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Reviews tagging 'Genocide'
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn
29 reviews
earthie's review against another edition
4.75
This book put words to the things that I have been feeling and trying to not feel all at once. It made me feel a far-distant home and as I finish this book in the evening of Seattle, I wonder about those across the world waking as I say the evening shema.
This is a book I would recommend to everyone with the dad awareness that those whom most need to read it never will.
The audiobook I found to be phenomenal, but I could see how it would be difficult to physically read as I found myself drifting off at times in my own thoughts, including investigating name changes in my own family history.
I think the reviews that accuse the author of her bias and not understanding the placement of Jews from an intersectional perspective are being overly critical of a piece of literature in a way that, ironically, would not (and has not) been done by writers of other identities. See, Barbara Smith literally stating that she is an antisemite in "Yours in Struggle" (though then going on to praise Jewish feminism's position: supporting Israel & criticizing it's government publicly and loudly). Horn does, in fact, ignore some aspects of intersectionality -- but this is a book of short essays, not a place where one can have nuance for every single point of argument. To address every single potential point or counter-argument would result not in a book of short essays, but a Talmudic conversation of conversations -- perhaps one we should have, but with respect for one another and a base understanding that no one is supportive of killing children (which Horn also addresses this point, in how she must caveat anything she says to ensure folk do not assume her evil while others are given the benefit of the doubt in not being evil).
The argument that whiteness is ignored, I would partially agree on -- in the sense that Horn does not go out of her way to discuss race (even when talking about Chinese Jews). She focuses more on the religious aspect of Judaism and physical markers of the religion, rather than physically unchangeable markers of Judaism - what some of the critics would consider as a stereotypical Long Island Jew who benefits from certain privileges based on being white-passing, versus the Ethiopian Jews and other MENA Jews that the author talks about, who I would guess would not benefit from that same white privilege the critics so gracefully blanket all Jews with. And lastly, if your critique of this book includes your inability to even finish a book (or get more than a chapter in) before leaving a review calling the author a dirty Zionist, you might want to take a look at a mirror about your own antisemitic beliefs and try to comprehend the views and points of others without aligning every piece of media you read with whatever single hot-button issue it is that today is disturbing.
I went to the comments section filled with dread and was met with sorrow from both those failing to see the point and from those seeing the point and feeling the same communal sadness.
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Trafficking, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Deportation, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Suicide and Excrement
nitsabean's review against another edition
5.0
Being Jewish can be quite isolating at times, and I've found that certain works will sometimes shift everything for a bit, and you get a reprieve from the constant slight discomfort of thinking and feeling just a little bit off from the world around you. This did that for me.
People without a Jewish background could absolutely benefit from reading this... But, I imagine it will make them uncomfortable.
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Genocide, and Antisemitism
ceredonia's review
4.5
Moderate: Genocide, Islamophobia, Racism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
jkamler's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Mass/school shootings
eslsilver's review
4.5
Graphic: Genocide and Antisemitism
Moderate: Deportation and Gun violence
laur1099's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Antisemitism and Genocide
Moderate: Murder
unsuccessfulbookclub's review
5.0
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Grief, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
leandrathetbrzero's review
5.0
↓ This book inspires me to read ↓
1. The Five Books of Miriam: A Woman’s Commentary on the Torah by Ellen Frankel
2. If All The Seas Were Ink: A Memoir by Ilana Kurshan
3. Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi
Dara Horn encourages her readers to reflect on their own knowledge and preconceived notions about Judaism and historical antisemitism. Through a mixture of personal stories, research, and collected interviews, she investigates why oppression and violence toward Jews makes such a compelling, marketable narrative to non-Jewish populations. A moving, informative read, People Love Dead Jews searches for the answers to modern society’s obsession with the death of Jews.
My advice is for you to read the first chapter, which focuses on Anne Frank, everyone’s “second favorite dead Jew” as described by Horn and the person whose life on which many of us (particularly Americans) base our understanding of Jews. That chapter will convince you to read the rest and expand your knowledge about the historical oppression of Jewish people. Horn travels the world both physically and through her research of primary documents and interviews of people from various backgrounds. I feel equally more informed and motivated to keep educating myself on Jewish and Jewish American heritage. I was moved to tears multiple times, and I cannot express how grateful I am that my library had a copy of this book in its collection. I can assure you that I will be adding it as a recommendation in the Staff Picks section as often as I can!
See more on this title and others at my booktube
Graphic: Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Violence, and Hate crime
razzberry_pi's review
2.25
However, a large majority of the chapters are tainted by the authors very clear pro-Israel feelings. On multiple occasions she conflates antisemitism and antizionism, including comparing the BDS movement to Nazi Germany while refusing to make the same comparison with mass shooters. Additionally, the author makes some shitty comments less/dif erently observant jews, impling that they are essentially collaborators with antisemites and degrading yhe the jewish people.
Graphic: Violence, Antisemitism, Genocide, Torture, and Gun violence
Moderate: Sexism, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Xenophobia, and War
dominic_t's review
2.0
Her chapter "Dead Jews of the Desert" is very informative, but it feels like half the story. She talks how Jewish people have been pushed out of their communities around the Middle East and interviews historians who are trying to preserve that history. It's really important to discuss this history of Jewish communities in the Middle East outside Israel because it often gets erased. Understanding this history provides a lot of context for Middle Eastern Jewish people's mass migration to Israel. Many countries in the Middle East ethnically cleansed their Jewish communities. But now Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their land. She quotes someone saying that the Middle East is becoming more homogenous, but so is Israel. Israel is making laws defining itself as a Jewish state and razing Palestinian villages to the ground. The underlying implication of the chapter is "this is why Israel needs to exist," but there is no acknowledgement that Israel is doing the exact same thing.
I did like her chapter on Anne Frank called "Everyone's (Second) Favorite Dead Jew." I think it's a very insightful look into why gentiles are so captivated by Anne Frank and view her diary as the quintessential first person account of the Holocaust while ignoring other accounts of the Holocaust that detail the atrocities and express anger towards the societies that committed this genocide. This chapter is the entire reason why this book is 2 stars instead of 1. I wholeheartedly recommend that chapter, just not the rest of the book.
Graphic: Genocide and Death