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A Lie and a Libel: The History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
by Binjamin W. Segel (Editor: Richard S. Levy) (Translator: Richard S. Levy)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (1995-12-01)
ISBN: 0803242433
EAN: 9780803242432
Dewy Decimal #: 305.8924
Hardcover: 148 pages
SKU: 082508025
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: exlibrary copy in good condition with the usual markings and stickers
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
A strange and repugnant mystery of the twentieth century is the durability of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a clumsy forgery purporting to be evidence of the supposed Jewish plot to rule the world. Though it has been exposed as a forgery, some apprentice brownshirt is always rediscovering it, the latest in a line of gullibility that includes, most famously, Henry Ford. Recently it has been translated into Japanese and circulates once again with renewed virulence in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In 1924 in Germany the Jewish author and journalist Binjamin Segel wrote a major historical exposé of the fraud and later edited his work into a shorter form, published as Welt-Krieg, Welt-Revolution, Welf-Verschwörung, Welt-Oberregierung (Berlin 1926). Translator Richard S. Levy, a specialist on the history of anti-semitism, provides an extensive introduction on the circumstances of Segel's work and the story of the Protocols up to the 1990s, including an explanation of its continuing psychological appeal and political function.
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Customer Reviews
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A book this important should be more widely read -- and have more reviewers!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-05-16
5 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
Once while discussing the mythical "Religious Right" on an e-list, Ann Coulter's debunking of the myth in her book _Slander_ came up.
"Of course she'd say it doesn't exist," a young liberal observed. "She belongs to it."
We see the same reaction in neo-Nazis towards attempts to discredit the equally absurd "the Protocols are authentic" myth.
"Of course a Jew would say there's no Jewish conspiracy -- what do you expect from a Jew?"
We live in an age where Holocaust victims are dying, costing us their first-hand information. And at least one member of the House of Representatives (Cynthia McKinney, D-GA) uses the words "Jew" and "Israeli" interchangeably during her antisemitic rants (Ms McKinney has even blamed Jews for causing her to lose a primary in 2002; sadly, she's back in office).
Like books against Communism, we need to have books against antisemitism, too. And this one is a great book.
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An Invaluable Reference
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-05
9 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is Richard Levy's 1995 translation of Segel's 1926 abbreviated version of his original (1924) longer, more scholarly work, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Critically Illuminated. It is a point-by-point refutation of this fraudulent document, and an indispensable reference. It is indexed, and includes a chronology of the hoax, as well as an updated bibliography. This particular edition includes an introduction by translator Richard S. Levy that would be worth a volume of its own. The following is based on that introduction.
While Segel's work is authoritative, Levy recognizes that logical, scholarly examination of this fraud has had little effect:
"The patent absurdity of the [Protocols] has had little or no bearing on its credibility for a large and varied public. ... devastating and authoritative judgments have failed to put an end to the book."
Perhaps the best example of Levy's point is Hitler's comment in Mein Kampf that Segel denying "the truth of the Protocols was the best proof of their authority." This was precisely argument employed to such effect in 1692 Salem: To doubt an accuser was to open oneself to accusation: Who but a member of the conspiracy denies it?
As outlined in Festinger's 1956 study, When Prophecy Fails, and more recently, in Susan Clancy's Abducted: how people come to believe they were kidnapped by aliens, the allure of conspiracies is well-known: Readers are "invite[d] to join the elite of those in the know." Moreover, "the [Protocols of the Elders of Zion] addresses an audience not thought capable of sustained reasoning. ... For many, the least likely explanation of great events seems the best because it is also the most effortless." Segel's arguments are therefore inaccessible to many for precisely this reason.
Would that the consequences of continued publication and belief in the Protocols were as benign as the copious literature on alien abduction and Doom's Day cults, but it is not. Levy sadly concludes:
"In the world at large, beyond the reach of the Nazis, the Protocols helped render Jews ineligible for rescue by the great majority of their fellowmen."
Words and ideas do have consequence.
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The best book unmasking the 'Elders' text
Rating (5)
Date: 2003-10-29
14 out of 19 customers found this reveiw helpful
THis is one of the few books dedicated solely to exposing the hoax that is the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' text. This author shows definitevly how it was created by the Czars men to discredit Judaism and cause progroms against the powerful Jews of Moscow and Odessa.This book is an importnat book in the pnathyon of books that seek to explain anti-semitism. Recently the 'Elder' text has had a comback as it has been reprinted in its most viscous form, with no introduction explasining its fabircation, in Muslim countries like Egypt and Saudi and at least one un-truthful copy can be purchased on this website. Its sad to see these anti-semetic texts are still in circulation and widely beleived to be true by the ignorant and the hateful. This book helps unmask the ignorant and shed light on the fabrication that is the 'Elders' Text A good read, highly recommended.
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informative, yet unprofessional
Rating  (2)
Date: 2000-08-15
22 out of 27 customers found this reveiw helpful
Segel's attempt to discredit the Protocols is successful, as is his exposition of its origins and effects on modern society. However, his writing is wrought with sarcasm and fallacious appeals to popularity. His passion is overwhelming at times, distracting the reader from the core points with bombastic remarks. This topic should be required reading due to the serious implications of the fraud of the Protocols, but readers would be best served to find a version by a different author.
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A hoax unmasked!
Rating (5)
Date: 2000-04-09
40 out of 61 customers found this reveiw helpful
Just because Henry Ford got suckered into beleiving the Protocols hoax, doesn't mean you have to be taken for a fool. This book is a well-written, well-researched, clear explanation of the history of the Protocols, demonstrating once and for all that it was a forgery. (If you insist on reading the Protocols anyway, then buy this to go along with it.)
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