The History of Anti-Semitism: From Voltaire to Wagner (History of Anti-Semitism)

Rating:
Summary: The best book there is on cultural anti- Semitism
Review: I remember reading this book many years ago at the State University of Binghamton Harpur College Library, and being filled with sadness by it. So many of the cultural heroes of the Western world from Voltaire to Wagner were anti- Semitic, or had some anti- Semitic writings. Many such as Tolstoy Goethe Dickens balanced anti- semitism with very pro- Jewish remarks. True Nietzche stood against Wagner. But on the whole even into this century with Pound, Eliot, Celine, Heidegger there were ' great creators' who bore in their mind and soul resentment and hatred of the Jews.
Even with Shakespeare who according to Harold Bloom's wonderful exaggeration ' invented the human' there is the question of his true intent with Shylock. Does a Jew really have hands and eyes for Shakespeare?
I believe that this book should be far more widely read and known than it is. And it should be part of the legacy of all those Jews who have given their lives to Western culture.