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Review
| A Concise History of American Antisemitism, by Robert Michael. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. 231 pages. $24.95, paper.
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| In this introductory overview, Robert Michael, an historian of antisemitism and the Holocaust, argues that "the single most potent and effective cause" of antisemitism in the United States has been "religious antagonism." (p. 5) Although he does not deny that "other factors," such as "economic jealousy, social competition, political conflict, nativist hostility, and racist ideas all played a role," he insists that "from the time of the earliest settlements in North America through the mid-twentieth century, religious motives were in themselves all that was needed for the establishment of anti-Jewish bigotry." The subtitle of the introductory chapter, "The United States Is above All Things a Christian Nation," sums up his thesis. In well-documented detail based on his extensive knowledge of the sources, Michael's first chapter clearly outlines, the Christian historic and ideological antagonism toward Jews. Subsequent chapters take a chronological order beginning with the colonies and continuing to contemporary times. However, while his treatment of American antisemitism is well documented, the sources used are selective and the argument is often reductionist. In American history, antisemitism, as elsewhere in the world, has generally occurred in times of crisis. In the United States, it has been complicated by attitudes toward racial, religious, and ethnic minorities. In other words, Jews have been one target among many. |
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From the earliest arrival of Jews in North America, they were categorized with other groups. New Amsterdam Governor Peter Stuyvesant, for example, may have thought Jews vile, but he opposed other Christian groups as well. Michael recognizes that many early American political leaders, including George Washington, respected Jews, although most states restricted Jewish political participation. For the troubled Civil War period his coverage reflects scholarship in the field. He is also correct in arguing that, although legal disabilities were removed for Jews in the nineteenth century, they failed to attain full social equality. In this century he concludes that the primary basis for a lack of full social equality lay with the Christian origins of America—that is, deficient, but "polite" antisemitism had more substantial origins than "the image of the Jew as Satan's ally, as the Antichrist, as the murderer, as the betrayer, as Shylock and Fagin." (p. 69) Interethnic rivalry, concerns over social status, and economic competition can be seen as more plausible explanations for attacks by Irish Catholic factory workers on a rabbi's funeral cortege than Michael's speculation that these immigrants "may have absorbed the image of the Jew as Judas in Ireland and brought it with them to America." (p. 99) |
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Moving to the period between the two World Wars, Michael's contends that antisemitism "was more widespread and profound than ever before in American history," (p. 127) and this is indisputable. His coverage of the eugenics movement and calls for restrictions against Jewish immigration is well-balanced, but his argument that "the Klan was the first organized American anti-Jewish movement, although it attacked Blacks and Catholics as well" (p. 137) is flawed. Most historians would argue that, although Klan rhetoric and its involvement in the Leo Frank lynching connoted a frightening period for American Jews, Blacks and Catholics, not Jews, were the center of the Klan's attention. |
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In his chapter on the Holocaust Michael builds his most convincing case for the existence of American antisemitism but not all of his arguments are valid. In a seven point analysis, he effectively challenges an article that suggests mere pragmatic reasons for American failure to help the Jews of Europe during World War II. In the rest of the chapter, however, his argument falters badly. The accusation that President Franklin D. Roosevelt "avoided the realities of the Jewish catastrophe based on his own antisemitism" (p. 187) is absurd. His argument that American officials—supported by the Congress, the press, and public opinion—went out of their way to ensure that the Jews would be trapped in Europe," (p. 190) ignores the economic and political realities of the period. In his concluding chapter, Michael sees reason for optimism in evidence of recent declines in antisemitic sentiment. |
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Taking the book as a whole, it can be said that it is clearly written and that the author is correct in stating that political, social, or economic conflict can precipitate antisemitic attacks but that he over simplifies the possibility by singling out only its Christian origins of America. The complexity of race and ethnic relations in the United States is depicted in some sections, and the chapters on the European origins of antisemitism and the first part on the American response to the Holocaust are exemplary. However, for classroom use, Michael's mono-causal thesis would have to be supplemented with materials that depict a broader perspective on attitudes toward Jews in America. |
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| California State University, Long Beach |
Arlene Lazarowitz |
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