Overview
The increasingly popular genre of ""alternative histories"" has captivated audiences by asking questions like ""what if the South had won the Civil War?"" Such speculation can be instructive, heighten our interest in a topic, and shed light on accepted history. In The Holocaust Averted, Jeffrey Gurock imagines what might have happened to the Jewish community in the United States if the Holocaust had never occurred and forces readers to contemplate how the road to acceptance and empowerment for today's American Jews could have been harder than it actually was. Based on reasonable alternatives grounded in what is known of the time, places, and participants, Gurock presents a concise narrative of his imagined war-time saga and the events that followed Hitler's military failures. While German Jews did suffer under Nazism, the millions of Jews in Eastern Europe survived and were able to maintain their communities. Since few people were concerned with the safety of European Jews, Zionism never became popular in the United States and social antisemitism kept Jews on the margins of society. By the late 1960s, American Jewish communities were far from vibrant. This alternate history-where, among many scenarios, Hitler is assassinated, Japan does not bomb Pearl Harbor, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt is succeeded after two terms by Robert A. Taft-does cause us to review and better appreciate history. As Gurock tells his tale, he concludes every chapter with a short section that describes what actually happened and, thus, further educates the reader.
Full Product Details
Author: Jeffrey S. Gurock
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.626kg
ISBN: 9780813572376
ISBN 10: 0813572371
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 03 April 2015
Recommended Age: From 18 to 99 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Hot on the trail of surprise turns and eerie parallels in this 'what if' romp through the most momentous years of 20th century history, the reader ultimately confronts the dilemmas of Jewish life today. --Jack Wertheimer Jewish Theological Seminary (11/11/2014)
With imagination and erudition, courage and wit--including a suddenly stalwart Neville Chamberlain defying Hitler at Munich and a Joseph P. Kennedy (Jr.) becoming Israel's most important friend--Jeffrey Gurock ponders how a fragile and skittish American Jewry might have evolved without Pearl Harbor and Auschwitz. His surprisingly dystopian vision, filled with familiar characters in unfamiliar and intriguing roles, is sure to challenge--and, quite possibly, to infuriate. --David Margolick author of Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink (09/25/2014)
Author Information
JEFFREY S. GUROCK is the Libby M. Klaperman Professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University. His most recent work, Jews in Gotham: New York Jews in a Changing City, won the 2012 Jewish Book of the Year award from the Jewish Book Council.
