Rating: 
Summary: THE AUTHORS MAIN PREMISE IS THAT JEWS ARE HATED DUE TO ENVY!
Review: i did not like the book, because what the authors were saying is that jews are hated mainly due to envy! the following are direct quotes from the book. 1. From recorded beginnings of Jewish history until modern age, Jews never asked, "Why the Jews?" They know exactly why. Throughout their history Jews have regarded Jew-hatred as an inevitable consequence of their Jewishness. The age-old Jewish understanding of anti-Semitism does posit a universal reason for Jew-hatred: JUDAISM. 2. Anti-Semites have hated Jews because Jews are Jewish. Christian anti-Semites ceased hating rich Jews when they became Christians. 3. The ultimate cause of anti-Semitism is that which has made Jews Jewish - JUDAISM, 4. JUDAISM has held from the earliest time that the Jews were chosen by God to achieve the mission of perfecting the world. This doctrine of the Jews' Devin election has been a major cause of anti-Semitism. 5. As a result of the Jews' commitment to JUDAISM, they have led higher qualify lives than their non-Jewish neighbors in almost every society in which they have lived. This higher quality of life among Jews, which, as we shall show, directly results from JUDAISM, has challenged non-Jews and provoked profound envy and hostility. In this way too, JUDAISM has been the source of anti-Semitism. 6. Once we perceive that it is JUDAISM which is the root cause of antisemitism, otherwise irrational and inexplicable aspects of anti-Semitism become rationally explicable. 7. The Nazis simply maintained that the Jews could never really become non-Jews, that no matter how much Jews may consciously attempt to appear and behave like non-Jews, they nevertheless retain the values of JUDAISM. Nazi anti-Jewish "racism" emanated from hatred of JUDAIM. 8. The generally higher quality of Jews' lives, as exemplified by the stability of the family life, significantly lower rates of intoxication and wife beating, higher education, greater professional success, much less violent crime, and greater communal solidarity, has been due solely to millennia of adherence to Jewish law, and provoked profoundly ambivalent reactions from non-Jews. 9. Another Jewish belief has further inflamed anti-Semitic passions throughout Jewish history, that the Jews are the Chosen People - that of all the nations of the world God has chosen them to be His messengers to mankind...the church leaders did not deny Jewish chosenness; rather they so believed in it that they sought to appropriate it to themselves. Islam did the same thing. Muhammed did not deny the chosenness of Abraham; he simply called Abraham a Muslim. 10. At a time when nearly all Christian and Muslim men, and certainly women, were illiterate, nearly all Jewish men and women could read and write, and many of them achieved high levels of knowledge. ...This Jewish passion for study in turn helps to explain why Jews have the highest income of any ethnic group in the United States, earning 72% more than the national average. .....This unique intellectual achievement is due solely and directly to JUDAISM.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing and thoughtful
Review: I read the 2003 version of this book, which is similar to the 1983 original but has a new introduction, a number of minor changes and includes a useful new 16-page chapter called "Eight Lies about Israel."
According to the book, "the questions for those wishing to understand the roots of antisemitism are not whether some Jews helped execute a fellow Jew two thousand years ago, or how great a role Jews played in the German economy, or how many Arabs fled Israel in 1948." The questions are why antisemites are hostile to Jews and invent reasons for their hostility. Prager and Telushkin come up with four answers. First, an inability to abide ethical monotheism in general and Judaism specifically. Second, an insistence on ascribing great significance to the concept of Jewish "chosenness." Third, resentment of the high quality of Jewish life. And fourth, an eagerness to blame Jews in general for the policies of non-Jewish Jews, coupled with an eagerness to praise non-Jewish Jews for their attacks on Judaism.
These conclusions are not at all obvious. For example, hostility to Jews might be caused primarily by Jews being different, easy to identify, and relatively weak. I think this book has tended to exaggerate the importance of Jews per se as targets and that a comparison might be in order with other minorities.
Nevertheless, Prager and Telushkin have some evidence to support each of their assertions and to rebut those who disagree. For example, Jewish opposition to Fascism and to other tyrannies is a part of Jewish ethics and traditions. This has made opposition to Jews from tyrants anything but accidental. In any case, it is not mere semantics to say that antisemtism is primarily related to Judaism and Jewish life rather than being a specific case of a more general phenomenon that has little if anything to do with Jews at all. The arguments in the book are careful and well reasoned.
Prager and Telushkin supply five types of remedies to the problem of antisemitism. One is assimilation, which might help some individual Jews but will not solve the problem for the antisemites or their remaining victims. A second is Zionism, which provides a refuge, a homeland, and self-respect for Jews but once again does not solve the problem for the antisemites or for their new target of Israel. A third is to seek plenty of converts, which, if successful, would indeed mollify the effects of antisemitism even if the many people remained antisemitic. A fourth is to deal with the problem symptomatically, using force to suppress attacks on Jews. Again, this could not be a long-term solution. The fifth approach is to educate people in ethical behavior. A population that values truth, justice, and human rights will be less susceptible to antisemitism. Prager and Telushkin say that this means improving moral values of people in general. It is an interesting and thought-provoking idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Still doesn't answer the question
Review: I read this book and still didn't come away with a clear understanding as to why some people are anti-semites. The authors put forth the theory that anti-semitism exists because Judaism (the religion itself) follows it's own set of peculiar customs and rules that are immutable; that is, no matter how hard one asks, cajoles, discriminates against, or tortures a Jew they will never truly conform to the edicts of any other religion besides Judaism.
This theory is all well and good if you are an intellectual who understands that the Jews have been immovable in their customs and their belief that they are "God's chosen people" since the beginning of time. This theory does make sense as to why people could hate them. But this theory is lacking to me, in the sense that NON-intellectuals (i.e. anti-semite Joe Sixpack) doesn't know (mostly) jack about the Jews religion and could probably care less that religion is what makes a Jew a Jew. I have tried to understand why such hatred against Jews exists. From what I have gleaned on my own, the causes seem to be jealousy over the Jews uncanny knack to be prosperous, an unpleasant demeanor, oh, and a secret Jewish cabal intent on taking over the world. I have never had cause to feel anything towards Jews because I have never really been around them. But a lot of other non-intellectuals sure do seem to dislike Jews. I have a stereotype of Jews - does the anti-semitism that emanates from other people based on just the Jew stereotype, or do these people have a real reason to hate?
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting book to read but doesn't contain all the answers
Review: I read this book some years ago. I think this book could be good to have, especially if your library is sprase, because it comntains a discussion of a lot of things. It is not necessarily the final word on everythimng it days. I think the authors fail to explain anti-semtism, but then I don't know idf too many people could. The book seems to proceed from the premise that there is a msytery - why does all this stuff happen - let's say it happens for whatever reason - with Jews. It does not really answer that question at all, I think, if I remember right. I think it is posisble to give a one word answer: plagiarism. In our modern atmosphere of copyright protection, people can lose sight of how much people writing things lreft to their devices would simply copy or apprpriate what other people have written. People who see advantage in spreading lies do not necessarily have all that much imagaination, so they steal lies other people have told many years before about Jews, and that is the simple anxwer. Although there may be other complexities, and other reaosns buried in history, that is one way of looking at this.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: If one wishes to better understand anti-Semitism this book is a must. To understand anti-Semitism you need to know more about the Jews and thier religion. Unfortunately it appears that as long as thier are Jews there will be anti-Semitism. Fortuantely Jewish values and the appreciation of them by both Jews and non-Jews holds the solution to this longest hatrid.
Rating:
Summary: Provides a quick yet informative understanding
Review: If you are curious and seek some real knowledge on the subject, the book is a must read. The book goes well beyond what is commonly said and written about Antisemitism. The authors do an excellent job explaining the root cause of hatred against Jews in a way that both Jews and Non-jews can digest. Admittedly, the book can be "trying" at times as it describes atrocities and documents what, unfortunately, intelligent and influential people have said to spread hatred against Jews. It offers little about those who have condemned the hatred. Also, I wish the last chapter "What is to be done?" could be more definitive and uplifting. I'm not asking for a happy, feel-good ending, just some hope. The book left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth. The feeling is that the hatred continues in the wake of post-September 11th rhetoric against the West, Americans, and, big surprise, the Jews.
Rating:
Summary: a touch question
Review: in my studying antisemitism from ancient times to the current day, i was always disturbed by a gap in the questioning. i know where, when, how, and by whom the jews have been mistreated, but none of the 8+ texts my class drew from asked the tough question of "why?". this books goes into the why, and ut makes a good case. it is written with great clarity and enough history that one may read it without prior advanced study in the history of anti-semitism. wonderful for both the academic setting and interested laypersons.
Rating:
Summary: Incisive, no-"B.S." treatment of a sensitive topic
Review: One of my favourites! Like all that Prager has a hand in, this book cuts through all the emotions that may be attached to antisemitism and takes a good look at its roots, going all the way back to Biblical times. Most importantly, though, this book is *constructive*. Prager and Telushkin are not just looking for sympathy here; they leave the reader with the hope that there may be a solution.
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Summary: another fanciful view of Jews and anti-Semitism
Review: Part Two of Why the Jews? is supposed to "document the thesis that Judaism, with its distinctiveness and moral challenge, is at the root of Jew-hatred." This thesis is silly. As Kevin MacDonald has explained, the basis for anti-Semitism is economic and/or reproductive competition between Jews and gentiles. This book is another attempt to obscure that simple fact. The book is poorly reasoned, as many of the authors' arguments work just as well (or just as poorly) to explain the enduring Jewish hostility toward gentiles -- which they sweep under the rug. In short, this is another piece of self-deceptive apologia, valuable only for the fact that it provides another confirmation of Jewish propaganda efforts through control of a large percentage of the communications media. Prager and Telushkin announce (p. 191) the following "solution to anti-semitism": "... if the goal is to put an end to antisemitism, then Jews must also attempt to influence the moral values of non-Jews so that no aspect of Judaism any longer threatens the non-Jews' values." Theodor Herzl said "I find the anti-Semites are fully within their rights" -- and, of course, they are, as anti-Semitism is nothing more complicated than the counterpart of anti-gentilism. By overlooking this anti-gentilism, the authors have produced a book whose theses are sadly divorced from reality.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Answers to Tough Questions
Review: Prager and Telushkin compile a brief but illuminating history of antisemitism, address and dispense the common explanantions and then offer a unique persepctive. Antisemitism predated Christianity but accellerated in intensity throughout the early Christain church history, the Reformation (Hitler took many cues from Martin Luther), and more surprisingly the Renaissance, and the rise of socialism and communism. Hitler was so successful because of the universal accesptance of European antisemitsm attracting so many willing accessories in Poland and Russia. The authors examine economic scapegoating, jealousy, myths of wealth and world domination- but returns to specific beliefs in Judaism that make them suspect in the eyes of two millineums of rulers. The belief in one god, adhearence the their own laws (the Torah), the largely misunderstood concept of the "Chosen: and their unique tie to Israel. Their commitment left them isolated and unconquerable. This infuriated history's despots and continues to do so in the Middle East Today. Myths of the blood libel (drinking the blood of murdered Christian and Arab children)and world domination (Protocols of the Elders of Zion)were repeated and accepted, and continue to be spread as the truth in the Arab world today. The epilogue equates the current hatred of the Jews with the common hatred of the United States in the world community. They also warn the non Jews that this hatred always extends beyond the Jewish People themselves to their ideals which is largely embodied in the American Principles.
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