In Search of Antisemitism

This is a timely book on a timeless question, a book that will be examined and debated nationwide. Its genesis was a long essay in National Review by William Buckley, which elicited by far the largest response of any work by him during the 36 years he has written for that magazine. The topic is anti-Semitism, among the most combustible of social issues. This is not a history of anti-Semitism, nor a survey of it (though the author reveals historical and sociological knowledge of the field). In Search of Anti-Semitism is a perceptive study of anti-Semitism as it shows its face in the influential world in which Mr. Buckley and his fraternity live: in opinion magazines, in publishing houses, in the op-ed pages, in syndicated columns, in TV talk shows. He examines these with wit, thoroughness, and an open-mindedness which most of his critics have acclaimed. The book focuses on three contemporary writers and one contemporary battleground. He examines the writings of Joseph Sobran, a syndicated columnist and colleague; of Patrick Buchanan (the essay on Buchanan, so frequently cited, was completed before Buchanan entered the Presidential race); of Gore Vidal, who concluded in the pages of The Nation that Jewish Americans have twin loyalties. And the book examines the scene at Dartmouth College, whose president assailed student editors of the undergraduate conservative journal The Dartmouth Review as racist, in pursuit of a vendetta between the college and that journal. Mr. Buckley draws a number of conclusions, some tentative some firm, about his subject: What Christians provoke what Jews? Why? By doing what? – And vice versa. Included are responses from many influential commentators: Norman Podhoretz, Irving Kristol, Robert Novak, A. M. Rosenthal, and others. Alan Dershowitz, the attorney, wrote in; so did literary critics Hugh Kenner and Christopher Ricks; plus more than a dozen others. The reactions are varied and illuminating. Most hailed the essay as the most important document relating to modern anti-Semitism published in many years. Some thought Mr. Buckley didn’t go far enough in categorically labeling those he examined as anti-Semitic pure and simple. Others defended Pat Buchanan, for instance, insisting that mobilized Jewish opinion confuses opposition to Israeli policies with anti-Semitism. In Search of Anti-Semitism will inspire readers across the country, across the political spectrum, and will certainly be one of the most talked-about books on the subject for some time to come.