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Antisemitism in America
Is antisemitism on the rise in America? Did the "hymietown" comment by Jesse Jackson and the Crown Heights riot signal a resurgence of antisemitism among blacks? The surprising answer to both questions, according to Leonard Dinnerstein, is no--Jews have never been more at home in America. But what we are seeing today, he writes, are the well-publicized results of a long tradition of prejudice, suspicion, and hatred against Jews--the direct product of the Christian teachings underlying so much of America's national heritage.
In Antisemitism in America , Leonard Dinnerstein provides a landmark work--the first comprehensive history of prejudice against Jews in the United States, from colonial times to the present. His richly documented book traces American antisemitism from its roots in the dawn of the Christian era and arrival of the first European settlers, to its peak during World War II and its present day permutations--with separate chapters on antisemititsm in the South and among African-Americans, showing that prejudice among both whites and blacks flowed from the same stream of Southern evangelical Christianity. He shows, for example, that non-Christians were excluded from voting (in Rhode Island until 1842, North Carolina until 1868, and in New Hampshire until 1877), and demonstrates how the Civil War brought a new wave of antisemitism as both sides assumed that Jews supported with the enemy. We see how the decades that followed marked the emergence of a full-fledged antisemitic society, as
Christian Americans excluded Jews from their social circles, and how antisemetic fervor climbed higher after the turn of the century, accelerated by eugenicists, fear of Bolshevism, the publications of Henry Ford, and the Depression. Dinnerstein goes on to explain that just before our entry into World War II, antisemitism reached a climax, as Father Coughlin attacked Jews over the airwaves (with the support of much of the Catholic clergy) and Charles Lindbergh delivered an openly antisemitic speech to an isolationist meeting. After the war, Dinnerstein tells us, with fresh economic opportunities and increased activities by civil rights advocates, antisemititsm went into sharp decline--though it frequently appeared in shockingly high places, including statements by Nixon and his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"It must also be emphasized," Dinnerstein writes, "that in no Christian country has antisemitism been weaker than it has been in the United States," with its traditions of tolerance, diversity, and a secular national government. This book, however, reveals in disturbing detail the resilience, and vehemence, of this ugly prejudice. Penetrating, authoritative, and frequently alarming, this is the definitive account of a plague that refuses to go away.
In Antisemitism in America , Leonard Dinnerstein provides a landmark work--the first comprehensive history of prejudice against Jews in the United States, from colonial times to the present. His richly documented book traces American antisemitism from its roots in the dawn of the Christian era and arrival of the first European settlers, to its peak during World War II and its present day permutations--with separate chapters on antisemititsm in the South and among African-Americans, showing that prejudice among both whites and blacks flowed from the same stream of Southern evangelical Christianity. He shows, for example, that non-Christians were excluded from voting (in Rhode Island until 1842, North Carolina until 1868, and in New Hampshire until 1877), and demonstrates how the Civil War brought a new wave of antisemitism as both sides assumed that Jews supported with the enemy. We see how the decades that followed marked the emergence of a full-fledged antisemitic society, as
Christian Americans excluded Jews from their social circles, and how antisemetic fervor climbed higher after the turn of the century, accelerated by eugenicists, fear of Bolshevism, the publications of Henry Ford, and the Depression. Dinnerstein goes on to explain that just before our entry into World War II, antisemitism reached a climax, as Father Coughlin attacked Jews over the airwaves (with the support of much of the Catholic clergy) and Charles Lindbergh delivered an openly antisemitic speech to an isolationist meeting. After the war, Dinnerstein tells us, with fresh economic opportunities and increased activities by civil rights advocates, antisemititsm went into sharp decline--though it frequently appeared in shockingly high places, including statements by Nixon and his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"It must also be emphasized," Dinnerstein writes, "that in no Christian country has antisemitism been weaker than it has been in the United States," with its traditions of tolerance, diversity, and a secular national government. This book, however, reveals in disturbing detail the resilience, and vehemence, of this ugly prejudice. Penetrating, authoritative, and frequently alarming, this is the definitive account of a plague that refuses to go away.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 23, 2024
Ugggghh what a book that's still timely to read even close to 30 years after it's publishing.
I found this book fascinating and learned a lot from it. I've found that reading how America has hated shows us who we are and how we aren't that different from our past. Progress matters. Every step matters. At times, this is the best time to be alive and we can see how living openly against the White Christian American family dream is still controversial and fear inducing.
There's a lot to learn here and it's very academic. Dinnerstein keeps with the historical records and things that are easily traceable (newspapers, brochures, etc.) to show the path of Jews in America.
What I found interesting is the lack of pop culture references. Looking back in 2024, it's hard to imagine how much Americans hated people different them. It's why some things in old films and movies don't ring as true anymore. Like now, it feels like "oh you're Jewish, cool!" while in the past it was a different vibe.
Highly recommend diving into this. It's an important text that leans academic and can be cumbersone but worth reading.
I found this book fascinating and learned a lot from it. I've found that reading how America has hated shows us who we are and how we aren't that different from our past. Progress matters. Every step matters. At times, this is the best time to be alive and we can see how living openly against the White Christian American family dream is still controversial and fear inducing.
There's a lot to learn here and it's very academic. Dinnerstein keeps with the historical records and things that are easily traceable (newspapers, brochures, etc.) to show the path of Jews in America.
What I found interesting is the lack of pop culture references. Looking back in 2024, it's hard to imagine how much Americans hated people different them. It's why some things in old films and movies don't ring as true anymore. Like now, it feels like "oh you're Jewish, cool!" while in the past it was a different vibe.
Highly recommend diving into this. It's an important text that leans academic and can be cumbersone but worth reading.
March 3, 2021
Finally, a book about Jews with a happy ending. That's a joke. Seriously though, this was riveting. Even at its most virulent and active, American antisemitism has never been as bad as American racism... if you'll allow me to leave antisemitism out of the racism category. So the stories and sociology presented here has always been kind of hidden behind the far more frightening stories and sociology of anti-African American, anti-Latino, anti-Asian and of course the war on the indigenous people of the continent. Antisemitism has also declined much more sharply than these other forms of oppression, which is what I meant about a happy ending. Still, it was pretty mind-blowing to read about all the hate especially from the time of the Civil War until the end of World War II. It's absolutely startling to read about the antisemitism during World War II... Americans blaming Jews for the war, as if it wasn't Germany that declared war on the US and the Japanese who attacked a few days before. Nope. Jews did it. Christians are so weird with that stuff!
I was a bit nervous about the chapters about antisemitism in the South and among African Americans, but Dinnerstein keeps the comments of Jessie Jackson and Farrakhan well in context, while not skimping on details. I had kind of forgotten about some of those CUNY professors in the early 90s. At the time, most of that stuff just made me laugh, even if I did experience some uncomfortable personal encounters around then. Public Enemy and Flavor Flav do not make an appearance here.
I feel that I learned a lot about the nature of antisemitism, and about how some of the common debates around Jewish identity can always be used both by Jews and antisemites to bolster their arguments. Take the question of are Jews a 'race'... some Jews, myself included, say "no" because there are Jews of all different skin colors and languages and because you can be labelled a Jew by antisemites even if you are not one at all simply because it fits into their argument. But then some Jews say that Jews are a nationality or whatever. And then our enemies will say that Jews have certain 'racial' characteristics, they will racialize us, but at the same time, there are plenty of antisemites who argue that Jews are not a race because we are "mongrels," meaning worse than a race since we're impure. While I'm on that subject ... there should have been more about Black and Puerto Rican Jews. The latter were certainly present in the Colonial era and the former probably as well. But did they experience antisemitism? I guess that's a whole other book. The fad of JAP jokes also gets a paragraph, but aside from that there was practically nothing about the intersection of antisemitism and misogyny.
Although Dinnerstein examines the myth of the Black-Jewish alliance from the founding of the NAACP through to the Black Power era, I felt that there could have been more examination of Jewish support for white supremacy. It's of course included in the chapter on Jews in the South, but I mean in a more fuzzy way, like black face performances in Hollywood, for example. Dinnerstein points out that African American antisemitism is a way to attack white people while at the same time siding with white people against the Jews but he doesn't examine how Jews have also sought to join the mainstream by siding with white people against African Americans. I suppose since the focus is more on antisemitism than on Jewish individual's strategies this can be forgiven. Dinnerstein writes, "Jews were welcomed in colonial America because their numbers were small and white people were needed to help build new communities. Other minorities -- such as Indians and Blacks -- occupied the lowest rungs in society and there were more fears about these groups than about Jews." So Dinnerstein does make it clear that Jews have simultaneously benefited from white supremacy and been harmed by it; Presumably like other immigrant groups, especially Catholics.
Another thing I was nervous about was the use of the label "antisemitism" to silence criticism of Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Dinnerstein skirted the issue but when he did address it, I wasn't offended. One telling line was, "This aspect of American antisemitism remains a gray and fuzzy area, more easily "sensed" by those who see it than proven to the satisfaction of those who do not." Take that, Dershowitz. On the other hand, Dinnerstein misses an opportunity to show how Israel's 1967 war changed US attitudes towards Jews. Ask any baby boomer Jew and they will tell you that fundamentally shattered some antisemitic stereotypes. Gone are the jokes about, "onward Christian soldiers, we'll sew the uniforms." Obviously, Jews can just be as war-like as other white people.
Lastly, the book naturally only covers the time up until publication. Things don't look so rosy since white supremacists have demonstrated their mastery of the Internet and social media. Actual attacks on synagogues are back in fashion as well. So we need a new book on this subject, one with more intersectionality and a chapter from the 90s through today.
I hope I didn't reap a shit storm in the comments. I'm sure I've opened more than one can of worms with this review. If you disagree with me, please be respectful. I would recommend this book to everyone.
I was a bit nervous about the chapters about antisemitism in the South and among African Americans, but Dinnerstein keeps the comments of Jessie Jackson and Farrakhan well in context, while not skimping on details. I had kind of forgotten about some of those CUNY professors in the early 90s. At the time, most of that stuff just made me laugh, even if I did experience some uncomfortable personal encounters around then. Public Enemy and Flavor Flav do not make an appearance here.
I feel that I learned a lot about the nature of antisemitism, and about how some of the common debates around Jewish identity can always be used both by Jews and antisemites to bolster their arguments. Take the question of are Jews a 'race'... some Jews, myself included, say "no" because there are Jews of all different skin colors and languages and because you can be labelled a Jew by antisemites even if you are not one at all simply because it fits into their argument. But then some Jews say that Jews are a nationality or whatever. And then our enemies will say that Jews have certain 'racial' characteristics, they will racialize us, but at the same time, there are plenty of antisemites who argue that Jews are not a race because we are "mongrels," meaning worse than a race since we're impure. While I'm on that subject ... there should have been more about Black and Puerto Rican Jews. The latter were certainly present in the Colonial era and the former probably as well. But did they experience antisemitism? I guess that's a whole other book. The fad of JAP jokes also gets a paragraph, but aside from that there was practically nothing about the intersection of antisemitism and misogyny.
Although Dinnerstein examines the myth of the Black-Jewish alliance from the founding of the NAACP through to the Black Power era, I felt that there could have been more examination of Jewish support for white supremacy. It's of course included in the chapter on Jews in the South, but I mean in a more fuzzy way, like black face performances in Hollywood, for example. Dinnerstein points out that African American antisemitism is a way to attack white people while at the same time siding with white people against the Jews but he doesn't examine how Jews have also sought to join the mainstream by siding with white people against African Americans. I suppose since the focus is more on antisemitism than on Jewish individual's strategies this can be forgiven. Dinnerstein writes, "Jews were welcomed in colonial America because their numbers were small and white people were needed to help build new communities. Other minorities -- such as Indians and Blacks -- occupied the lowest rungs in society and there were more fears about these groups than about Jews." So Dinnerstein does make it clear that Jews have simultaneously benefited from white supremacy and been harmed by it; Presumably like other immigrant groups, especially Catholics.
Another thing I was nervous about was the use of the label "antisemitism" to silence criticism of Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Dinnerstein skirted the issue but when he did address it, I wasn't offended. One telling line was, "This aspect of American antisemitism remains a gray and fuzzy area, more easily "sensed" by those who see it than proven to the satisfaction of those who do not." Take that, Dershowitz. On the other hand, Dinnerstein misses an opportunity to show how Israel's 1967 war changed US attitudes towards Jews. Ask any baby boomer Jew and they will tell you that fundamentally shattered some antisemitic stereotypes. Gone are the jokes about, "onward Christian soldiers, we'll sew the uniforms." Obviously, Jews can just be as war-like as other white people.
Lastly, the book naturally only covers the time up until publication. Things don't look so rosy since white supremacists have demonstrated their mastery of the Internet and social media. Actual attacks on synagogues are back in fashion as well. So we need a new book on this subject, one with more intersectionality and a chapter from the 90s through today.
I hope I didn't reap a shit storm in the comments. I'm sure I've opened more than one can of worms with this review. If you disagree with me, please be respectful. I would recommend this book to everyone.
November 23, 2022
Four and a half stars. This is the best, clearest, most thorough account of Anti-Semitism in the US that I've read. The author presents facts, backing them up with giant end note section, and very rarely lets his opinion shine through. The only slight issue I had was the way the book wraps up by basically saying that anti-semitism isn't an issue anymore and that while people may repeat anti-Jewish tropes, no one acts on it. I get that this book came out in the '90s, but come on guy.
It would be sweet if someone wrote a history from the point this book leaves off.
It would be sweet if someone wrote a history from the point this book leaves off.
July 20, 2022
Clear, articulate overview of the history of antisemitism in America.
August 21, 2016
A fine, well researched, thorough work on a fascinating topic. My only issue is that it maybe generalizes too much on "Christian" culture, and while it mentions various individuals related to the Jewish cause, it fails to mention Jewish people who formed/affected the cultural image of Jews in the majority.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews