In the years between World War I and World War II, American society became increasingly xenophobic and prejudiced against minorities; these years also are considered the apogee of American antisemitism. One man, perhaps more than any other, played an outsized role in disseminating it. His name was Henry Ford.
In 1942 the Nazis came close to conquering the Middle East during World War II. Gershom Gorenberg , an award-winning journalist and author, spent years researching and piecing together the truth about Rommel’s army and just how close it was to Cairo and Tel Aviv. He will discuss his new book, War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East, and share the journey that took him around the world to learn more about this fascinating story of espionage and intrigue. Gershom will be in conversation with former CBS News correspondent and Moment contributor Dan Raviv.
After Elie Wiesel died, a little-known narrative poem that he wrote in the 1970s, A Tale of a Niggun, was rediscovered. Based on an actual event during the Holocaust, the poem was so moving that it was turned into a book. Join Elie’s son Elisha—who pays tribute to his father with the book’s introduction— and Elie’s dear friend—award-winning artist Mark Podwal—who illustrated the book, as they discuss how the poem was discovered, why it is so important and the power of wordless Jewish melodies. With Moment Editor-in-Chief Nadine Epstein, editor of Elie Wiesel: An Extraordinary Life.
Held in observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Historian E.M. Rose discusses her award-winning book The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe, a fascinating micro-history of a mysterious 12th century murder and the ensuing court case. Rose’s groundbreaking work provides clear answers as to why the blood libel emerged when it did and how it was able to gain such widespread acceptance, laying the foundations for enduring anti-Semitic myths that continue to the present.
And who is Jacob Schiff that he should be embarrassed by my Uncle Ben Daynovsky?
The title of her new book is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. It retells the history of American racism from slavery to segregation, from everyday indignities to the use of lethal force. Throughout, she strives to write not of whites and Blacks, but of the majority caste and the minority caste.
When we interviewed a group of thinkers on the years that altered human history, we were floored by their thoughtful responses. While we had to condense their answers for the print issue, we have curated additional selections from their interviews, which we are so pleased to publish here.
Moment has its origins in Eastern Europe. Leonard Fein and Elie Wiesel named Moment for the influential independent Yiddish-language Der Moment, founded in 1910 in Warsaw, Poland.
Stanley, who is a participant in Moment’s Jewish Political Voices Project, had planned on attending the 50th-anniversary observances on the Kent State campus. All her friends would be there; she booked a hotel reservation a year in advance. But Covid-19 ended all that. A nation on the edge 50 years ago is facing upheaval of a different order.
