On Modern Jewish Politics / Edition 1

by Ezra Mendelsohn

Overview

This book is a concise guide to and analysis of the complexities of modern Jewish politics in the interwar European and American diaspora. "Jewish politics" refers to the different and opposing visions of the Jewish future as formulated by various Jewish political parties and organizations and their efforts to implement their programs and thereby solve the "Jewish question." Mendelsohn begins by attempting a typology of these Jewish political parties and organizations, dividing them into a number of schools or "camps." He then suggests a "geography" of Jewish politics by locating the core areas of the various camps. There follows an analysis of the competition among the various Jewish political camps for hegemony in the Jewish world—an analysis that pays particular attention to the situation in the United States and Poland, the two largest diasporas, in the 1920s and 1930s. The final chapters ask the following questions: what were the sources of appeal of the various Jewish political camps (such as the Jewish left and Jewish nationalism), to what extent did the various factions succeed in their efforts to implement their plans for the Jewish future, and how were Jewish politics similar to, or different from, the politics of other minority groups in Europe and America? Mendelsohn concludes with a discussion of the great changes that have occurred in the world of Jewish politics since World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195083194
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/04/1993
Series:	Studies in Jewish History
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	8.93(w) x 6.19(h) x 0.46(d)
Lexile:	1610L (what's this?)

About the Author

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Table of Contents

1	Varieties	3
2	Geography	37
3	Dynamics	63
4	Appeal	93
5	Success?	115
6	Comparisons	127
7	Conclusions: Then and Now	141
	Notes	147
	Index	161

Editorial Reviews

"Mendelsohn's fine overview of Jewish politics...fills a conspicuous vacuum, often brilliantly....All in all, this is an impartial, highly competent, and instructive book."—American Historical Review

"Very spirited and controversial...A first-rate book."—Jewish Chronicle

"An invaluable history of the reaction of Europe's Jews to the vast changes brought about by 20th-century political upheavals."—CHOICE

"Ezra Mendelsohn's dissection of modern Jewish politics is immensely informative and clear, and it is enriched with abundant supportive examples from the spheres of literature, art, and music. Although political history is one of the most developed areas in the study of other European peoples, only lately has Jewish political behavior begun to be analyzed in analogous terms, and in this field Mendelsohn is one of a small number of pioneering scholars."—Commentary

From the Publisher