People Love Dead Jews

Reports from a Haunted Present

English language

Published Dec. 3, 2021 by Norton & Company Limited, W. W..

ISBN:
978-0-393-53156-5
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OCLC Number:
1233265759

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4 stars (7 reviews)

A startling and profound exploration of how Jewish history is exploited to comfort the living. Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture—and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination …

3 editions

Review of 'People Love Dead Jews' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A harrowing but important book examining the modern relation of how most modern non-jews knowledge of judaism comes from our deaths, not our living culture and the way that lack of knowledge fuels antisemitism. I had to sit down and just listen while listening to via audiobook, it was so gripping I couldn't do much of anything else whilst listening.

I appreciated the authors discussions on modern, ancient, and relatively recent antisemitism as well. I honestly question how much the people who rail against the authors seemingly pro-Zionist leanings actually read the same book as I did, as it profoundly demonstrated exactly why Zionism is a necessary ideology to modern jewish survival.

Review of 'People Love Dead Jews' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is a relatively short, insightful look at antisemitism in which the author makes the case that the seeming reverence that people pay to the victims of deadly bigotry is itself an insult.

I was reminded of two supporting experiences:
I was in Cologne a few years ago and a tour guide made a big deal about how there was an archeological dig exposing the Roman-era Jewish part of the city. I did not say, "So the people here humiliated, robbed, and killed most of the Jews in town and now you're excited that you've found where their ancestors lived 1500 years ago?"

I've been to a couple of places in the American West where American Indians perform sacred dances for tourists and then are given a dollar or two to have their pictures taken with these people. While Indians are living on a reservation with a life expectancy of …

Review of 'People Love Dead Jews' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's insightful, and and DOES raise the question, "[why do] people love dead Jews?" I have seen a few reviews of this book – actually, one review posted in two places, Goodreads and Audible, and it comes to the conclusion that "the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity." I, however, sum it up with a different quote from the book: "Dead Jews are only worth discussing if they are part of something bigger."
A great part of the richness of Judaism is pointed out by that statement, and the current and past trends to anti-Semitism and the fact that the religion and our people ARE remembered and recognized in our dead. Our book club is planning to read this book as our choice in September, and I am looking forward to it and look forward to discussing it, both with the …

Review of 'People Love Dead Jews' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Von jüdischen Friedhöfen, die zu Denkmälern gemacht werden, obwohl keine Juden in ihnen liegen, von der Fetischisierung des Mordes an Anne Frank, von jiddischer Literatur, die wütend ist und nicht harmonisch endet, von einer Religion, die seit der Zerstörung des Tempels in Jerusalem als 'virtual reality' stattfindet - dieses Buch ist wunderschön, überraschend und wirft wichtige Fragen auf.

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Subjects

  • Asia
  • History
  • Judaism