As Relevant now as it was more than Half a Century ago:
This book is an excellent study on some of the origins of hate. Although Sartre may have wished to examine more the role of socialization as the fundamental root of prejudice, he does a good job in exposing the numerous "sins of omission" in religion and the media in causing hate, in this instance, the horrors of the Holocaust. He does so also with extreme rhetorical skill when he asks, for example: "Why were the concentration camps not in the news"?, or when he speaks of "Christian propaganda that the Jews... more info
Sartre is still relevant.:
Sartre's work is still a classic. His insights are provocative and pointed. I am especially impressed by his comments on what is now called universal human rights. Sartre is concerned that in stressing our common humanness we forget that there are important difference that should not be ignored.
too limited to its time and country:
This book, written just after World War II, tries to explain what makes anti-Semitism attractive to anti-Semites, the effect of anti-Semitism on Jews, and the ultimate causes of anti-Semitism. In Sartre's view, "By treating the Jew as an interior and pernicious being, [the anti-Semite] affirm[s] at the same time that [he] belong[s] to the elite." In other words, every person is a king so long as he/she has someone to look down upon. This seems like a perfectly plausible interpretation of mid-century... more info
Still Relevant Today:
Jean-Paul Sartre wrote ANTI-SEMITE AND JEW shortly after World War II. Not surprisingly, it was the specific form of anti-semitism of the preceding years that formed the basis for the views and positions expressed in this book. Times have changed and the expression of anti-semitism has changed with it. We are now more likely to see virulent anti-semitism from Islamic rather than Christian societies and from the political left rather than the right. Yet many of Sartre's observations are relevant nonetheless... more info
