Anti-Semitism: Its History and Causes

Bernard Lazare

Jan 2006 · Cosimo, Inc.

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I do not approve of antisemitism; it is a narrow, one-sided view, still I have sought to account for it. [It] has flourished in all countries and in all ages, before and after the Christian era, at Alexandria, Rome, and Antiachia, in Arabia, and in Persia, in mediaeval and modern Europe, in a word, in all parts of the world wherever there are or have been Jews, -such an opinion, it seemed to me, could not spring from a mere whim or fancy, but must be the effect of deep and serious causes.-from the PrefaceBernard Lazare was a Paris literary critic when his imagination was fired by the notorious case of French Jewish army officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus, tried as a traitor on trumped-up charges, a startling example of French anti-semitism. But Lazare, who became Dreyfus's great public champion, was no stranger to this particular form of bigotry-that same year, 1894, he published what is considered his finest work, Anti-Semitism: Its History and Causes.In this sweeping history of prejudice and hatred, Lazare explores anti-semitism from antiquity through the modern era, with an emphasis on anti-Judaic literature and law, and how nationalism and religious identity fueled hatred of Jews. An extraordinary history of entrenched prejudices, this a must-read for those seeking an understanding of anti-semitism and the root causes of its horrendous legacy of the 20th century.French writer and anarchist LAZARE MARCUS MANASSE BERNARD (1865-1903), aka Bernard Lazare, is also the author of Anti-Semitism and Revolution (1899).