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The Damascus Affair

The Damascus Affair
'Ritual Murder', Politics, and the Jews in 1840

  • Date Published: April 1997
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9780521483964

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About the Authors
  • In February 1840, an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Many Jews in that city were charged with ritual murder and tortured until they confessed. The case turned into a cause célèbre across much of the western world, even becoming a factor in the major diplomatic conflicts of the period, and produced an explosion of polemics, fantastic theories, and strange projects. The religious revival and romanticism of the period provided fertile soil for every speculation. This 1997 book, the first since 1840 to analyse the affair, assesses the Damascus affair as a factor in European and Jewish politics of the time, as a chapter in Jewish history and historiography, and as the stuff of radically conflicting myths - myths which eventually fed into the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel.

    • First book on subject in 150 years
    • Lots of quotes create novelistic effect
    • Illustrated with political cartoons
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    Reviews & endorsements

    'Jonathan Frankel's book pulls together much that was known, deflates a number of myths, and integrates a horrifying Jewish cause célébre into mainstream international history. His erudition, his impressive command of languages, and sensitivity in sifting through complex issues make The Damascus Affair an important addition to the growing literature in modern Jewish history.' The Times Literary Supplement

    'To the historiography of 1840 this book is a singularly valuable contribution, excelling its predecessors by the wealth of material adduced, the insight into motives and policies and the sobriety of its conclusions.' English Historical Review

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    Product details

    • Date Published: April 1997
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9780521483964
    • length: 512 pages
    • dimensions: 228 x 152 x 25 mm
    • weight: 0.68kg
    • contains: 26 b/w illus.
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    Preface
    1. Introduction
    Part I. The Dynamics of Ritual Murder:
    2. Ritual murder: official documents
    3. The mechanics and motivations of the case
    4. Beyond Damascus: early reactions
    5. The consuls divide
    Part II. In Search of Support:
    6. The press, the politicians, and the Jews
    7. Restoring the balance: the Middle East
    8. Political polarization and the genesis of the mission to the East
    Part III. 1840 - Perceptions, Polemics, Prophecies:
    9. The crisis: Jewish perceptions
    10. The religious polemics
    11. Christian Millennialists, Jewish Messianists, and Lord Palmerston
    12. Jewish nationalism in embryo
    Part IV. Last Things:
    13. Alexandria on the eve of war
    14. The final lap: public opinion in Europe
    15. In the wake of the war: the return to routine
    Part V. In Retrospect:
    16. Between historiography and myth: the two primary versions of the affair
    17. Conclusion.

  • Author

    Jonathan Frankel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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