Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England [Hardcover]

My argument is with the publishers and the reviewers rather than the author. Although this book is well-researched it is not, by any means 'readable' in the sense that it flows. More than 20% of the book is taken up with notes referenced in the main body of the text. Every one is numbered in the text, a constant distraction to the eye and few are worth following up immediately. This is all very good and commendable academic practice but it does not make the book 'readable'. It is a book for studying. Although the book divides the history into four broad sections, material and sources are cross-referenced over all four ("I will deal with this in chapter 6....") making the arguments difficult to follow without recourse to post-it notes, pencil marks in the margin or copious personal note-taking. In the end, this book is an academic volume aimed at those who have the time and skill to study it in depth and discuss it with others. It is not for the general reader, even one with a very high level of education.

An enormously wide-ranging work with some 800 pages of text and extensive footnotes. After a long introduction which includes a completely irrelevant but spot-on analysis of the lawyer Anthony Julius' most famous client, Princess Diana, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 describes Medieval English anti-Semitism which set many precedents subsequently employed by the nazis, notably that of state authorities endorsing, and in the case of the Church, encouraging, popular prejudice and illegal violence against Jews. After several bestial incidents, this culminated in the official expulsion, by royal proclamation, of all Jews from England in 1290. Part 2 describes literary anti-Semitism, the most important examples of which come from two of the greatest English writers, Shakespeare and Dickens. Shylock and Fagin are particularly sinister because they immortalise the crude Jewish stereotype, a bearded, money-grubbing, skull-capped schemer who wants to exploit Christian blood and children. The third part of the book shows how the English tradition of negativity towards Jews continues to this day in the form of anti-Israeli activity, an extremely worrying development. Thus the Medieval 'blood libel' which grotesquely suggested that Jews murdered Christian children to make matzos for Passover has a direct connection with middle class, supposedly educated, British people today disrupting a Jerusalem String Quartet performance because they don't like what the Israeli Air Force is doing in Gaza.

Although Julius had made a study of English literary anti-Semitism as a student at University, it is in describing this that his theme becomes weakest. He is mistaken, for example, in saying that Chaucer's (blood libel) Prioress' Tale is followed by an 'Arthurian tale told by the Wife of Bath'. (It is actually followed in the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer's own (comically boring) Tale of Sir Thopas). No doubt there are other errors in the detail, though that does not in any way diminish the importance of his broad argument. The problem is that so broad is that argument that he almost breathlessly gets carried away with it at times, making so many connections that he, and by extension the reader, can get a bit lost. Yet it remains a very important, highly readable book which should be read by everyone who is an enemy of ignorance and racism. This book is timely and definitely needed to be written and published; Anthony Julius has done a great service towards promoting civilized reasoning and attacking knee-jerk reaction in Britain today. It is to be hoped that it might also make some impact on those who, in their blind hatred of Israel, go around self-righteously doing the work of organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas which, quite apart from the crudest racism against everything Jewish, promote random rocket attacks on civilians, suicide bombing, the oppression of women and the execution of homosexuals. These people are at a dinner party or in a theatre near you. They are unlikely ever to read it, but Anthony Julius' book provides much useful material that can at least be used in arguing against such fools.

English antisemitism is unique. It has given rise to no mass movements, as in Continental Europe, and has not prevented the establishment of a successful Jewish community in England. According to Anthony Julius, we must look carefully at English antisemitisms rather than regard there as being one type. In this penetrating analysis, he dissects the specific qualities of English antisemitism and how it has impacted on the perception and acceptance of Jews in England. The book commences with a history of the mediaeval period, culminating in the expulsion of the Jews in 1290. During this period the major motivating ideology was of Christian antisemitism. He demonstrates incisively in successive chapters how these tropes, or common themes, penetrated English literature and ideology even following the readmission of the Jews under Cromwell. The ability of basic antisemitism to disguise itself in different masks, in different periods, is demonstrated specifically by examples of the use of blood-libel imagery through journalism, plays, novels and polemics. Remarkably, Julius clearly demonstrates the persistence of this lethal libel to the present day, where it becomes fused to analyses of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. In the final section of the book the persistence of ancient prejudice is shown to be able to adapt itself in new and potentially dangerous ways in demonisation of Israel and its delegitimisation.
Anthony Julius's book is a nuanced, witty and clear history of this subject. Without being alarmist he shows just how important English antisemitism is, despite its apparent lack of success, and why the recent upsurge is important. This will become the standard work on the subject.