Antisemitism has featured in the history of Western civilisation since the Greeks. What the twentieth century has seen through the lens of the Holocaust has been happening for over 3,000 years. Dan Cohn-Sherbok traces the origins of antisemitism and its manifestations, from political opposition to racial persecution and religious and philosophical justification for some of history's most outrageous acts. Against this background of intolerance and persecution, Cohn-Sherbok describes Jewish emancipation from the late eighteenth century and its gradual transformation into the parallel political and nationalistic ideal of Zionism.
This book offers a clear and readable account of why antisemitism has featured so strongly in world history and provides extensive discussion of the issues that exist to the modern day. Unlike most studies of the subject, it does not focus exclusively on Christian antisemitism, but explores the origins of Arab and organised communist antisemitism and Nazi racism. Brought right up to date with an exploration of the definition of modern-day antisemitism, this fully updated third edition is essential reading not only for history students and theologians, but anyone interested in finding out why the Jews have been hated and murdered.