From the bestselling author of World War IV; a brilliant investigation of a central question in American politics and culture. During his career as a neoconservative thinker; Norman Podhoretz has been asked no question more often than “Why are so many Jews liberals?†In this provocative book he sets out to solve this puzzle. He first offers a fascinating account of anti-Semitism in the West to show the historical roots of Jewish mistrust of the right. But; Podhoretz argues; since the Six Day War of 1967 Jewish allegiance to the left no longer makes sense; and yet most Jews continue supporting the Democratic Party and the liberal agenda. Reviewing the history of Jewish political attitudes and examining the available evidence; Podhoretz argues against the conventional explanations for Jewish liberalism—finally proposing his own.
#383739 in Books 2011-04-19 2011-04-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x 1.30 x 5.20l; 1.07 #File Name: 0307386260510 pages
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. More than Squanto and a Turkey DinnerBy C. HenigI think we all knew that the arrival of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts was more than Puritans eking out an existence on Plymouth Rock; nearly starving the first year and celebrating w/ the neighbors when the harvest came in. For instance; no one ever explained how it was that Squanto was able to communicate w/ the Pilgrims. It turns out that he (real name Tisquantum) was captured by an English ship's master in 1614 and taken w/ some twenty-seven Native Americans back to England to be sold as slaves at Malaga; Spain. At Malaga; Spanish monks saved him and his fellow prisoners from slavery. He managed to make his way to England; learned English and found passage back to Massachussets; arriving just before the Pilgrims. The fact that New England was well explored by English ships looking for cod to take back to England prior to 1620 wasn't covered in my lessons about the founding of an English colony. The fact that the backers who paid for the voyage of the Mayflower hoped to recoup their expenses by opening a lucrative fur trade also wasn't covered. The circumstances that led strict Dissenters who we know as Puritans to the New World is also a more interesting story than the problems w/ King James and temporary refuge in Holland. This book is an extremely well-researched and extremely well-written account of how it was that the Pilgrims came to the New World. It's much more interesting than I ever imagined. The details in this book and the incredible background in this book make it a superb addition to anyone's understanding. I guarantee that you will find out much that you never knew and the truth is much more interesting than the traditional Thanksgiving tale. I recommend this book highly.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. So much detail (3.25*s)By J. GrattanThis verbose; tedious; and often scattershot book attempts to fill in the gaps behind the Puritan; actually Separatist; establishment of a colony at Plymouth in 1620. The author digs deep into many archives; primarily English; to add dimensions to the lives of those connected with this event. Unfortunately; the net result is not entirely successful.Separatism can hardly be discounted as the under riding motivation for establishing a new community in the New World; but many English factors such as geography; locale; demographics; economics; domestic and international politics; etc came into play. The author leaves few stones unturned in the pursuit of the relevancy of these areas; at times to the point of testing the durability of the reader.The amount of detail is both the strength and the weakness of the book. The detail is at times enlightening or overwhelming; often at the same time. The author's approach is a bit uneven; roaming across time and place as his various themes take him. Also; perhaps surprisingly; the actual Plymouth colony becomes only a small part of the author's story.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. God is in these detailsBy Grant M. MenziesIn "Making Haste From Babylon"; Nick Bunker begins with an eagle's view of history; and though the eagle transmogrifies; like a Pacific Northwest totem; into a menagerie of other creatures; crowned by the beaver which (who knew?) enabled the flagging New Plymouth colony survive; from first to last this literary trick allows an aerial survey of events and people who shaped them in the covenant of business and religion that became New England that in a very real way unfolds the entire map at once. Theories; like detail; may seem densely packed; but when one steps back (or hovers eagle-like overhead) the bright fretwork of Bunker's logic gleams in recognizable and often beautiful patterns. And he's not afraid of shaking up the hoary Pilgrims more than a little. His portrait of Elder William Brewster is a case in point. Those who envision Brewster as the mild-mannered old greybeard a little lower than Moses will find in Bunker's pages a vibrant and risk-taking man who rose from an upwardly mobile northern English family in which Puritanism's footnotes; like those in the Geneva Bible; sang the praises of success and prosperity; and spent his youth among the nonconformist firebrands of Cambridge University and the dramatic pre-Spanish Armada years on the edge of the court of Queen Elizabeth I; then after fleeing to Holland risked the welfare of himself; his family and his congregation by publishing seditious books that moved King James I to issue arrest warrants and sputter vituperatives. Brewster brought to New England not only a cracking library rich with both searching religious texts and books about exploration; courtly manners; tables of nobility; and silk worms; but also his dangerous refusal to be told by any monarch how to worship or how to live as a citizen and man; and the knowledge and experience to inform a document (the Mayflower Compact) seminal to the American ideal of civic freedoms and responsibilities. That he and the rest of the Pilgrims of 1620 were more colourful than American schoolchildren (of which I was one) were ever taught is clear. But above all; that they were human to a degree anyone living in today's jaded world can still understand; rings like a bell through Bunker's somber; sardonic; illuminating and majestic book.
