Esau's Tears : Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews

Rating:
Summary: Rationalization of antisemitism
Review: Author Albert Lindemann has written a history of anti-Semitism that attempts to explain some of the animosity towards Jews, without blaming Jews for that animosity. He argues that books like Hitler's Willing Executioners are polemical in nature trying to convince people what an awful thing "hate" is without giving an objective view of what the tensions between Jews and Gentiles are all about. Lindemann looks at the ambivalence of attitudes towards Jews of many of the people labelled wholly anti-Semitic by later historians. Lindemann certainly does not believe that there was a rise of anti-Semitism from the late 1800s on that culminated with the Holocaust that many other historians attest to. He says the World War 2 itself opened up opportunities for the Nazis to implement the Holocaust. Lindemann believes in the Holocaust and the death count of six million Jews, but he also gives some examples of Jews sometimes exaggerating atrocities against them in other cases.

Lindemann is willing to admit that the unethical behavior of some Jews causes anti-Semitism and anti-Semites are not suffering from delusional fantasies, as is often claimed. He says that anti-Semites get their views from reality and then also exaggerate with a mix of fantasy also. He thinks that Jews since the Enlightenment has helped modernize the economy of different nations, working in the professions. He says the rise of Jews brought with it corruption, but also progress, and you cannot have one without the other. He says that many a complaint of anti-Semites are plausible, but not justifiable. He could have elaborated some more on what he meant by that statement.

Lindemann also gives examples of Jews in the press mocking the culture of the "commoners", such as in turn of the century Vienna and examples of some Jews stating that they wish to make the culture around them more Jewish since some consider themselves "a light unto the nations". Lindemann also goes over the issue of Jews being over-represented in positions of cultural influence, financial crimes, radical and subversive movements, draft-dodging, and other things that irritate anti-Semites; he gives plausible reasons as to why that is, such as high verbal intelligence and being disloyal to host countries that did not treat them well. Some of the anti-Semites' complaints can be attributed to envy and rivalry, knowing that these former Jewish losers are winning against the Gentiles.

Rating:
Summary: scholarly but readable
Review: I really enjoyed this book and feel it has greatly deepened my understanding of anti-semitism in Europe before WWII. Still, there were a few disappointing things.

First, it did not cover the psychology of anti-semitism in any detail. I am firmly convinced that the separation demanded by Jewish religion is the primary cause of anti-semitism, simply because of the implied insult to the majority culture. At the same time, that separation is essential to Jewish continuity, pride, and the resulting success. The he pride and success in turn contribute to anti-semitism, but would not be a problem without the continuing choice to remain separate. If Jews would stop being separate, they would gradually stop being hated, but they would no longer be Jews, either. It's an uncomfortable situation for Jews, dealt with mostly by denying that there is any inherent insult in the traditional refusal to socialize, eat together, and intermarry. I sympathize, because Judaism is a beautiful tradition and has a coherent message if you accept the principle of separation. Lindemann covers this indirectly in pointing out that Jews were generally less hated where they accepted the majority culture more, such as in Hungary, Italy, and the US.

Second, I found the book a bit long-winded and repetitive, but I guess that was part of his point: that there needs to be a truly detailed, analytical, and comparative examination of anti-semitism in the various countries of Europe and how those changed in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

Third, I was disappointed that very little mention was made of the Armenian Genocide, which occurred in exactly the years he studies. He even mentions the Turks several times, but not the Genocide. Talk about wonderful comparative material! It just doesn't get any better: ancient minority of different religion, language, and "race", rises dramatically both socially and economically, then is massacred by insecure majority during a time of social and political turbulence. Exactly the same dynamics.

Let me see if I can summarize Lindemann's points (which would probably horrify him because he's fighting over-simplification):

1. Most study of anti-semitism ignores possible Jewish causes. 2. Some anti-semitism was a response to real Jewish actions. 3. Dispassionate analysis of anti-semitism is itself seen as anti-semitic.

I think that's all basically true....

Rating:
Summary: Must Reading for Understanding Our World
Review: Lindemann demonstrates quite convincingly why antisemitism hasso often occurred where Jews have taken up residence. The process isinteractive, and the result is variegated, sometimes transitory and sometimes violent. The cliches (i.e., "envious Gentiles") are fully dispelled and replace with compelling and nuanced insights.

At nearly 600 pages Esau's Tears is more than historical analysis--it is packed with perceptive views on culture, people, ideas, writings and events of the modern period. Early into this engrossing work I realized that one cannot possibly understand our world and society without the prism of Jewish-Gentile relations as the definitive perspective. Esau's Tears is surely the best book to provide that.

It also serves as a counter-weight to recent polemical excesses, such as "Hitler's Willing Executioners," and steers us back from the emotive, ahistorical ruminations of others. At this critical point in the dialogue, Lindemann offers a dose of sense, logic and evidence. Esau's Tears is so temperate and balanced, in fact, that I honestly could not decide whether its author was Jewish or Gentile until well into it.

Lindemann's style is clear, engaging and far above the expected academic norm as a pleasurable experience. At times he writes provocatively, yet always with sensitivity and fairness.

I was disappointed only in Lindemann's omission of a few topics of my own interest, such as his take the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and why it found an audience. I would have liked to learn more on modern Christian antisemitism. Yet, even with these few gaps, Esau's Tears is a masterpiece, and rarely have I been sorrier to reach the conclusion of any book. In sum it is probably the best historical study I've ever read.

Rating:
Summary: called 'deeply pernicious' by most respected authority
Review: The title, as one other reader said, is a giveaway that this author has a strange attitude about antisemitism. Esau cried when Jacob, one of the founders of Judaism, 'stole' his birthright. As the title implies, so the theme of the book: Jewish success and competition causes others to hate them. While this is undoubtedly one factor in antisemitism, no respected authority in the field gives it dominance over the teaching of hate by the Church, the need of dictators for scapegoats, or how societies mistreat helpless subgroups.

For of course, there are many elite groups in society whose success invites both emulation and envy (the rich, celebreties, sports heros, old money etc) without leading to conspiracy theories and murderous movements towards those successful people.

Robert Wistrich ("Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred") is one of the most respected authorities today on antisemitism. His review of this books says, "... in this deeply pernicious book. Although some chapters are more balanced than others, Lindemann's presentation throughout is marked not only by sympathy for the arguments of anti-Semites but by an undisguised antipathy toward Judaism and Jews. It is appalling that Cambridge University Press has put its distinguished imprint on so profoundly biased and ignominious a work.

Rating:
Summary: Honest effort
Review: This is a scholarly work on the origin and nature of anti-semitism and its history from the 1870's to the eve of the holocaust. It very efficiently refutes the failed interpretations of the Jewish apologists, whose claim that it is a causeless, inexplicable pathology of the non-Jews--independent of anything the Jews do, or even of their very presence, and is rooted in the Christian theology of deicide. It is, according to these morons, the province of a primitive impulse of the ignorant, something like the primitive's unreasoned abhorrence for ghosts and goblins.

Lindemann painstakingly shows the real complexity of the phenomenon, varying in time and place. He effectively proves that it is just another manifestation of the interaction of distinct peoples, with its quite understandable jealousies and hatreds brought on by competition for the goods of capitalism and modernity. There is nothing transcendental or ineffable about it, and can be understood by anyone able to think dispassionately and are susceptible to the arguments of the historical science. Most of what is written about it today, colored as it is by the propaganda of the holocaust, he persuasively claims, is the hooey of hysterics and the balderdash of the self-deceived. Moving decisively away from the by now traditional, emotional recitation of the injustice found in their over-worked narrative, toward a reasoned view enlightened by facts and data, he rises above such unreasoned nonsense and so will surely be accused of anti-semitism himself.

I especially appreciated his analysis of the phenomenon in Russia, and the background for the pogrom in Kishenev, is described in some detail. I was amazed to read how the Jews greatly exaggerated their claims, hoping for greater compensation from the West, which Lindemann is unafraid to relate.

His tools and method of analysis unfortunately ignores the important insights afforded by evolutionary psychology, a la Kevin MacDonald in his three volume series. Read together, they usefully complement one another.

His writing style, while rather that of an academic, is quite lucid and the material is well organized. This is a big book, perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be, but it is a serious antidote to all the baloney written on this topic, and the interested reader will be well rewarded by the exposure to an honest treatment of it.

Rating:
Summary: Esau and Jacob
Review: This is an extremely informative, indeed illuminating, agree or not, perspective on the history, and modern version, of antisemitism that would go well with a series of other accounts and points of view. This area tends to be written about by writers in a state of shock over the Holocaust, sometimes the analysis is a series of abstractions, too frequently incorrect generalizations. The problem is never understood, a genuine curse on two religions, and finally a whole civilization, western history's catastrophe. Here the author takes us from the early Jews in Alexandria in Ptolematic times, to the often fact-poor tale of the nineteenth century antisemitic complexities. Some might not appreciate this point of view, but I think it is one that is a dose of realism.

Rating:
Summary: lucid, frank, serious, informative
Review: This is the second book by Albert Lindemann i read - again with pleasure. Being a professional historian, he's also a gifted, even talanted writer and philosopher. He has his own, very recognizable style, sometimes witty and aphoristic, sometimes deep and thoughtful.

The book touches upon many "uncomfortable" issues, especially for a Jew, because any Jew, who attempts to come up with some more balanced approach to those issues, is immediately labeled "self-hating".

Fortunately, Lindemann's credentials as a historian let his voice be heard, even if there are attempts to discredit his work. What is especially attractive, Lindemann never degrades himself (neither in his books nor in the exchanges on the Internet) by indulging in acrimony and accusations, so pervasive in writings of his opponents.

To appreciate Lindemann's depth as a philosopher, one only needs to read the last chapter of this book, "Epilogue and Conclusions". It deserves, to my taste, to be published separately, as a very profound essay of Jewish history and their position in the modern world.

I found chapters about Jews in Italy, about history of fascism in that country, especially interesting, but the chapters on Russian Revolution and Nazi Germany also contain many interesting facts about such supposedly well-known figures like Trotsky and Hitler.

Here's a quote from the last chapter of Lindemann's book: "My inspiration ... is captured in the deceptively simple words of a famous Jew, Baruch Spinoza: "With regard to human affairs, not to laugh, not to cry, not to become indignant, but to understand."