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Blakeslee examines the history and current status of Jews and antisemitism in the United States to reveal what we know of antisemitism and the ways in which this knowledge is seriously flawed. He explores the significant historical role antisemitism played in the formation of Jewish advocacy organizations and the subsequent success they enjoyed over several decades of publicly combating antisemitism. He then examines three specific incidents in the 1990s and the ways the advocacy organizations responded.
Antisemitic attitudes and incidents in the United States have dropped steadily since the post World War II revelations about the Holocaust. While antisemitism has not disappeared entirely from the American scene, it has dwindled to the point where the Anti-Defamation League considers the average American not antisemitic. Blakeslee probes why, if this statement is accurate-and prevailing statistics suggest it is-prominent Jewish advocacy organizations continue to lavish so much attention and money on an issue of little actual significance. A provocative study for all sociologists, researchers, and concerned lay people involved with the heated debate over antisemitism, Jewish identity, assimilation, Black-Jewish relations, and organizational studies.
List of contents
Preface
Introduction
Jews, America and Antisemitism
Measuring Antisemitism: Fifty Years of Decline
The History and Structure of the Jewish Advocacy Organizations
The American Jewish Committee
The Anti-Defamation League
The American Jewish Congress
The Jewish Community Relations Council
A Collective Portrait of the Jewish Advocacy Organizations
Three Antisemitic Incidents; Incident Number One--Nation of Islam distorts a Black/Jewish Historical Exhibit
Incident Number Two --Antisemitic Book Is Used to teach Black History;
Incident Number Three --Minister Louis Farrakhan
Antisemitism, America's Jews and the Future
Bibliography
Index
About the author
SPENCER BLAKESLEE teaches sociology at Framingham State College./e Professor Blakeslee has published essays on the Holocaust, Jewish traditions, and Black-Jewish relations. He was coordinator of The Boston Holocaust Study Group from 1993-1998
