Controversy and Crisis—Studies in the History of the Jews in Modern Britain

They have been part of the population of England for many generations, but how assimilated are the Jewish people in modern English life? Alderman (politics and contemporary history, U. Buckingham) works from various angles to answer this question, starting with Jewish intellectuals and their contributions to academia after the World War II to the plight of Jews as universal scapegoats. He describes the responsibilities Jewish people hold as members of a marginalized society and as full citizens. He writes of attitudes after the war, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and the waves of change brought by the Holocaust and British guilt about not doing enough to prevent it, and analyzes the peculiar role of the British chief rabbinate, the nature of emancipation and enlightenment on both sides, the essence of being kosher, and a life of being an English Jew and alternately, a Jew of English persuasion. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Geoffrey Alderman (Ph.D. University of Oxford, 1969) is the Michael Gross Professor of Politics & Contemporary History at the University of Buckingham and is the acknowledged authority on the history of the Jews in modern Britain. In 2006, Oxford conferred on him with the degree of Doctor of Letters in respect of his work in this field.