Poliakov's work on antisemitism is of enormous importance. As a work of scholarship it is almost without peer. One could have imagined that Poliakov's study might have given a long overdue burial to the longest hatred. Sadly—tragically—it has taken on a new urgency in our time as the images and issues have been resurrected at the beginning of the twenty-first century."—Michael Berenbaum, Director, Sigi Ziering Institute

"Highly recommended without exception."—Choice

From the Publisher