Can The Whole World Be Wrong? - (Antisemitism in America) by Richard Landes (Paperback)

About the Book

Drawing on the dynamics of apocalyptic movements, Landes looks at the turn of the millennium in terms of a radical mismatch between two millennial styles, an Islamist pre-modern (Caliphators) and a Western post-modern (Woke). Due to a striking cognitive failure, Westerners could neither see nor discuss the foe they faced, and repeatedly, convinced they were bending the arc of history towards justice, took sharp wrong turns.

Book Synopsis

Drawing on the dynamics of apocalyptic movements, Landes looks at the turn of the millennium in terms of a radical mismatch between two millennial styles, an Islamist pre-modern (Caliphators) and a Western post-modern (Woke). Due to a striking cognitive failure, Westerners could neither see nor discuss the foe they faced, and repeatedly, convinced they were bending the arc of history towards justice, took sharp wrong turns.

Review Quotes

"With its crisp, penetrating prose, its mastery of original and devastatingly insightful terminology (some of which is presented above), with moments of humor sprinkled in despite its very dark and depressing topic, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned for the Jews, Israel, and the future of Western Civilization."

- Andrew Pessin, The Tel Aviv Review of Books

"(...) Landes's new work makes a distinctive and valuable contribution to the large body of existing literature on antisemitism and the global jihad. This is especially evident when he... brings his excellent skills of close reading, textual analysis, and attention to detail to bear on the material. At its core, this is a compelling critique of the various journalists and public figures --especially in France, Britain, and the United States--who managed to be consistently wrong about the facts and their causes."

-- Jeffrey Herf, Quillette

"From the moment Yasser Arafat launched his long-planned second intifada against Israel in 2000, the most brazen lies about both Jews and Israel were relentlessly told and widely believed. ... Richard Landes's new work ... fearlessly, carefully, relentlessly and brilliantly documents this history. ... This book is an important history lesson..."

-- Phyllis Chesler, Jewish News Syndicate

"Early in this deeply researched and absorbing work, Prof. Richard Landes... argues, if he has assessed and analyzed the issues correctly, global opinion has been consistently misled by the media about the truth of the Arab-Israel dispute, that this lethal journalism has fostered a continuous rise in antisemitism in the West, and that blinkered and largely unaware, the civilized world is facing an insidious enemy intent on its destruction. ... [T]o the question he poses in his title - Can 'The Whole World' Be Wrong? - his closely reasoned, gripping and revelatory work returns a clear answer. Yes."

-- Neville Teller, The Jerusalem Post

"Landes dwells upon the al-Durah hoax in his new and magnificent book Can the Whole World be Wrong?: Lethal Journalism, Antisemitism and Global Jihad. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand today's lunacies. "

-- Melanie Phillips, Jewish News Syndicate

"Dr. Landes sees the global jihad's hatred of Israel as a victor over Muslims and a non-Muslim sovereign state in the middle east as fundamental if generally unacknowledged. His portrayal of the global jihad as hateful, dangerous, and detached from reality is convincing. This is a scholarly and passionate tome."

-- Shmuel Ben-Gad, AJL News & Reviews

"Relatively few members of Western elites have had the courage to speak up openly on behalf of Western civilisation. Richard Landes is one of these intrepid few. ... This brief review... has certainly not done justice to the full richness and complexity of Landes' thoughts. No 700-word review, after all, could possibly capture the full richness and complexity of a 500-page book. Suffice it to say here that... his findings and conclusions are eminently level-headed. Furthermore, whilst his book concentrates heavily on Jewish and Israeli themes, it can certainly be read with profit by anyone concerned about the direction in which Western societies are rapidly moving."

-- David Rodman,&#

About the Author

Professor Richard Landes was trained as a medievalist and taught in the Boston University History Department. He is now an independent historian living in Jerusalem. His work focuses on apocalyptic beliefs at the the turn of the first millennium (the Peace of God) and the second millennium (Global Jihad, Woke).