Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion [Paperback]

Steven L. Jacobs (Author), Mark Weitzman (Author)

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From Booklist

The Protocols, purportedly the text of a secret Jewish plan to establish world supremacy, is a book that has enjoyed sustained and vibrant life despite the fact that it has long been discredited as a forgery. First published in Russia in 1903, it became a keystone first of Russian anti-Semitism and then of the Nazi movement. Today, it is still sold all over the world and appears to have found new footholds on the Internet. Of all the anti-Jewish writing, it is perhaps The Protocols that has empowered anti-Semites the most. Although other anti-Semitic works may have a sharper intellectual base, The Protocols' conspiratorial imagery has been more effective in fueling the hatred of Jews and Judaism. The authors examine the current use of the book by extremists, but the core of the work is a point-by-point refutation of all 24 charges against the Jews. This compelling and scholarly work draws on many resources, including authentic Jewish texts, to clearly expose The Protocols as a cruel hoax. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Ktav Pub Inc (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881257850
• ISBN-13: 978-0881257854
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,747,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stating the obvious-but....., March 10, 2004

By 

Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Paperback)

On one hand, this is a noble effort. For some strange reason, people still believe that whacked-out piece of trash known as "the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" is a factual document. For those who don't know, that is the mother of conspiracy theroies of how the Jews supposedly plan to rule the world written during the Russian pogroms of Jews in he early 1900s by Sergei Nilus.

Anyway, this book is an attempt to decontruct bit by bit the lunacy in which this book spouts by refuting it chapter by chapter. Unfortuantely, this may not convince core beleivers of the "Protocols" slop, as it comes off as very defensive.

However, the author wisely includes the Protocols in its entirety so that readers could see it for the bad science fiction that it actually reads like it is.Outrageous statements as "We are despots" and "We will use treachery and deceit," ad nauseum are extremely difficult to take seriously. So in that aspect, this book does a good service in letting the reader slog through this garbage so that the intelligent readers see the Protocols for the hog slop that it is instead of having it filtered to them by zealots.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserving of the very widest audience possible, May 15, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Paperback)

The collaborative work of Steven L. Jacobs (Aaron Aaronov Chair of Judaic Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa) and Mark Weitzman (Director of the Task Force Against Hat and Associate Director of Education Outreach, Simon Wiesenthal Center), Dismantling The Big Lie: The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion is a sophisticated debunking of the "Protocols Of the Elders Of Zion", a work anti-Semitic propaganda which has been chronically used as a basis to spread rumors and lies about an elite group of Jews seeking to control the world. Adolf Hitler drew upon the Protocols as one of his sources of support for his genocidal holocaust campaign to exterminate European Jewry. Today, the Protocols continue functioning as a fresh source of antisemitism undergirding illogical and hateful anti-Semitic arguments. Dismantling The Big Lie picks apart each of the 24 protocols individually, examining and deconstructing the roots of the Protocols claims, as well as scrutinizing how the Protocols are used as fuel by extremists today, in traditional venues as well as the Internet. Dismantling The Big Lie is deserving of the very widest audience possible in the never-ending battle to reveal the horrific lies that continue to fuel and spread anti-Semitism in the world today.

11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Falls short in defending against the protocols, May 1, 2007

By 

E. Baumgartner (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (Hardcover)

This book too often uses biblical reasons as to why the protocols can't be attributed to Jews. Its arguments go something like, "the old testament forbids Jews from doing this or that, therefore, such and such protocal can't be attributed to Jews". That's a silly argument because it assumes all Jews live according to biblical principles.
As anyone can see by studying modern society, the protocals have basically come true. The question is then, can the protocals be attributed to nefarious things done by Jews? An interesting research project would be to look at each protocal, one by one, and discover it's origins... I mean its origins in terms of its implementation. For example, one of the protocals talks about pornography. Who then is responsible for pushing for legalization of pornography in the USA? There may have been a first ammendment type case brought before the Supreme Court involving the legality of pornography... was it a Jew or gentile who was responsible for pushing this case? Another protocal deals with a fiat money system (ie. one not based on a gold/silver). Obviously that's what we currently have in the USA, but who was responsible for this change, a Jew or a gentile? Was our fiat money system every later challenged? By whom? A Jew or gentile? Who objected to this challenge, a Jew or gentile? This is the way this book should have been written.