Book Description: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, The Devil that Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global antisemitism

Summary

Professor Goldhagen opposes antisemitism. This book is his expression, over almost 500 pages, of the case for the prosecution. He gathered a staggering amount of information. Unfortunately, what he wrote is a somewhat disorganized, strident, repetitive, and therefore bloated text that will be hard to use in its entirety. Nevertheless, the problems he raises are real. They are embedded in civilizations based on the Christian and Muslim religions, which dominate in the geography where contemporary Jews live (outside of Israel). He repeatedly describes paradigmatic antisemitic behaviors and ideas that underly numerous actions people take within these civilizations. Sometimes people can act out these antisemitic praxes without being aware of the morally untenable basis for the ideas on which they act. Often, the prejudices are promoted for political reasons by cynical leaders. Goldhagen’s analysis of the impact of globalization on antisemitism is especially thought provoking. His review of the record is overwhelming if readers can wade through the bulky text.

Context

Goldhagen published the book in 2013, against the background of antisemitic developments in the first decade of the century. Many of the concerns he expressed came into even broader public display in the years since.

Style

The Devil That Never Dies is written more in anger than in sorrow. Its combative tone can satisfy and affirm the outraged, already convinced reader. But, unfortunately, it is not clear that otherwise well intentioned people who might need persuasion to change their ways will read it.

Classroom

The tone and unwieldy text may make The Devil That Never Dies hard to use in an educational framework. Excerpts or individual chapters might be a format that could make sense for a seminar or classroom. However, educators should prepare students to deal with the genre of polemic literature before attempting to make use of this book.

Bibliographic Information

Bibliographic Information
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah, The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-25030-6