(Nonfiction, 272 pages, 2021)
Horn’s riveting assault on the cloying fascination with useful Jews boldly takes a stand for deeply rethinking the motivations behind universal acceptance of Jews-as-different. Specialness does not mean popular acknowledgement of Jews’ decency, worthiness, or desirability as friends and neighbors. Through a series of eloquent and absorbing essays, Horn contextualizes in-your-face personal, historical and literary encounters with endemic antisemitism, revealing the banal but harrowing conclusion that “hating Jews is normal.”
Author biography from author website
Review by Jonathan Fass, Jewish Book Council, August 30, 2021
Natan Notable Book award citation, Jewish Book Council, November 23, 2021
Review by Yaniv Iczkovitz, New York Times, Sept. 28, 2021
Review by Pamela S. Nadell, The Washington Post, October 15, 2021
Review by Renee Ghert-Zand, The Times of Israel, September 17, 2021
Op-Ed by Dara Horn, The Washington Post, January 27, 2022
Podcast (includes transcript) Dara Horn with Nahanni Rous, Jewish Women’s Archive, December 7, 2021
Dara Horn in conversation with Adam Kirsch, September 23, 2021 (video)
Awards: 2021 National Jewish Book Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice;
Finalist 2021 Kirkus Prize in nonfiction; New York Times Notable Book of the Year; American Library Association Notable Book; Wall Street Journal, Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
