Pamela S. Nadell | Antisemitism, an American Tradition

This event is a discussion of Nadell’s recent book, Antisemitism, an American Tradition, which is the first scholarly work since the publication of Leonard Dinnerstein’s Antisemitism in America, published in 1995, to address the complete history of American antisemitism and how it has shaped the lives of Jews for centuries. In her research, Nadell plumbs antisemitism in the United States, from the mid-seventeenth century, when Jews first arrived in New Amsterdam, to today, amidst increasing anti-Jewish rhetoric and hate crimes. Her work demonstrates how the persistence of old ideas about “evil Jews,” alongside new, antisemitic conspiracy theories and lies, have circulated throughout American history. Recounting this fraught history, Antisemitism, an American Tradition explores how Jews stood up against this hate, battling back though the law, associations, alliances, and sometimes with their fists.

Pamela S. Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University. Her book, America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today, won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award’s Everett Family Foundation “Book of the Year.”

Students who attend this talk will receive a copy of the book Antisemitism, an American Tradition. Contact Linda Maizels (linda.maizels@yale.edu) for more information.

Made possible by a generous gift from the Benjamin Zucker Family Environmental Fund.