Want to know what books Abraham Foxman recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Abraham Foxman's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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In this unprecedented work two decades in the making, leading historian Robert S. Wistrich examines the long and ugly history of anti-Semitism, from the first recorded pogrom in 38 BCE to its shocking and widespread resurgence in the present day. As no other book has done before it, A Lethal Obsession reveals the causes behind this shameful and persistent form of hatred and offers a sobering look at how it may shake and reshape the world in years to come.
Here are the fascinating and long-forgotten roots of the “Jewish difference”–the violence that greeted the Jewish Diaspora in... more In this unprecedented work two decades in the making, leading historian Robert S. Wistrich examines the long and ugly history of anti-Semitism, from the first recorded pogrom in 38 BCE to its shocking and widespread resurgence in the present day. As no other book has done before it, A Lethal Obsession reveals the causes behind this shameful and persistent form of hatred and offers a sobering look at how it may shake and reshape the world in years to come.
Here are the fascinating and long-forgotten roots of the “Jewish difference”–the violence that greeted the Jewish Diaspora in first-century Alexandria. Wistrich suggests that the idea of a formless God who passed down a universal moral law to a chosen few deeply disconcerted the pagan world. The early leaders of Christianity increased their strength by painting these “superior” Jews as a cosmic and satanic evil, and by the time of the Crusades, murdering a “Christ killer” had become an act of conscience.
Moving seamlessly through centuries of war and dissidence, A Lethal Obsession powerfully portrays the creation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the fateful anti-Semitic tract commissioned by Russia’s tsarist secret police at the end of the nineteenth century–and the prediction by Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of political Zionism, of eventual disaster for the Jews in Europe.
The twentieth century fulfilled this dark prophecy, with the horrifying ascent of Hitler’s Third Reich. Yet, as Wistrich disturbingly suggests, the end of World War II failed to neutralize the “Judeophobic virus”: Pogroms and prejudice continued in Soviet-controlled territories and in the Arab-Muslim world that would fan flames for new decades of distrust, malice, and violence.
Here, in pointed and devastating detail, is our own world, one in which jihadi terrorists and the radical left blame Israel for all global ills. In his concluding chapters, Wistrich warns of a possible nuclear “Final Solution” at the hands of Iran, a land in which a formerly prosperous Jewish community has declined in both fortunes and freedoms.
Dazzling in scope and erudition, A Lethal Obsession is a riveting masterwork of investigative nonfiction, the definitive work on this unsettling yet essential subject. It is destined to become an indispensable source for any student of world affairs. less 
Abraham FoxmanIt’s hard to sit down and read it from cover to cover, although if one does one can become an expert in anti-Semitism. (Source)
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Trials of the Diaspora is a ground-breaking book that reveals the full history of anti-Semitism in England. Anthony Julius focuses on four distinct versions of English anti-Semitism. He begins with the medieval persecution of Jews, which included defamation, expropriation, and murder, and which culminated in 1290 when King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England. Turning to literary anti-Semitism, Julius shows that negative portrayals of Jews have been continuously present in English literature from the anonymous medieval ballad "Sir Hugh, or the Jew's Daughter," through... more Trials of the Diaspora is a ground-breaking book that reveals the full history of anti-Semitism in England. Anthony Julius focuses on four distinct versions of English anti-Semitism. He begins with the medieval persecution of Jews, which included defamation, expropriation, and murder, and which culminated in 1290 when King Edward I expelled all the Jews from England. Turning to literary anti-Semitism, Julius shows that negative portrayals of Jews have been continuously present in English literature from the anonymous medieval ballad "Sir Hugh, or the Jew's Daughter," through Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, to T. S. Eliot and beyond. The book then moves to a depiction of modern anti-Semitism--a pervasive but contained prejudice of insult and exclusion that was experienced by Jews during their "readmission" to England in the mid-17th century through the late 20th century. The final chapters detail the contemporary anti-Semitism that emerged in the late 1960s and the 1970s and continues to be present today. It treats Zionism and the State of Israel as illegitimate Jewish enterprises, and, in Julius's opinion, now constitutes the greatest threat to Anglo-Jewish security and morale. A penetrating and original work, Trials of the Diaspora is sure to provoke much comment and debate. less Abraham FoxmanOf all the books on Israel and the Middle East, for me, Conor Cruise O’Brien’s book is a classic. So, this is not about anti-Semitism but it will inoculate a lot of people against the anti-Semitism which morphs out of the anti-Israel/anti-Zionism. (Source)
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'Highly recommended . . . The title of the book reflects its focus: the international, political, religious, social, and diplomatic forces affecting the history of the Jews who identified with Zionism and later with the state of Israel.' "Library Journal"
'As Ireland's representative to United Nations discussions of Palestinian refugees, Conor Cruise O'Brien sat between Israel and Iraq . . . O'Brien now suggests that a solution to Middle East anguish may not even be possible. That so bleak a view is the basis for so enlightening a book can be attributed to the author's capabilities... more 'Highly recommended . . . The title of the book reflects its focus: the international, political, religious, social, and diplomatic forces affecting the history of the Jews who identified with Zionism and later with the state of Israel.' "Library Journal"
'As Ireland's representative to United Nations discussions of Palestinian refugees, Conor Cruise O'Brien sat between Israel and Iraq . . . O'Brien now suggests that a solution to Middle East anguish may not even be possible. That so bleak a view is the basis for so enlightening a book can be attributed to the author's capabilities as a historian, journalist and political analyst, not to mention storyteller.' "Time"
'One is hard pressed to recall another [book] which deals in depth with this vast and prickly subject that is as bold or as readable.' "Publishers Weekly"
'It bears the mark of a restless, original, idiosyncratic mind.' Abba Eban, "Los Angeles Times"
'A fine work of scholarship whose analysis stands up well in the light of later events.' Oliver Kamm, from his preface to this edition less Abraham FoxmanIn order to understand anti-Semitism in the English-speaking world you need to understand its growth and development in the UK. (Source)
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4
Here is the unparalleled account of the most awesome and awful chapter in the moral history of humanity. Lucid, chilling and comprehensive, Lucy S. Dawidowicz’s classic tells the complete story of the Nazi Holocaust–from the insidious evolution of German Anti-Semitism to the ultimate tragedy of the Final Solution. more Here is the unparalleled account of the most awesome and awful chapter in the moral history of humanity. Lucid, chilling and comprehensive, Lucy S. Dawidowicz’s classic tells the complete story of the Nazi Holocaust–from the insidious evolution of German Anti-Semitism to the ultimate tragedy of the Final Solution. less Abraham FoxmanIt’s a lucid, very well documented, easy to read and poignant history of anti-Semitism. It reads well, it’s done well. (Source)
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5
“A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives.”
—Chicago Tribune
Novelist, cultural critic & former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the 2000-year course of the Church’s battle against Judaism & faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life.
“Fascinating, brave & sometimes infuriating” (Time), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It's the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create “a deeply... more “A rare book that combines searing passion with a subject that has affected all of our lives.”
—Chicago Tribune
Novelist, cultural critic & former priest James Carroll marries history with memoir as he maps the 2000-year course of the Church’s battle against Judaism & faces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life.
“Fascinating, brave & sometimes infuriating” (Time), this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It's the central tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reaching deep into our culture to create “a deeply felt work” (San Francisco Chronicle) as Carroll wrangles with centuries of strife & tragedy to reach a courageous & affecting reckoning with difficult truths. less Abraham FoxmanAnti-Semitism in Western civilisation was unfortunately grounded in religion, in Christianity, and that legitimised it and that gave it an OK, so Constantine’s Sword is, I would say, the most authoritative history, by a former Jesuit priest, as to the antecedents, the roots of anti-Semitism in Western society. (Source)
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