Contemporary Antisemitism

'Clearly focused and exceptionally readable, Contemporary Antisemitism is a model of scholarly intervention on an urgent public issue. The contributors are all recognized authorities in their fields. No one could address these subjects without referring to their work.' -- Louis Greenspan, Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University

With its combination of voices from both scholarship and leadership and its unique assessment of antisemitism in Canada and the struggle against it, Contemporary Antisemitism offers new perspectives on one of the world’s most ancient and diffuse hatreds.

Antisemitism is reappearing in disturbing new ways and in unexpected strength. This resurgence is of deep concern to politicians, practitioners of law, the academic community, and to informed citizens everywhere. To address this, a scholarly conference was assembled at the University of Toronto in 2003. Contemporary Antisemitism is the result of that meeting.

Editors Derek J. Penslar, Michael R. Marrus, and Janice Gross Stein, and the contributors to this volume address the following questions: is contemporary antisemitism an eerie echo of the past, or is it driven by new combinations of political, economic, and religious forces? How powerful are the anti-Jewish trends that so many have detected? And how should liberal democratic societies respond to this new threat against them? The essays map the terrain of antisemitic thought and practice, make important distinctions between expressions of antisemitism across time and space, and put various strategies of response into critical perspective.

With its combination of voices from both scholarship and leadership – including Chief Justice of Ontario R. Roy McMurtry and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney – and its unique assessment of antisemitism in Canada and the struggle against it, Contemporary Antisemitism offers new perspectives on one of the world's most ancient and diffuse hatreds.