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Gentleman's Agreement: The World-Famous Novel About Antisemitism in "Respectable America"

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Although the book takes place in 1946 and concerns rampant anti-semitism, both overt and subtle, it's a book that trancends time. The book's anti-semitism could easily be replaced by any other kind of racism and feel right at home in 2005. The story concerns a liberal Christian writer who takes on a magazine assignment to write about anti-semitism and his angle is to pose as a Jew so he can find out firsthand. It is a rude awakening for him, whether it is a hotel that does not cater to "those people" or a fiancee making off-hand anti-semitic remarks and thinking nothing of it. Some people might get thrown by writing that was done fifty years ago, but it is a book well worth reading.

GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT concerns the experiences of one Philip S. Green, an investigative reporter who decides to pretend he's Jewish to get to the heart of modern American anti-Semitism.

Although written in 1946 and concerning the immediate post-World War Two era (the late months of 1945, the peak of New Deal liberalism, and the growing Conservative reactionaryism of the time), GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT still reads well, despite its occasional heavy-handed moralizing.

Though some of the more grotesque evidences of open anti-Semitism have virtually disappeared from the American scene in the last sixty years (avowedly "restricted" clubs and the like), author Laura Z. Hobson's theme that there's an "us" and a "them" in America is unhappily still timely. Replace the word "Jewish" with any other, and GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT is just as illuminating now as it was in 1946.

Hobson spends almost no time on her Jewish characters qua Jews. The Holocaust gets a fleeting one-sentence mention, though the mere fact that Hobson wrote GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT at all in 1946 places it squarely in the realm of "Holocaust Literature." Hobson gives us no discourse with Judaism or Jewish culture as such, but for her purposes as an author none of that matters. The representative Jewish characters in these pages, Dave Goldman and Dr. Lieberman, are thoroughgoing Americans, totally assimilated and non-religious; yet, like Phil Green, the non-Jewish Jewish protagonist, they are battered and subjected to a bewildering array of overt and covert attacks, exclusions, and snide comments. They also demonstrate a sense of identity as Jewish individuals which Green first questions, then admires, and finally adopts.

The shock of his friends and co-workers upon discovering that he is indeed a Christian is palpable. Many of them (including Phil's supposedly "liberal" fiancee, Kathy) are forced to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices.

A fine book which needs to find its place in the American consciousness, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT comes highly recommended.

A superb social commentary of its time and a thoughtful examination of different shades of bigotry. Journalist Phil Green decides to take an undercover assignment on antisemitism by simply and quietly declaring that he is Jewish and then observing how it affects his relationships with others.

The title is a reference to an unspoken gentleman's agreement not to sell homes, rent apartments or admit Jews to resorts or social clubs. However the elements of nonacceptance can be more subtle. Hobson makes the point that antisemitism can be selective as well - it's not just a violent Nazi/Cossack dislike. The word "gentile" derives from "gentility", and it is the polite mask here that exposed, the selective judgment of some Jews can be given a pass, but others not, or that social pressures cause some to hide their Jewishness or even the expectation that Jews qua Jews are required to be more moral than the rest of us.

The form of the book is similar to that of a morality play in that each of the major characters act as a spokesperson for different aspects of the author's views. It is interesting to note that Ms. Hobson herself was, like the main character, a journalist - write what you know - though not a man. Her female characters come across very strongly, though there's a false note near the end when Ann, the "best bud" type reveals that she is having an affair with a married man, and this is used as a deus ex machina plot device. This too may have been extracted from real life as she had a child at the time who was born out of wedlock, as well as an being a single mother with another adopted child.

Interesting too that the author voices the notion that acceptance of Jews would act as a test case for the further emancipation and integration of blacks in American society.

Overall an enjoyable and thoughtful read, and though the language and social customs date it, the underlying message endures. The fictional experiment was later updated and enacted in real life. There is also a well known film of the novel starring Gregory Peck and Dorothy McGuire which is worth checking out

Although I am not a Jew, I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end. In 1971 I applied to rent an apartment and was shocked to be given an application that quizzed me about my race, religion and just about everything else. I was rejected and no reason was given. In 1987 I tried to rent at a large building with a for-rent sign. Two men were standing outside. One of them told me, "The apartment has already been rented. We forgot to take the sign down." Yeah, sure. I am old enough to remember when Arthur Godfrey (a popular TV personality) owned a hotel in Miami Beach that openly refused to cater to Jews. But upon reflection, Hobson's novel (and the movie) presented the problem from only one point of view. Just think about it. There are any number of Jews-only condos and closed communities. If a Jewish landlord in New York were to refuse to rent to Arab-Americans, then what? Don't Jews have "gentleman's agreements" of their own? Is discrimination OK if a Jew does it? Just askin'.