Russians, Jews, and the Pogroms of 1881–1882
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 3/31/2011
EAN 9780521895484, ISBN10: 0521895480
Hardcover, 518 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Anti-Jewish pogroms rocked the Russian Empire in 1881–2, plunging both the Jewish community and the imperial authorities into crisis. Focusing on a wide range of responses to the pogroms, this book offers the most comprehensive, balanced, and complex study of the crisis to date. It presents a nuanced account of the diversity of Jewish political reactions and introduces a wealth of new sources covering Russian and other non-Jewish reactions to these events. Seeking to answer the question of what caused the pogroms' outbreak and spread, the book provides a fuller picture of how officials at every level responded to the national emergency and irrevocably lays to rest the myth that the authorities instigated or tolerated the pogroms. This is essential reading not only for Russian and Jewish historians but also for those interested in the study of ethnic violence more generally.
Part I. Introduction
the Russian Empire and its Jews
1. The pogroms of 1881–2
2. What was a pogrom?
Part II
3. Confronting the pogroms
4. Russian society views the pogroms
5. The crystallization of prejudice
6. Prejudice into policy
7. The pogroms as foreign policy crisis
Part III
8. Jewish responses to the pogroms
9. The Jewish press and the emigration crisis
10. Politics without prophecy
11. The pogroms as humanitarian crisis
Epilogue
legends of the pogroms.