People Love Dead Jews

Reports from a Haunted Present

By: Dara Horn

Narrated by: Xe Sands

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 anti-Semitic 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 10-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 anti-Semitism 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.

©2021 Dara Horn (P)2021 Recorded Books

Magnificent

Thought provoking, tragic, funny and beautiful written. I recommend this for anyone struggling with faith.

Should be required reading

An enlightening book for Jews but I think even more important for non-Jews to read/listen to and learn from. Antisemitism is the oldest form of hatred and it’s ever present today. It looks different than other forms of discrimination and can be more insidious. This book really makes you see through the bullshit. It also teaches you a lot about Jewish history beyond the Holocaust that you probably did not know about. I’m not nearly a good a writer as Dara so this review will fall short of doing it justice but please or listen to this book!

Incredibly important book

Amazingly written and researched. For such a short book, it’s amazing, and yet also horrifying just how well this book explains and fits into the modern world. Essential reading for all fellow Jews, and anyone else who considers themselves an ally or is curious about the state of our world today.

Moving. Eye opening. Convicting. Incredibly engaging.

Moving. Eye opening. Convicting. Incredibly engaging. One of the best books I’ve ever read. The readers voice is superb as well, and makes the book an easy listen.

Stunning book

No matter what you are expecting, this book will surprise you. Captivating, punchy, wise.
Sands’ reading, too, is superb.