Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate [Paperback]

Jean-Paul Sartre (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Schocken (April 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805210474
• ISBN-13: 978-0805210477
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Novelist, playwright, and biographer Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) is widely considered one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. His major works include "No Exit," "Nausea," "The Wall," "The Age of Reason," "Critique of Dialectical Reason," "Being and Nothingness," and "Roads to Freedom," an allegory of man's search for commitment, and not, as the man at the off-licence says, an everyday story of French country folk.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a masterpiece of insight into anti-semitism, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (Paperback)

I have read this book at least three times and I believe it provides some of the greatest insight into the jewish condition that has ever been committed to print. Sartre's understanding of the position of the jew in modern society is unparalled,as are his observations of the mind of the anti-semite. This book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the true nature of the phenomenon of psychological anti-semitism within the context of modern society.

26 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Insightful but dated, November 25, 2000

By 

Tim Lieder "Founder of Dybbuk Press" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (Paperback)

90% of this book is great in examining the mindset of the anti-semite and the Jew that wants to assimilate but can't because of the anti-semite. Sartre is brilliant when he talks about the anti-semite's passion for the Jew (which explains why many anti-semites from Farrakhan to Christian Identity movements call themselves "the real Jews"), the assimilated Jew's overcompensation, the historical roots of anti-semitism, and the liberal democrat's damaging and weak defense of Jews on the basis of their common humanity at the expense of their Judaism (As the Napoleaonic position stated = "To the Jew as a man everything, to the Jew as a nation nothing").

Where the book fails is when Sartre tries to gauge the mindset of the Jew that doesn't want to assimilate and the mindset of the Jewish people as a whole. He claims that society makes Jews Jewish and that there is neither a national nor a religious identity holding them together. This was before Israel was a fact of life and when many Jews wanted to assimilate without a trace of guilt over the fact. Most of the Jews that he knows aren't particularly fond of the religious dimension of their lives and he reflects that. He is also erroneous when he characterizes an "authentic" Jew as someone who has thrown off universalism. Judaism believes in universalism but not at the expense of Chosen People status. Of course, what Sartre sees as a problem - Jews trying to assimilate but being pushed into being Jewish, Judaism sees as evidence of being a Chosen People.

Sartre's ignorance about religious Judaism aside, this is still an excellent book in the cause of multiculturalism and pluralism. He argue that ultimately anti-semitism is not a Jewish problem but a problem in his native France and that as long as anti-Semitism exists, no one is secure. He takes 150 pages to make the argument and some of the roads he takes to get there are questionable but it's still an excellent book in that respect.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable if not complete treatment of its subject, December 20, 2004

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Anti-Semite and Jew: An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate (Paperback)

There is an Anti- Semitic review in this page in which the following mistakes and errors are made. The writer of the review says that Sartre is Jewish. He is not and so far as I know none of his ancestors were Jewish. The Anti- Semitic reviewer says that the 'Torah teaches hatred of Gentiles' This is outrageous, and stupid. The Torah teaches that every human being is created in the image of God, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. The Torah teaches that every human being is of infinite value.
As for the Sartre book Sartre does understand a great deal about the attitude of assimilated Jews. However he does not know or understand Jews whose Jewish identity is not formed by ' the other' but rather formed positively through belief in their own heritage.
I too think that Anti- Semitism takes different forms at different times, and it is difficult to understand the present kind of radical fundamentalist Islamic anti- Semitism in the same terms as one understands the Anti-Semitism of the extreme left.
But with all this there is the point that Sartre was fundamentally sympathetic to the Jewish people and to the sufferings caused by the evil of anti- Semitism.