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Michael Eric Dyson, author of Tears We Cannot Stop: "With eloquence and poignancy Weisman shows how hatred can slowly and quietly chew away at the moral fabric of society. We now live in an age where more than ever bigotry and oppression no longer need to hide in fear of reproach. The floodgates have opened. This is much more than a personal response to the bigotry he experienced because of his Jewishness; Weisman has written a manifesto that outlines the dangers of marginalizing and demonizing all minority groups. This powerful book is for all of us." A short, literary, powerful contemplation on how Jews are viewed in America since the election of Donald J. Trump, and how we can move forward to fight anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism has always been present in American culture, but with the rise of the Alt Right and an uptick of threats to Jewish communities since Trump took office, New York Times editor Jonathan Weisman has produced a book that could not be more important or timely. When Weisman was attacked on Twitter by a wave of neo-Nazis and anti-Semites, witnessing tropes such as the Jew as a leftist anarchist; as a rapacious, Wall Street profiteer; and as a money-bags financier orchestrating war for Israel, he stopped to wonder: How has the Jewish experience changed, especially under a leader like Donald Trump?In (((Semitism) ) ) , Weisman explores the disconnect between his own sense of Jewish identity and the expectations of his detractors and supporters. He delves into the rise of the Alt Right, their roots in older anti-Semitic organizations, the odd ancientness of their grievances -- cloaked as they are in contemporary, techy hipsterism -- and their aims -- to spread hate in a palatable way through a political structure that has so suddenly become tolerant of their views.He concludes with what we should do next, realizing that vicious as it is, anti-Semitism must be seen through the lens of more pressing threats. He proposes a unification of American Judaism around the defense of self and of others even more vulnerable: the undocumented immigrants, refugees, Muslim Americans, and black activists who have been directly targeted, not just by the tolerated Alt Right, but by the Trump White House itself.
About the Author
Jonathan Weisman, the congressional editor and deputy Washington editor at the New York Times, is author of the novel No. 4 Imperial Lane and the upcoming memoir (((Semitism) ) ) : Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump. His long journalism career has taken him to The Baltimore Sun, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, where he has covered Congress, presidential campaigns, the war in Afghanistan and the Obama White House.
(((Semitism) ) ) chronicles the rise of bigotry, anti-Semitism and racism unleashed in the age of Trump. It details the creation of the Alt Right out of the GamerGate controversy and a new breed of bigots bred on the Internet. And it takes to task the Jewish community in the United States for a single-minded obsession with Israel that blinded it to the threat inside its borders.
No. 4 Imperial Lane was a Chautauqua Prize finalist, Amazon Best Book of the Month and Great Group Reads Pick at the Women's National Book Association. The novel is based on true events: A young American in Thatcher's exhausted England goes to work for a quadriplegic nearing the end of life and his alcoholic sister. Through them, he traces a family's collapse, from aristocracy to elopement, the colonial wars of Portuguese Africa -- Guine and Angola -- South Africa, and the tragedy that brings them all together.
Jonathan lives in Washington, D.C., with his two daughters and fellow write Jennifer Steinhauer.
