Hate: The Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism in France (and What it Means for Us)
(Grasset, 2018 and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019)
What is the connection between a rise in the number of random attacks against Jews on the streets of France and strategically planned terrorist acts targeting the French population at large? Before the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan night club, and others made international headlines, Marc Weitzmann had noticed a surge of seemingly random acts of violence against the Jews of France. His new book, Hate, proposes that both the small-scale and large-scale acts of violence have their roots in not one, but two very specific forms of populism: an extreme and violent ethos of hate spread among the Muslim post-colonial suburban developments on the one hand, and the deeply-rooted French ultra-conservatism of the far right. Weitzmann’s on-the-ground reporting is woven throughout with the history surrounding the legacies of the French Revolution, the Holocaust, and Gaullist “Arab-French policy.”
Marc Weitzmann began his career as a journalist in the early 1980s, working with weekly magazine Sans Frontière (Without Borders), the first publication to specialize in migrant workers issues in France. After traveling and living in Brazil he returned to France to become chief editor of the literary section of Les Inrockuptibles. He published his first novel, Enquête, with Actes Sud in 1996. He has published ten books since: seven novels, two travel accounts, and a book of essays. He is now a regular contributor to Le Monde’s literary supplement.
Comments by Edward Berenson (NYU), author of The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town (2019)
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