Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People
Bible translator William Tyndale first used the word scapegoat to describe a Jewish ritual of atonement, but the phenomenon goes back a lot further than the sixteenth century. In this slim but idea-packed book, the author looks at scapegoats through history (and, by extension, the history of scapegoating). Alfred Dreyfus, the French artillery officer famously convicted of treason in 1894, is here. So are Jesus Christ, perhaps history’s most well-known scapegoat; the Salem witch hunts; and the Communist witch hunts of the twentieth century. But so, too, are some lesser-known scapegoats, like some weevils who were put on trial—really—because some winegrowers lost some crops. While he tells us these stories of unjust treatment and just plain bad luck, Campbell also delves into larger issues, like the morality of the blame game and whether, in some cases (i.e., political situations), scapegoating can be an obvious sign of something far more nefarious going on behind the scenes. Very interesting stuff. --David Pitt