Jewcentricity de Adam Garfinkle

Jewcentricity: Why the Jews Are Praised, Blamed, and Used to Explain Just about Everything

Adam Garfinkle

Vezi toate premiile Carte premiată

National Jewish Book Award (2009)

A wise and wide–ranging explanation of never–ending exaggeration–by both philo–Semites and anti–Semites–about the Jews Hamas blames the financial crisis on Jews. Mel Gibson blamed all the wars on Jews. Jews win a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes. Dishy Danish citizen Scarlett Johansson is Jewish, Madonna is into Jewish mysticism, and some claim that Abe Lincoln was Jewish. Who cares? Nearly everyone, it seems. If it′s about Jews, it′s news. Adam Garfinkle looks deeply into the world′s obsession with Jews, positive as well as negative, to find answers about where it comes from and where it might be going. He identifies four categories of exaggeration about Jews: positive bias by Jews and non–Jews, and negative bias by Jews and non–Jews. Combining insights from history, sociology, religion, and international politics, he explains how a misunderstanding of strategies that have kept the Jewish Diaspora going for millennia have led to distortions about Jewish influence, intelligence, and success–and to charges of chauvinism, financial manipulation, and conspiratorial lever–pulling. Adam Garfinkle (Washington, DC) is the founding editor of the American Interest, a bimonthly magazine on politics and public affairs. Formerly a speechwriter for both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Garfinkle has taught international relations at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Tel Aviv University.

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Advance Praise for Jewcentricity "Adam Garfinkle punctures the myth of the omnipotence of the Jews with such intelligence and reflective sweep that we still can go on discussing the ′exaggerations′ forever."—Leslie H. Gelb, former columnist for the New York Times and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations "Jews, as the saying goes, are news. Why is that? In this elegant, witty, learned, insightful, always interesting, and occasionally alarming book, Adam Garfinkle explains the world′s fascination with the practitioners of its oldest mono–theistic religion."—Michael Mandelbaum, author of Democracy′s Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World′s Oldest Form of Government "One would have thought that everything that could be written or said about the relationship between Jews and their environment has been written and said. It was a pleasure, though hardly a surprise, that Adam Garfinkle, thinker, scholar, editor, and iconoclast at large, has been able to offer us fresh insights into this complex issue and apply his original mind to the subject matter."—Itamar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former president of Tel–Aviv University "There is a lot to argue about and ponder in this riveting manuscript. It is bound to cause a stir."—Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite "One way of looking at this brilliant book is to see it as an extended commentary on an old joke that defines a philo–Semite as an anti–Semite who likes Jews. Garfinkle shows, with many examples, what both characters have in common—a wildly exaggerated notion of the importance of Jews in the world. Garfinkle′s argument is scholarly, lucid, witty, and very persuasive. It deserves a wide readership."—Peter L. Berger, director, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University

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Cuprins

Preface. Introduction: Jewcentricity Defined. Part One Jewcentricity in History. 1 Chosen. 2 On Philo–Semitism. 3 Anti–Semitism, Properly Understood. 4 Jewcentricity Globalized. Part Two Jewcentricity in America. 5 Jewcentricity Central. 6 The Two Religions of American Jews. 7 Adjewlation: Jews in American Celebrity Culture. 8 Meet the JACs. 9 Professional Jews. 10 Self–Hating Jews. Part Three Jewcentricity in the Middle East. 11 The Anti–Israel Lobby. 12 The (Non)–Centrality of the Arab–Israeli Conflict. 13 Muslim Jewcentricity. 14 Post–Zionism. Epilogue: Now What? Notes. Index.

Notă biografică

Adam Garfinkle is the founding editor of the American Interest, a bimonthly magazine on politics, culture, and international affairs. Prior to that he served as a speechwriter for secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. He has also taught at Johns Hopkins University′s School of Advanced International Studies, the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, and Tel Aviv University.