Norman Podhoretz, bestselling author of World War IV, returns with a brilliant, provocative examination of a central question in American politics and culture: Why are Jews overwhelmingly liberal?
Podhoretz says he has never, in his entire life, been asked any question on any subject as often as this one. So, in Why Are Jews Liberal (September 8, 2009), he sets out to solve this puzzle. Providing a fascinating account of anti-Semitism in the West, he demonstrates why, for much of the 20th century, Jews quite sensibly concluded that they had much more to fear from the right than the left. But since the Six Day War of 1967, he then argues, this political position has no longer made sense, and yet most Jews continue to support the Democratic Party and the liberal agenda. Examining the history and reasons behind Jewish political attitudes, he shows that the usual explanations–such as a passion for justice allegedly deriving from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible–are either inadequate or flat-out wrong. Finally, Podhoretz proposes his own answer to the mystery as why most of his fellow Jews remain as committed to liberalism as ever–and, in the process, changes the way we view American politics.
To read the Q&A with Norman Podhoretz in The New York Times, click here.
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