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Titolo: The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism

Dovrebbe essere uscito anche in Italia il libro : The Popes Against the
Jews: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism by David I.
Kertzer .
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The Vatican's 1998 report "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah"
purportedly exonerated the Church of complicity in the Holocaust. In The
Popes Against the Jews, David I. Kertzer argues that the report is "not
the product of a Church that wants to confront its history." Kertzer's
book refutes the Church's thesis that the Holocaust grew out of "an
anti-Judaism that was essentially more sociological and political than
religious." In fact, Kertzer asserts, those dimensions of European
anti-Semitism developed "in no small part due to the efforts of the
Roman Catholic Church itself." The racial laws of fascist Italy and the
Nuremberg Laws of 1930s Germany, for example, were directly modeled on
the Church's own rules governing treatment of Jews: until the collapse
of the Papal States in the late 19th century, Jews living in these
territories were forced to wear yellow badges and live in ghettos.
Kertzer's arguments make for compelling reading because they're
presented in story form, based on the actions of the popes themselves.
Access to long-sealed Church archives allowed Kertzer to reconstruct
some of the most shocking, secret conversations that occurred in the
Vatican in the decades leading up to World War II. --Michael Joseph
Gross
From Publishers Weekly 
A number of excellent studies have recently addressed the political and
social role of the Catholic Church in Europe during the Holocaust. Along
comes a book that explores the church's role in setting the stage for
that Holocaust. If the title of The Popes Against the Jews: The
Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism isn't enough of a
hint, David Kertzer spells out his thesis in the introduction: Although
"the Vatican never approved the extermination of the Jews... the
teachings and actions of the Church, including those of the popes
themselves, helped make it possible." Kertzer argues that centuries of
the church's demonization of the Jews paved the way for genocide.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist 
Kertzer is a specialist in Italian history at Brown University, and The
Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (1997) documented the Vatican's smug
assumptions about the superiority of Christianity. Now Kertzer tackles a
broader and much touchier subject: the role of the papacy in fostering
the rise of virulently anti-Semitic attitudes that led directly to the
Holocaust. Utilizing access to previously secret Vatican archives, he
stridently asserts that the Vatican fought a two-century battle against
the liberalizing ideas unleashed by the French Revolution. Especially
offensive and threatening to papal power was the concept of a secular
state in which Jews were granted full citizenship. To fight these
concepts, Vatican bureaucrats, often with the direct encouragement of
the popes, nurtured and actively supported the development of some of
the vilest anti-Semitic prejudices. This is a devastating indictment,
and fair-minded critics will find flaws in Kertzer's methodology and
sweeping conclusions. Nevertheless, he has opened a window that should
be opened, and one hopes the coming debate will shed more light than
heat on the issue. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved 
From Library Journal 
Kertzer (history, Brown Univ.) expands on a theme he first developed in
The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (LJ 5/1/97). In his latest book, he
exposes a trail of anti-Semitic papal policies and practices that
stretched from the French Revolution to the era of the Final Solution.
Kertzer argues that the modern popes and their minions helped create and
perpetuate an anti-Semitic Catholic culture that facilitated the
eventual extermination of six million European Jews. He asserts that
despite occasional denunciations of the persecution of the Jews, the
Roman Curia for political and theological reasons persistently demonized
the European Jews by accusing them of such heinous crimes as the
ritualistic murder of Christian children. His thesis is grounded on a
thorough examination of recently released Vatican archival material and
a penetrating analysis of Catholic journals and newspapers. Kertzer
reveals a far more systemic pattern of papal anti-Semitism than even
John Cornwell confronts in Hitler's Pope (LJ 5/15/99). His book promises
to stir up considerable controversy and belongs on the shelves of both
public and academic libraries. Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib.,
Rome, GA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description 
A groundbreaking historical study based on documents previously locked
in the Vatican’s secret archives: The Popes Against the Jews graphically
shows how the Catholic Church helped make the Holocaust possible.
Pope John Paul II, as part of his effort to improve Catholic-Jewish
relations, has himself called for a clear-eyed historical investigation
into any possible link be-tween the Church and the Holocaust. An
important sign of his commitment was the recent decision to allow the
distinguished historian David I. Kertzer, a specialist in Italian
history, to be one of the first scholars given access to long-sealed
Vatican archives.
The result is a book filled with shocking revelations. It traces the
Vatican’s role in the development of modern anti-Semitism from the
nineteenth century up to the outbreak of the Second World War. Kertzer
shows why all the recent attention given to Pope Pius XII’s failure to
publicly protest the slaughter of Europe’s Jews in the war misses a far
more important point. What made the Holocaust possible was groundwork
laid over a period of decades. In this campaign of demonization of the
Jews—identifying them as traitors to their countries, enemies of all
that was good, relentlessly pursuing world domination—the Vatican itself
played a key role, as is shown here for the first time.
Despite its focus, this is not an anti-Catholic book. It seeks a
balanced judgment and an understanding of the historical forces that led
the Church along the path it took.
Inevitably controversial, written with devastating clarity and
dispassionate authority, The Popes Against
the Jews is a book of the greatest importance. 
From the Back Cover 
"Without sanctimony or melodrama but with meticulous documentation,
David I. Kertzer tells a sickening story. THE POPES AGAINST THE JEWS is
at once the calm, patient lesson of a born history teacher and an iron
to burn scars in the mind." --Jack Miles, author of GOD: A BIOGRAPHY
"David Kertzer's provocative new book challenges the widely accepted
distinction between Catholic anti-Judaism and modern anti-Semitism. He
moves beyond recent attacks on the Vatican's record during WWII,
indicting not just Pius XII but the entire tradition out of which he
emerged. Many will disagree with Kertzer's conclusions, but no one will
be able to ignore this disturbing history of the Papacy and the Jews in
the modern era." --Brian Porter, Associate Professor of History at the
University of Michigan and author of When Nationalism Began to Hate
"This is a fascinating study of an important and controversial subject.
As well as being both polemical and highly readable it is scholarly and
contains a great deal of unfamiliar information from the recently opened
Vatican archives." --Denis Mack Smith
"Once again Kertzer has produced impressive evidence of the part played
by the papacy in the growth of anti-Semitism in the twentieth century.
Painful as his historical narrative may be for Catholics, it is a
necessary prelude to a true reconciliation between the Catholic Church
and Judaism." --John Cornwell, author of Hitler's Pope: The Secret
History of Pius XII
"This is a powerful and incisive analysis of the ways in which the
Vatican and the Catholic Church helped to nurture and shape the
emergence of modern anti-Semitic movements that made the Holocaust
possible. With the help of solid documentation and clear exposition,
Kertzer sweeps away the apologetic myths that have sought to disculpate
the church from direct complicity in the tragic fate of European Jewry."
---Professor Robert S. Wistrich, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author
of Hitler and the Holocaust
About the Author 
Kertzerwas born in 1948 in New York City. He is Paul Dupee, Jr.
University Professor of Social Science and a professor of anthropology
and Italian studies at Brown University. He is the author of The
Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, which was a finalist for the National
Book Award. He has twice been awarded, in 1985 and 1990, the Marraro
Prize from the Society for Italian Historical Studies for the best work
on Italian history. He and his wife, Susan, live in Providence.
-- 
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 the Jews is a book of the greatest importance.
Questa la "recensione"  della sovracoperta. No comment!
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In sintesi, i giudizi riportati lodevolmente da Sergio sono in maggioranza
quelli della copertina del libro
Cordialmente
Historicus
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