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People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present Paperback – September 13, 2022

4.6 out of 5 stars 2,484 ratings

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Winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award for Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Life and Prac­tice
Finalist for the 2021
Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction

A
New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Wall Street Journal, Chicago Public Library, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

A startling and profound exploration of how Jewish history is exploited to comfort the living.

Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture―and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks―Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.

Horn draws upon her travels, her research, and also her own family life―trying to explain Shakespeare’s Shylock to a curious ten-year-old, her anger when swastikas are drawn on desks in her children’s school, the profound perspective offered by traditional religious practice and study―to assert the vitality, complexity, and depth of Jewish life against an antisemitism that, far from being disarmed by the mantra of "Never forget," is on the rise. As Horn explores the (not so) shocking attacks on the American Jewish community in recent years, she reveals the subtler dehumanization built into the public piety that surrounds the Jewish past―making the radical argument that the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity.

Now including a reading group guide. 

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a beautiful book, and in its particular genre―nonfiction meditations on the murder of Jews, particularly in the Holocaust, and the place of the dead in the American imagination―it can have few rivals. In fact, I can’t think of any."
Martin Peretz, Wall Street Journal

"This is one of the best books of essays about Jewish history and culture that I have read in years."
David Herman, The Jewish Chronicle

"“So necessary and so disquieting…
People Love Dead Jews is an outstanding book with a bold mission. It criticizes people, artworks, and public institutions that few others dare to challenge.”"
Yaniv Iczkovits, New York Times Book Review

"Extremely engaging... Horn will make you think."
Jeffrey Salkin, Washington Post

"Horn is clearly exhausted about thinking about dead Jews, and about antisemitism, and you can feel her emotion through the page. But she channels the emotion to weave together a large amount of stories ― from Russian Jews living in China to Daf Yomi ― and what results is a compelling series of essays."
Emily Burack, Alma

"
People Love Dead Jews is, of all things, a deeply entertaining book, from its whopper of a title on. Horn’s sarcasm is bracing, reminding us that the politics of Jewish memory often becomes an outrageous marketing of half-truths and outright lies... People Love Dead Jews reminds us that Jewishness is not a museum, a graveyard, or a heritage site but a lively ongoing conversation at a long table that stretches before and behind us. Come out of hiding, Horn urges us, it’s time to take part in Jewish life."
David Mikics, Tablet

"Weav­ing togeth­er his­to­ry, social sci­ence, and per­son­al sto­ry, she asks read­ers to think crit­i­cal­ly about why we ven­er­ate sto­ries and spaces that make the destruc­tion of world Jew­ry a com­pelling nar­ra­tive while also min­i­miz­ing the cur­rent cri­sis of anti­semitism...
Peo­ple Love Dead Jews offers no defin­i­tive solu­tion to the para­dox it unfolds. Horn leaves the read­er with sev­er­al inter­wo­ven expla­na­tions, each of which lead us to con­front the dark real­i­ty that Jew­ish deaths make for a com­pelling edu­ca­tion­al nar­ra­tive, while fac­ing the anti­semitism of the present demands a com­mit­ment to equal­i­ty that the world remains unable to embrace."
Jonathan Fass, Jewish Book Council

"How can a book filled with anger, a book about anti-Semitism and entitled
People Love Dead Jews, be delectable at the same time? The novelist Dara Horn has done it, combining previously published pieces in a work that is far greater than the sum of its parts."
Elliot Abrams, Commentary

"The questions and ideas raised by Horn in
People Love Dead Jews are ― like the Yiddish stories she writes about ― endless and defiant of neat solutions. But there is comfort to be found, in the most Jewish ways, in her humour and clear-eyed critical thinking."
Keren David, The Jewish Chronicle

"Barely concealed behind the breezy-sounding words ‘People Love,’ cannily reminiscent of a soap ad, is the implicit understanding that ‘people don’t love live Jews’ and even its complement, ‘people love Jews dead.’ In her latest masterpiece, Horn means them all, and more. The best-selling novelist, professor of Jewish literature, and devoted mother of four does not hesitate to confront this hypocrisy head-on... Horn diagnoses with astonishing accuracy the origins, symptoms, and intransigence of the spiritual cancer at the heart of modern culture."
Juliana Geran Pilon, Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs

"Horn herself [is] sometimes a witness, at others providing insightful commentary full of anguish and rage. This is not an easy book to read. But wrestling with Horn’s ideas makes for a rich experience. In all, a profound lament."
Ilene Cooper, Booklist

"Dara Horn proposes a disturbingly fresh reckoning with an ancient hatred, refusing all categories of victimhood and sentimentality. She offers a passionate display of the self-renewing vitality of Jewish belief and practice. Because antisemitism is a Christian problem more than a Jewish one, Christian readers need this book. It is urgently important."
James Carroll, author of The Truth at the Heart of the Lie

"Dara Horn’s thoughtful, incisive essays constitute a searing investigation of modern-day antisemitism, in all its disguises and complications. No matter where Horn casts her acute critical eye―from the ruins of the Jewish community in Harbin, China, to the tragedy at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue―the reports she brings back are at once surprising and enlightening and necessary."
Ruth Franklin, author of Shirley Jackson and A Thousand Darknesses

"Dara Horn has an uncommon mastery of the literary essay, and she applies it here with a relentless, even furious purpose. Horn makes well-worn debates―on Anne Frank and Hannah Arendt, for instance―newly provocative and urgent. Her best essays are by turns tragic and comic, and her magnificent mini biography of Varian Fry alone justifies paying the full hardcover price."
Tom Reiss, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

"To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle, George Orwell told us. Dara Horn has engaged that struggle, and in
People Love Dead Jews she explains why so many prefer the mythologized, dead Jewish victim to the living Jew next door. It’s gripping, and stimulating, and it’s the best collection of essays I have read in a long, long time."
Mark Oppenheimer, author of Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood

About the Author

Dara Horn is the author of five novels and was one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. She has taught Jewish literature at Harvard, Sarah Lawrence College, and Yeshiva University. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (September 13, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324035943
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1324035947
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 2,484 ratings

About the author

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Dara Horn
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Dara Horn was born in New Jersey in 1977 and received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University in 2006, studying Hebrew and Yiddish. In 2007 she was chosen by Granta magazine as one of America’s “Best Young American Novelists.” Her first novel, In the Image, published by W.W. Norton when she was 25, received a 2003 National Jewish Book Award, the 2002 Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and the 2003 Reform Judaism Fiction Prize. Her second novel, The World to Come, published by W.W. Norton in 2006, received the 2006 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the 2007 Harold U. Ribalow Prize, was selected as an Editors’ Choice in The New York Times Book Review and as one of the Best Books of 2006 by The San Francisco Chronicle, and has been translated into eleven languages. Her third novel, All Other Nights, published in 2009 by W.W. Norton, was selected as an Editors’ Choice in The New York Times Book Review and was one of Booklist’s 25 Best Books of the Decade. In 2012, her nonfiction e-book The Rescuer was published by Tablet magazine and became a Kindle bestseller. Her newest novel, A Guide for the Perplexed, is available in September 2013. She has taught courses in Jewish literature and Israeli history at Harvard, Sarah Lawrence College, and City University of New York, and has lectured at over two hundred universities and cultural institutions throughout North America and in Israel. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
2,484 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book deeply insightful and thought-provoking, with profound insights into both Judaism and antisemitism, making it a must-read for both Jews and non-Jews. They praise the writer's original style and find it engaging, with one customer noting it stimulates conversations. The book receives mixed reactions regarding its eye-opening nature, with some finding it unbelievably eye-opening while others describe it as horrific at times.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

78 customers mention "Insight"75 positive3 negative

Customers find the book insightful and profoundly thought-provoking, describing it as a scholarly and deeply resonant exploration.

"...It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding both what and how Jews think. I sincerely thank Dara Horn for writing it...." Read more

"Interesting and important read. I think it’s a collection of magazine pieces, some better than others, although all well written...." Read more

"Intense, informative, and wide-ranging in scope, Dara Horn writes of the evils, dangers, and horrific reality of anti-Semitism using various..." Read more

"...chapters that she brings to light, what is probably the perfect analysis of "The Merchant of Venice" that I have felt all my life, and much, much..." Read more

43 customers mention "Readability"41 positive2 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a must-read and an extraordinary work.

"This book is not an easy read but is a very important book for anyone who is Jewish or who wants to understand the history of discrimination and..." Read more

"Interesting and important read. I think it’s a collection of magazine pieces, some better than others, although all well written...." Read more

"...in the know, however, the book, so cleverly written makes it so worth reading...." Read more

"Each chapter of this marvelous book brings up an issue that had never occurred to me before, and I've studied antisemitism for 60 years...." Read more

17 customers mention "Sexism"17 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's deep insights into both Judaism and antisemitism, and find it a must-read for both Jews and non-Jews.

"This book has opened a door to my little known and unexplored Jewish identity...." Read more

"...In her 240 page book, Horn provides a detailed and somber analysis of modern anti-Semitism...." Read more

"...Will make the reader look at Jews and the problem of anti-semitism from a new perspective. Definitely worth reading...." Read more

"...you’re interested in Jewish world history, and also in a brilliant take on anti-Semitism, this deeply resonant book is a mandatory read...." Read more

12 customers mention "Writer quality"12 positive0 negative

Customers praise the author's writing style, describing it as outstanding and original, with one customer noting it is extremely intelligent.

"...By the way, it is exceptionally well-written." Read more

"Dara Horn is a gifted writer, and in this book she addresses a major issue that I have gnashed my teeth about whenever I've gone to certain places..." Read more

"A brilliant and an important book. A must read for humanity." Read more

"Authors style is very out front" Read more

9 customers mention "Engages reader"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging, with one mentioning it stimulates lots of conversations and another noting how it makes hard truths easier to hear.

"...Obviously the title was provocative, but the interview was so fascinating, I never even finished listening to the podcast, I just immediately..." Read more

"Unbelievably eye opening. So astute, insightful, well written and engaging...." Read more

"Really fun read. Sad, but fun. The chapter about "frozen jews" in particular was very interesting and not something I had knowledge of...." Read more

"...Lots of great info packed in with stories that make the hard truths easier to hear. Clear ties to what is happening in America today...." Read more

6 customers mention "Timeline"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book timely and prescient, with one noting it opened a door to previously unknown information.

"This book has opened a door to my little known and unexplored Jewish identity...." Read more

"Prescient. Problems so fundamental that to say they are systemic is the under-statement of the centuries...." Read more

"...This is historical and personal. And sadly timely. Useful painful reality is the best description I can come up with." Read more

"Incredible Insights and discovery. A must read for Jew and non-jew" Read more

13 customers mention "Eye opening"8 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the book's eye-opening content, with some finding it unbelievably revealing while others describe it as profoundly depressing.

"Unbelievably eye opening. So astute, insightful, well written and engaging...." Read more

"I found this profoundly depressing. I also think it should be required reading. It provides relevance and context to current times...." Read more

"...Definitely eye opening and worth a read." Read more

"...with the survival of Israel and the Jewish people, this book was an eye opener...." Read more

Eye-Opening
5 out of 5 stars
Eye-Opening
A very interesting eye-opening book which provokes non-Jews to consider and respect living Jews. The title is explained in that more interest is shown to the dead than to the living. An example of this is the Jewish employee working at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam being asked to cover his yarmulke with a ball cap!I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to others.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2024
    This book is not an easy read but is a very important book for anyone who is Jewish or who wants to understand the history of discrimination and violence against Jews over time, and how Jews have often been complicit or unaware of what is happening to them. It helps put current events in perspective. Jodi Horn is brilliant.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2024
    This book has opened a door to my little known and unexplored Jewish identity. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding both what and how Jews think. I sincerely thank Dara Horn for writing it.

    By the way, it is exceptionally well-written.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2021
    Interesting and important read. I think it’s a collection of magazine pieces, some better than others, although all well written. They are sort of held together by a single theme, for me finding a common thread was occasionally a bit of a stretch. I learned a lot, and usually agreed with the point of view, and even when I didn’t it gave me food for thought.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2021
    Intense, informative, and wide-ranging in scope, Dara Horn writes of the evils, dangers, and horrific reality of anti-Semitism using various examples in Jewish history. Whether in China, Russia, Europe, or the US, anti-Semitism thrives, post Holocaust. The author examines the essence and virulent hatred of anti-Semitism.
    Referencing incidents from Simon of Trent in Italy, 1475, to the 1581 vicious murder of Roderigo Lopez under Elizabeth I, (whose predecessors conjured the Blood Libel upon the death of William of Norwich 1144, and in the next century, Edward I would participate in one of the first expulsions of Jews in Europe. Jews would not return to England until 1650 under Cromwell). From Shakespearean plays to Anne Frank’s book, to the burnings of Jewish Sacred Books, Horn shows a pattern of hatred and perceived wickedness of Jews.
    Rendered from age-old tropes propagated by Christian works and beliefs over centuries led to the unmitigated murder of two million Jewish children in last century, and to extend to murders of Jews in the recent years. Further, in mirror image, Dara Horn reveals the absence of genuine respect for Jews while laying claim of adoration, sympathy or ridiculous expectations.
    Furthermore, and much appreciated, is the mention of the new genre of Holocaust material produced by non-Jews (or even pretend Jews whose work is patently not Jewish).
    In these popular works, non-Jews are often the saviors of the Jews, when in reality, the situation was very rare (though when, recognized and treasured). The Holocaust is not about racism. The Holocaust is not universal.
    Through Jewish identity, the author relates differences in varied cultures and morals from behavior towards animals to political/religious oppression.
    The author speaks specifically to the uniqueness of Judaism and to the uniqueness of anti-Semitism.
    For Some Reviewers: What the book is Not about:
    Donald Trump or other contemporary political leaders. The book Is about Obsession and Irrational Hatred. Equally, the book was not about the glory of rebuilding Jewish Heritage Sites to benefit for profit on the backs of Dead Jews but the abject loss of the Jews murdered or discarded.
    Whom we must never forget are men like Varian Fry, the Righteous of the World.
    Perhaps not much new for Jews in the know, however, the book, so cleverly written makes it so worth reading.
    As succinctly stated by the author: Anti Semitism is a conspiracy of hate against Jews/Judaism.
    44 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024
    In "People Love Dead Jews," Dara Horn picks up the threads of Bob Dylan's song "Neighborhood Bully," from his 1974 album, "Infidels." In "Neighborhood Bully," Dylan focuses on the conflict between Israel and Hamas / Islamic Jihad / Hezbollah / Iran and summarizes it, and the history of the Jews and others in a 4 1/2 minute hard driving and angry rock and roll song.

    In her 240 page book, Horn provides a detailed and somber analysis of modern anti-Semitism. She begins with Anne Frank, "the Second Most Popular Dead Jew." Then Horn discusses anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, Communist China, Nazi Europe in the 20th Century and the United States and Europe today.

    Just as Dylan's song is not easy to listen to, Horn's book is not easy to read. However, both are valuable to students of human history. Both are about power, raw political power, how it has been used and abused against Jews, and strategies for fighting back. Both focus on the Jews, and Israel, but the specific examples of the Jews and Israel are generally relevant to humanity as a whole.
    12 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2025
    I’m not sure I will ever take another tour of a lost Jewish community and feel the same way about it as I once did. This is a perspective shifting book.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2021
    I read this book in two nights based on a podcast that accidentally came through my FB feed. Obviously the title was provocative, but the interview was so fascinating, I never even finished listening to the podcast, I just immediately ordered the book. As a college professor at a school known for its non-diversity and its indifference toward Jews, Jewish culture, and Jewish concerns, in particular, there is a constant "hum" of antisemitism that is difficult to oppose and overcome. Ms. Horn articulates not only that "hum" but describes it to a "T" when the "hum" becomes a "roar" of not just indifference but outright hatred. There are historical chapters that she brings to light, what is probably the perfect analysis of "The Merchant of Venice" that I have felt all my life, and much, much more. If I had to part ways with the book, and this is just my own stylistic preference (spoiler alert coming, folks), it's the conclusion. I don't doubt it's true, and I don't doubt it means a great deal to her to have found her peace in the way she finds it. For my cynical world view, it's just a bit too pat for me. Don't let that stop you from reading it, though. You may be less cynical than I am. I encourages my colleagues in the Department of Art History to invest in copies, both Jews and non-Jews, and they responded very favorably to the way(s) in which she fills in the "blanks" of history. As soon as I was finished with it, I started it again. So grateful to have been made aware of this author and her succinct, clear, and laser-pointed style.
    28 people found this helpful
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  • S. M
    5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book I've read in years
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2024
    Published almsot 4 years ago but accurately predicts pretty much everything that's happened in the last year. So many things that have shocked me would have been far less shocking (though no less scary and depressing) if I'd read this book before. So many pieces of the puzzle have suddenly fallen into place.
    I've only just finished it and already plan to read it again.
  • Francisco Inacio Bastos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Simplesmente brilhante
    Reviewed in Brazil on March 9, 2024
    Não conhecia até então a Autora, amplamente consagrada como ficcionista, e, por acaso, encontrei o seu primeiro livro de ensaios a um preço acessível.

    A despeito de uma formação refinada nas mais diferentes diferentes disciplinas e vertentes do campo denominado em geral "humanidades", com foco na literatura mas de forma alguma limitada a esta, a Autora se vale de conceitos claros e escreve em um inglês límpido e elegante. Nada das tediosas retóricas empoladas, o mais das vezes vazias, de tantos autores.

    Suas ideias são expressas de forma destemida, mesmo quando critica, com pertinência, "monstros sagrados", como Frank Kermode (1919-2010) ou Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). Em relação a esta última, impressiona a capacidade de síntese de Dara Horn, que, em poucas linhas, resume os argumentos da excelente coletânea "Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem" (não confundir com o livro, muito anterior, de Arendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem).

    Assumi o compromisso comigo mesmo de ler o que me for possível da obra de ficção dessa Autora multipremiada. Endosso o que consta dos inúmeros comentários críticos incluídos no próprio livro, assim como valorizo os vários prêmios que foram atribuídos a essa obra rara em nossos tempos: honesta, sensível e precisa.
    Report
  • tumbleweed
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy of the title “Required Reading” in every academic subject and, most especially, before learning or teaching about the Holocaust.
    Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2024
    How I wish this book has existed decades ago so that I could at least make sense of the “what” and “how” of antisemitism and the mob thinking that it embodies in individuals.

    One can never make sense of the “why” and the “when”; it burns like an eternal flame. And yet, it is possible to imagine being Jewish (theistic, atheistic, secular, sort of observant , culturally, spiritually, and nationally (and/or some combination thereof) in a world that is not antisemitic. The expectation has alwasy been on Jews to prove they are not worthy of such hatred. How odd to expect such a thing from a people whose collective history and individual commitments have given so much to humanity. How odd it is to place the burden not on the offender to become better educated, more self-reflective and humane.

    There is a spiny solace to be had in reading this book - in these times - to understand not just the most blatant aspects of antisemitism (the ones that can be easily traced in seemingly fixed historical events and which a collective denial of responsibility is easy to assume “Well, that was a very dark time in human history, but it’s not our fault”, rather than a “How the hell did that come to be?”.

    This is the book you hand to someone who says, “Jews have it good now.” or “Jews make such a big deal over antisemitism. It’s not that bad. What about[insert other target group … as if one should deny their reality of being on the receiving end of hate because there are other kinds of hate in the world.” And yet, there is nothing quite like antisemitism … its pervasiveness, its endurance its ”usefulness” until it is not longer useful. Horn is able to show how antisemitism has become so “well-practiced”, so ingrained around the world that it is like a genetic chromosome to societies … in the same way the intergenerational trauma has gone on for so long, it can be genetically detected in Jews. The virus that is Antisemitism - even as it lies dormant - has become so normalized, so internalized by most of humanity that it seems to have become an integral part of human (d)evolution.

    This book is worthy of the title required reading - even before learning about the Holocaust.

    The audio book is exquisitely narrated, for those who prefer - and even for those who don’t, if only because the internal Jewish voice and the emphasis are particularly valuable, most especially to those who are not Jewish and simply may not “get” or be able to distinguish between the sarcasm, the anguish, and the sense of perplexity.
  • Mandalame
    5.0 out of 5 stars This has rattled me
    Reviewed in Australia on January 26, 2025
    The story around us is so agenda driven, this has woken me up and reminded to be watchful of my thoughts, assumptions, and my indulgences. Dara writes so clearly but with devastating punch. A must read.
  • elizabeth mason
    5.0 out of 5 stars Make this the one book you read
    Reviewed in Canada on January 25, 2025
    If this is the only book you read this year let it be this one. It was written prior to 10/7 but is it ever relevant to the world right now.