Lipstadt's insight and perspective contextualizes current events that mark the recent resurgence of anti-Semitic speech and violence in the United States and Europe, crafting an informative read for those interested in social justice and political and Jewish history.
Aims not to break new scholarly ground but to awaken her audience to the nature, persistence and scale of the threat, along with the insidious ways in which it seeks to disguise itself...[Lipstadt] succeeds ... Lipstadt misses something important by insisting that anti-Semitism 'has never made sense and never will' ... a book that combines erudition, clarity, accessibility and passion at a moment when they could not be needed more.
There is a Socratic precedent for this method of achieving enlightenment via a series of questions, and Lipstadt’s clearly crafted answers all make complete sense (though without any novel insights). However, it is strangely annoying to read 'Dear Professor Lipstadt, thank you for that sobering and thought-provoking series of letters.' Such encomia read like the author complimenting herself on her own perceptiveness, given that these are not real letters ... She is, however, a real professor at a real American university and this structure does give a fascinating insight into the difficulties facing Jewish American students who regard themselves as on the liberal left, but are now deeply discomfited by the vituperative anti-Zionism among fellow students who in other respects they might see as political allies ... Given Lipstadt is a historian, I had expected more historical perspective on how the hard-left became disfigured in this way.
... the timeliness of Lipstadt’s nuanced and accessible discussion of contemporary antisemitism cannot be overstated ... Lipstadt provides a useful taxonomy of antisemites ... Antisemitism: Here and Now is a sobering but accessible read by an eminent scholar.
The epistolary structure is unvarying, so some readers may find it artificial and tiresome—but as the information in each piece of correspondence builds on the previous letters, a coherent and frightening narrative begins to take shape ... A didactic tour de force presented approachably.
Keeping her tone measured, unaccusing, and carefully noninflammatory, Lipstadt presents an intelligent, evenhanded explanation of how Jews come under attack today for appearing white and privileged, and the book’s civil conversation might well sway more readers than a ringing denunciation. Informed, historically sound, and deeply rational, Lipstadt’s book offers both convincing reasons for the recent rise of anti-Semitism and apt advice to 'call out and combat' it.
