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On Antisemitism

A Word in History

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

For most of history, antisemitism has been understood as a menace from Europe’s political Right, the province of blood-and-soil ethno-nativists who built on Christendom’s long-standing suspicion of its Jewish population and infused it with racist pseudo-science. Such threats culminated in the nightmare of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

The landscape is very different now, as Mark Mazower argues in this piercingly brilliant book. More than four-fifths of the world’s Jews now live in Israel and the United States, with the former’s military dominance of its region guaranteed by the latter while the loudest voices decrying antisemitism see it coming from the Left not the Right.

Mazower clearly and carefully shows us how we got here, seeking to illuminate rather than blame. Very few words have the punch of ‘antisemitism’ and yet no term is more liable to be misunderstood in ways affecting free speech and foreign policy alike. On Antisemitism is a vitally important attempt to draw a line that must be drawn.

© Mark Mazower 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Judaism Politics & Government Racism & Discrimination Religious Studies Social Sciences Middle East Holocaust Refugee Imperialism Social justice War Military Socialism Africa Iran

Critic reviews

A rigorous account... Mazower’s meticulous deep dive reveals how ideological war is waged on the semantic level. The result is an elegant and illuminating glimpse of how politics shapes language itself

Clear, comprehensive and nuanced... A book that can contribute to honest discussions that are
desperately needed in a new age of racism, war and genocide... this book is a welcome attempt to offer some clarity

(Dr Brian Hanley)
An immense contribution... In tracing the evolving meaning of ‘antisemitism,’ [Mazower] demonstrates persuasively how we might turn it from a weapon back into a word... Rigorous and lucid (Lily Meyer)
Mazower’s book contains many distinctions – subtle twists of the lens that bring different shades of personal and ideological animus into focus... For Mazower to provide any respite of clarity on a topic befogged in rage and confusion is achievement enough (Rafael Behr)
One of the many virtues of Mazower’s excellent and timely book is his effort to restore historical context to a word that has become a generic term of condemnation... In this lucid survey, Mazower shows that the history of anti-Jewish sentiment is a story of varied accusations, hatreds, and fears—as entangled with the rise of modernity as it is with our present politics (The Best Books of 2025 So Far)
Excellent and timely (Ian Buruma)
An illuminating new book... On Antisemitism does not seek to define the concept but more usefully tracks how its meaning has changed over time (Kenan Malik)
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