🌿 (buffy)² 🌿 reviewed Jewish Space Lasers by Mike Rothschild
Jewish Space Lasers (Unabridged and Unrelenting)
3 stars
Jon Vertullo is a compelling audiobook reader who has been given the challenging job of reading Jewish Space Lasers for your entertainment. While the book is an excellent exploration of the rise and mystique of the Rothschilds—unpacking how antisemitism has fed into anti-Rothschild sentiment (and vice versa)—it can, at times, feel repetitive, especially in the earlier chapters.
You can’t fault Mike Rothschild for being thorough in his explanation of Rothschild conspiracies; the early sections occasionally veer into familiar territory, recounting similar tropes, refrains, and recurring characters across various conspiracy milieus. That said, the repetition likely serves a purpose: emphasizing just how enduring, adaptable, and sticky these narratives are.
At times, it did feel like an abridged version should be offered.
Snippy comments about the length aside, I don’t think it’s an editing failure so much as a reflection of how persistent antisemitism itself can be. You quickly learn that for …
Jon Vertullo is a compelling audiobook reader who has been given the challenging job of reading Jewish Space Lasers for your entertainment. While the book is an excellent exploration of the rise and mystique of the Rothschilds—unpacking how antisemitism has fed into anti-Rothschild sentiment (and vice versa)—it can, at times, feel repetitive, especially in the earlier chapters.
You can’t fault Mike Rothschild for being thorough in his explanation of Rothschild conspiracies; the early sections occasionally veer into familiar territory, recounting similar tropes, refrains, and recurring characters across various conspiracy milieus. That said, the repetition likely serves a purpose: emphasizing just how enduring, adaptable, and sticky these narratives are.
At times, it did feel like an abridged version should be offered.
Snippy comments about the length aside, I don’t think it’s an editing failure so much as a reflection of how persistent antisemitism itself can be. You quickly learn that for decades its the same hate-filled lies over and over again.
What makes this book especially good is that it moves beyond explaining the role of texts like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to show how conspiracy theories about Jewish people, and the Rothschilds in particular, have mutated and multiplied over generations. It's one thing to know these texts exist and what events have influenced antisemetic movements, it’s another to see how those ideas were repeated, adapted, and reintroduced into mainstream and fringe belief systems alike—on both the far right and the far left.
Rothschild doesn’t just catalogue these conspiracies he explores how these narratives are kept alive, from media grifters to populist politicians. If you’ve ever wondered how people still believe this stuff, this is a book that can help that.
Jewish Space Lasers is as much an exploration of history as it is of media. It isn’t the lightest listening, but if you’re looking for the long view—how modern-day antisemitism is rooted in two centuries of financial paranoia, scapegoating, and conspiracy-laced storytelling—the audiobook is well worth your time.
