1st Edition
The Routledge History of Antisemitism
Antisemitism is a topic on which there is a wide gap between scholarly and popular understanding, and as concern over antisemitism has grown, so too have the debates over how to understand and combat it. This handbook explores its history and manifestations, ranging from its origins to the internet.
Since the Holocaust, many in North America and Europe have viewed antisemitism as a historical issue with little current importance. However, recent events show that antisemitism is not just a matter of historical interest or of concern only to Jews. Antisemitism has become a major issue confronting and challenging our world. This volume starts with explorations of antisemitism in its many different shapes across time and then proceeds to a geographical perspective, covering a broad scope of experiences across different countries and regions. The final section discusses the manifestations of antisemitism in its varied cultural and social forms.
With an international range of contributions across 40 chapters, this is an essential volume for all readers of Jewish and non-Jewish history alike.
Preface: Antisemitism – A Comment
Yehuda Bauer
Foreword
David I. Kertzer
Introduction
Mark Weitzman, Robert J. Williams, and James Wald
SECTION I: Chronology
1. Jews and Non-Jews in Ancient Cities: Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, Rome
Benjamin Isaac
2. Medieval Antisemitism
Robert Chazan
3. Antisemitism: The Last 150 Years
Richard S. Levy
4. Contemporary Antisemitism
David Hirsh
SECTION II: Geography
5. American Antisemitism
Jonathan D. Sarna
6. Argentina and the Jews: Between the Privileges of "Whiteness" and the Curse of "Badness"
Martina Weisz
7. East Asia and Antisemitism: A Vast Region Immersed in Admiration and Consternation
Rotem Kowner
8. Antisemitism in Australia
Suzanne D. Rutland
9. The Judeo-Bolshevik Myth and Contemporary Antisemitism in the Baltic States
Christine Beresniova and Doyle Stevick
10. What is the Role Played by Antisemitism in the History of the Jews in Brazil?
Roney Cytrynowicz
11. English Antisemitism
Anthony Julius
12. Antisemitism in France
Maurice Samuels
13. Antisemitism in Germany
James Wald
14. Anti-semitism in Hungary
Holly Case
15. Antisemitism in North Africa
Haim Saadoun
16. Antisemitism in Mexico
Judit Bokser Liwerant
17. Antisemitism in the Middle East
Meir Litvak
18. Antisemitism in Poland
Rafal Pankowski
19. Antisemitism in Russia
Per Anders Rudling
20. Antisemitism in South Africa
Milton Shain
21. Antisemitism in Spain – A Historical Survey
Jonathan Ray
22. Antisemitism in Turkey
Rifat N. Bali
23. Antisemitism in Ukraine
John-Paul Himka
SECTION III: Topics
24. Christianity and Antisemitism
Deborah Forger and Susannah Heschel
25. Muslim Antisemitism: Religion, Politics, and Israel
Mehnaz M. Afridi
26. Blood Libel and Its Persistence in Antisemitic Imagination
Magda Teter
27. Antisemitism and the Persistence of the "Protocols"
Steven Leonard Jacobs
28. The Long Term and the Short Term: Antisemitism and the Holocaust
Jeffrey Herf
29. Antisemitism and Diseases, Pandemics, and Public Health Crises
Robert J. Williams
30. Antisemitism and Art
Sara Offenberg
31. Philosophy and Judeophobia
Jonathan Judaken
32. Gender and Antisemitism
Christina von Braun
33. Discourse and Antisemitism
Ruth Wodak
34. BDS and Antisemitism
Cary Nelson
35. Antisemitism 2.0 and the Cyberculture of Hate: Opening Pandora’s Box
Monika Schwarz-Friesel
36. Algorithmic Antisemitism on Social Media
Monika Hübscher
37. Holocaust Denial and Distortion
Mark Weitzman
38. Antisemitism in the Study of Ancient Judaism
Lawrence H. Schiffman
39. Zionism: A Response to Antisemitism?
Gil Troy
40. Some Traditional Jewish Perspectives on Antisemitism
Marc B. Shapiro
Biography
Mark Weitzman is Chief Operating Officer of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, the senior US delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Authority (IHRA), and Vice President of the Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO).
Robert J. Williams is the Andrew J. and Erna Finci-Viterbi Executive Director Chair of the USC Shoah Foundation, UNESCO Chair on Genocide Education at the University of Southern California, and Advisor to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
James Wald teaches modern European history at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
“In a more just world, we would not need a book like this one. But in the broken, flawed, real world that we inhabit, the Routledge History of Antisemitism is both morally necessary and intellectually essential. With an impressive range of topics and contributors, this volume provides a sweeping survey of antisemitism over the millenia and around the globe, and it does so in a lucid and accessible way.”
Prof. Samuel G. Freedman, Columbia Journalism School
“A book published in the right time, relevant to a current troubling issue is always a welcome surprise. So is the Routledge History of Antisemitism, off the print in 2023, when antisemitism is on the rise worldwide and the depiction of a reliable picture is sorely needed. Holding 40 well-edited essays along 400 pages, this volume offers concise, up to date eye opening information, accompanied by analysis and insight, on a wide variety of topics, written by first rate experts, each representing his or her field of expertise. Needless to say, such a collection is indeed a most relevant contribution to any discussion of antisemitism nowadays.”
Prof. Emerita Dina Porat, Chief historian of Yad Vashem, 2010-2021, The Alfred P. Slaner Chair in Antisemitism and Racism in Tel Aviv University
“A crucial contribution to the field spanning the full spectrum of time and geography of the world’s most enduring hatred. From antiquity to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party; from the Holocaust to Soviet antizionism; from the Middle East to the Baltic states; from the BDS to online hate: the tightly written essays in this volume are certain to prove an essential resource for educators, students and general public alike.”
Izabella Tabarovsky, Senior Advisor, Kennan Institute (Wilson Center)
