Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice

I thought the book was rather good and said a lot that I agree with. The self-contradictions, maybe not noticed by a less careful reader prevented my from rating it more highly. Also, the author approached the obvious conclusion that modern anti-Zionism is old wine in new bottles; i.e. anti-Semitism.

Epiphany-OviedoELCA library section 7 A: The Church in the World, World Religions. What are the roots of the middle east conflict? This book by one of the foremost scholars on the middle east, a professor emeritus from Princeton, describes how anti-Semitism grew from the early Christian church, spreading throughout Europe to modern day Islam.
Lewis uses numerous examples to illustrate his points. For example, he quotes a 1983 article in an Arab newspaper which warns Muslims who might be traveling to New York City to beware of Jews, who would try to rob and cheat them, under the protection of then-mayor, Ed Koch, who is Jewish. The article calls New York City merciless and barbaric. With this sort of mindset in the Arab world, the show more reasons for 9/11 become clearer.
Perhaps the writer of the newspaper article believes that because many Arab countries are theocracies (governments led by religious leaders) western countries led by those with religious faiths are ipso facto, theocracies as well. That's not the way America is set up, and if the writer cared to actually "risk" a visit to NYC, he'd find that people of all faiths coexist together just fine in America, founded upon a separation of church and state. If you do not think that separation is important, just look at the struggles in Iran, which is based on fundamentalist Islamic law. I knew Jewish Iranians who had to leave when the shah was deposed because suddenly their lives were at risk. America became their haven.
This is why it is important that Christian religious fundamentalists do not force their religion on others. We definitely do not want to become a religious theocracy; it's why the Puritans left England and the Pilgrims left Holland, and Jews left Russia at the turn of the last century. America's strength lies in its diversity of faith. People choose to live in America because of religious freedom, no matter what their faith may be, and sometimes even if they have no faith at all. show less