Jewcentricity

If it's about Jews, it's news. From celebrities' conspiracy theories to American presidential candidates railing against anti-Semitism to the occasional news factoid that some person of interest has just discovered heretofore unknown Jewish relatives, nearly everyone wants to talk about it. Are the Jews God's chosen people? Many, Jews and non-Jews alike, think so-and about what other group is that question even asked?§Why is a tiny group of people who, for nearly two millennia, had no land to call their own the object of so much outsized and fanciful belief, both negative and positive? In Jewcentricity, Adam Garfinkle takes readers on a wry and learned tour of the world's obsessions with Jews. Hamas blames the financial crisis on Jews. Iranian television claims that the Harry Potter books and movies are a Ziono-Hollywood conspiracy. Mel Gibson blamed all the wars in history on the Jews. Jews win a disproportionate number of Nobel prizes, and arguments over the sources of supposed superior Jewish intelligence go on without end. Dishy actress Scarlett Johansson is Jewish, Madonna is into what some have told her is Jewish mysticism, and some claim that Abe Lincoln was Jewish.§Who cares? Way too many people, it seems. Drawing on insights from history, philosophy, religion, and social science, Adam Garfinkle explains how the strategies that kept Diaspora Jewry going for millennia have led many non-Jews to accuse Jews of chauvinism, secrecy, trickery, and conspiratorial lever-pulling, and to envy them for many of the same and other supposed talents.§Garfinkle divides the sources of grandiose claims about the Jews into four groups: anti-Semites, philo-Semites, Jewish chauvinists, and so-called self-hating Jews. He traces the origins and history of the most common myths about Jews and reveals how these impossible exaggerations, both positive and negative, feed off of and perpetuate each other.§Complete with a thoughtful and detailed examination of how to recognize the difference between mere anti-Jewish sentiment and genuine anti-Semitism, Jewcentricity is the ultimate field guide to paranoid, romantic, diabolical, boastful, well-intentioned, and murderous misinformation about Jews. A wise and wide-ranging explanation of never-ending exaggeration-by both philo-Semites and anti-Semites-about the Jews§Hamas 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 success-and 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. Advance Praise for Jewcentricity§"Adam Garfinkle punctures the myth of the omnipotence of the Jews with such intelligence and reflective sweep that we still can go on discussing the 'exaggerations' forever."--Leslie H. Gelb, former columnist for the New York Times and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations§"Jews, as the saying goes, are news. Why is that? In this elegant, witty, learned, insightful, always interesting, and occasionally alarming book, Adam Garfinkle explains the world's fascination with the practitioners of its oldest mono-theistic religion."--Michael Mandelbaum, author of Democracy's Good Name: The Rise and Risks of the World's Oldest Form of Government§"One would have thought that everything that could be written or said about the relationship between Jews and their environment has been written and said. It was a pleasure, though hardly a surprise, that Adam Garfinkle, thinker, scholar, editor, and iconoclast at large, has been able to offer us fresh insights into this complex issue and apply his original mind to the subject matter."--Itamar Rabinovich, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former president of Tel-Aviv University§"There is a lot to argue about and ponder in this riveting manuscript. It is bound to cause a stir."--Robert D. Kaplan, author of The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite§"One way of looking at this brilliant book is to see it as an extended commentary on an old joke that defines a philo-Semite as an anti-Semite who likes Jews. Garfinkle shows, with many examples, what both characters have in common--a wildly exaggerated notion of the importance of Jews in the world. Garfinkle's argument is scholarly, lucid, witty, and very persuasive. It deserves a wide readership."--Peter L. Berger, director, Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs at Boston University