Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism, by Kevin B. MacDonald. 1998. AuthorHouse, Indiana

Jews Who Believed Jews Were a Race. Voluntary Jewish Conversions Before the Forced Conversions of 1391 Spain. Jews in Hollywood Resource

This is essentially a scholarly reference work. It contains hundreds of references for further study. Because there is so much information in this book, I touch on a few items of interest:

SOME LEADING JEWS ALSO THOUGHT OF JEWS AS A RACE

Kevin MacDonald sees a group competition, between Jews and gentiles, in evolutionary terms. The author sees anti-Semitism as a gentile imitation of what Jews have always been practicing. Anti-Semitism in the USA is weak, because American gentiles have weak group cohesion. The opposite extreme was Nazi Germany. Interestingly, exclusionary racial theories did not begin with the Nazis. There were many Jews, of the time, that likewise believed that Jews were a separate race. (pp. 149-on). These included Benjamin Disraeli, Heinrich Heine, Felix Theilhaber, and many others.

EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SPANISH INQUISITION

Jewishness is far more than religion. For instance, in Columbus-era Spain, many converted Jews (New Christians and conversos) retained ties with other Jews, and maintained the economic practices of unconverted Jews. (p. 122, 126). In addition, many Jews had converted to Christianity before the forced conversions of 1391. (p. 124). Otherwise, crypto-Jews were a common feature in history. (p. 182).

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

The author assesses the long historical Christian antagonism to Jews as follows, “Late Roman Christianity therefore is characterized not only by traits that are mirror images of Judaism (i. e., its collectivist group structure and its deep sense of ingroups and outgroups); it is also characterized by traits that are the exact opposite of Judaism (i. e., universalism and a tendency to de-emphasize ethnicity and material and reproductive success). (p. 110).

JEWS AND HOLLYWOOD

The author presents a staggering amount of information about the Jewish dominance of Hollywood. (p. 85). He also believes that Jews have been skilled at disguising their interests in terms of the interests of societies at large. (pp. 195-196).