In this magisterial and definitive study, David Nirenberg charts the evolution of anti-Jewish ideas from 1400 BCE to the present day, demonstrating that anti-Semitic tropes have been inherited and refined across centuries.
Rather than flaring up at certain times and places, argues Nirenberg, anti-Jewish feeling runs through the entire history of Western thought, and does not even require the presence of Jews in society in order to thrive.
From the 12th to the late 17th centuries, there were hardly any Jews in Europe, and yet philosophical, literary and religious discourse was framed in terms of opposing Jewish ideas and practices.
Writing in beautifully precise prose, and marshalling a dizzying amount of historical evidence, Nirenberg shows that anti-Semitism is largely based on a semantic notion of 'otherness', and that, by failing to understand its roots, we risk underestimating its frightful power to rise once again.
