Jews and Power

Description: It is Wisses bracing theory that the Jewish people have been corrupted--not by power but by powerlessness. She argues that in displaying the resilience necessary to survive in exile, the Jews left too much to God thereby increasing their vulnerability to scapegoating and violence.

Review Quotes: Praise for Ruth Wisse's Jews and Power
"In this remark­able and high­ly read­able book, Wisse pro­vides a new way of think­ing about the Jew­ish rela­tion­ship to pow­er. . . . [A] bril­liant analy­sis. . . cer­tain­ly a book for our times--coura­geous, hon­est, and cogent." --Jewish Book Council

"Challenging, erudite and penetrating. . . Wisse shows no fear in these pages in saying exactly what she thinks, and you can't help but be impressed with her chutzpah, even if you totally disagree with her. . . . Jews and Power makes no claim for objectivity, but it is an elucidating book. It will cause liberals to question their self-consciousness about Israel, since Wisse's argument about Jewish apologism challenges liberal ideas of victimhood. For conservatives, the book offers an intellectual understanding of what otherwise might seem to be only tribalistic loyalties." --Los Angeles Times

"Ambitious. . . . Jews and Power is a powerful salvo in the war of ideas over the Jewish state." --Claremont Review of Books

"It is a testament to the importance of [Ruth Wisse's] theme, and to the thoroughness with which she examines it, that Jews and Power can also serve as a basis for pondering the broader self-doubt, often cloaked in pretensions of superior morality, that today infects much of the liberal democratic West. For providing that lesson, and for doing so with passion, eloquence, and peerless intellectual verve, Wisse deserves all honor and gratitude." --Commentary

"In an era of deepening political and moral confusion, Ruth Wisse supplies a voice that is both clarion and courageous. Hers is a vital message for anyone who cares about Israel's fate and the future of the Jewish people. Jews and Power is a book for our times and a cogent call for clarity."
--Michael Oren, author of Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present

"Wisse's brilliantly discerning analysis supplies insights so historically striking, and so currently indispensable, that no honest thinker can do without them." --Cynthia Ozick, author of Heir to the Glimmering World

"A book . . . that celebrates the Jewish return to sovereign power, in all its promise and complexity, is as unusual as it is welcome. Wisse has written such a book . . . [Jews and Power is] a good, fighting book that contains much information in few pages." --New York Times Book Review

"This survey of Jewish history highlights the political aspect of Jewish experience. . . . Wisse is in fine form with well-reasoned, self-assured arguments bound to provoke heated debate among interested intellectuals." --Publishers Weekly