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

by Garfinkle, Adam

• ISBN13: 9780470198568
• ISBN10: 0470198567
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-08-31
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A wise and wide-ranging explanation of never-ending exaggerationby both philo-Semites and anti-Semitesabout the JewsHamas 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 successand 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.

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: Jewcentricity Defined	p. 1
Jewcentricity in History
Chosen	p. 9
On Philo-Semitism	p. 31
Anti-Semitism, Properly Understood	p. 52
Jewcentricity Globalized	p. 71
Jewcentricity in America
Jewcentricity Central	p. 93
The Two Religions of American Jews	p. 110
Adjewlation: Jews in American Celebrity Culture	p. 128
Meet the JACs	p. 147
Professional Jews	p. 164
Self-Hating Jews	p. 183
Jewcentricity in the Middle East
The Anti-Israel Lobby	p. 205
The (Non)-Centrality of the Arab-Israeli Conflict	p. 222
Muslim Jewcentricity	p. 241
Post-Zionism	p. 261
Epilogue: Now What?	p. 277
Notes	p. 281
Index	p. 293
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