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A long and troubling history from the middle ages to the 21st Century. Sure to provoke much comment and debate, this serves as a timely reminder that English culture has been in no way immune to anti-Semitism, and in certain ways is still not to this day.
Anthony Julius identifies four distinct versions of English anti-Semitism, which he then investigates in detail. The first is the anti-Semitism of medieval England, a radical prejudice of defamation, expropriation, and murder, which culminated in 1290, the year of Edward I’s expulsion of the Jews from England, after which there were no Jews left to torment. The second major strand is literary anti-Semitism, an anti-Semitic account of Jews reappearing in English literature, from the anonymous medieval ballad ‘Sir Hugh, or the Jew’s Daughter’ through Shakespeare to Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot, and beyond. Thirdly, Julius addresses modern anti-Semitism, a quotidian anti-Semitism of insult and partial exclusion, pervasive but contained, experienced by Jews from their ‘readmission’ to England in the mid-17th century through to the late 20th century. The final chapters then deal with contemporary anti-Semitism, a new configuration of anti-Zionism, emerging in the late 1960s and the 1970s. which treats Zionism and the State of Israel as illegitimate Jewish enterprises. It is this final perspective which, in Julius’ opinion, now constitutes the greatest threat to Anglo-Jewish security and morale. “This is an essential history and so it’s fortunate it has been written by a man with the extraordinary fluency, staggering erudition, scholarly integrity, intellectual acumen, and moral discernment of Anthony Julius.”
Philip Roth “Anthony Julius has produced a brilliant and readable account of a shameful stain on the national reputation. The best dissection I’ve seen of Britain’s oldest and least acknowledged racial prejudice.”
Nick Cohen “Part history of an irrational hatred, part forensic analysis of a sophisticated lie, part literary criticism, this exhilarating work nails a defamation which, to humanity’s discredit, persists to this hour. Indispensable.”
Howard Jacobson “Writing against a backdrop of rising violence and abuse directed at English Jews and the State of Israel, Anthony Julius insightfully and passionately traces anti-Semitism’s abject history in England from the medieval period until today. This eminently readable book is thoroughly researched and nuanced, and its take on contemporary anti-Semitism is a true tour de force.”
Jehuda Reinharz, Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and President, Brandeis University
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