Monday May 8, 2023
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and the Allure of Conspiracy
12:00pm - 1:00pm PT
Location: Room 294 in Smith Memorial Student Union (SMSU)
Free (no registration required)
Description:
Why has "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" managed to draw such widespread attention with countless reprints and websites in many languages -- across the political spectrum -- foregrounding its message of a mysterious Jewish cabal controlling the world's finances and politics? Professor Zipperstein will explore the reasons for its extraordinary resilience, this particularly surprising since it is definitively known to have been copied, almost word for word, from a mid-19th century attack on Napoleon III. Few better examples exist on the world stage of the resilience of "fake news."
* In preparation for this talk, Professor Zipperstein recommends reading an excerpt from his book Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History. Chapter 5: "Sages of Zion, Pavel Krushevan, and the Shadow of Kishinev."
About the book: Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History
Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award (History)
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by The Economist and The East Hampton Star
Shortlisted for the Mark Lynton History Prize
Separating historical fact from fantasy, an acclaimed historian retells the story of Kishinev, a riot that transformed the course of twentieth-century Jewish history.
Distinguished historian Steven J. Zipperstein’s wide-ranging book brings historical insight and clarity to a much-misunderstood event that would do so much to transform twentieth-century Jewish life and beyond....read more
Biography:
Steven J. Zipperstein is Daniel E. Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University. He is the author and editor of nine books. The most recent, Pogrom: Kishinev and the Tilt of History, was named a book of the year by the Economist, Ha-Aretz, and Mosaic Magazine and shortlisted as the best non-fiction book of the year by the Mark Lytton Prize. He is currently writing a biography of Philip Roth. He has taught at universities in Russia, France, and Israel and for six years at Oxford. Zipperstein is an editor of Yale's Jewish Lives, a biography series which has to date published nearly 70 books. He lives in Berkeley, California.