Reviews for Sports and the American Jew

The average rating for Sports and the American Jew based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-09-26 00:00:00 Kory Martin-damon Probably the most thorough overview on one of the most contentious transformations in curricular and pedagogical methods you're going to get. Holocaust education has been an unprecedented curricular movement for four reasons. First, while the idea of teaching the Holocaust received some initial resistance, it has for the most part been, in the words of sociologist Alan Mintz, "a point of moral consensus between the right and left." Second, while Holocaust education has been a source of political consensus, it has been a forum for fierce curricular debate. In other words, while everyone may agree that the Holocaust should be taught, they can-not agree on how it should be done. The curricular debate turned into a political one only when state and federal politicians sought to put their stamp of approval on activities that were already taking place at the grassroots level. Third, Holocaust education has endured a major shift in educational and curricular history. Holocaust education in the public schools arose from the neo-progressive strands of the 1960s and 1970s that engendered student "self-realization" and "relevance," but when the political and educational climate changed in the 1980s and 1990s to a more conservative environment, calling for "back-to-basics" and standardized testing, Holocaust education actually gained momentum. In addition Holocaust education, which aligned with the overall goals of the comprehensive high school, increased in popularity at a time when the institution of the secondary school itself came under attack. Fourth, the rise of Holocaust education was a grassroots phenomenon initiated by practicing teachers. While Jewish organizations and state governments often enthusiastically endorsed Holocaust education, the specific curricula themselves were developed by local teachers, who had already been teaching the subject, and often involved the collaboration of Jewish and non-Jewish teachers. From these curricula we can also see the two main contexts from which Holocaust education emerged. [...] The first context, represented by New York City and Teaneck, New Jersey, were areas with substantial Jewish populations. The Holocaust was presented as having direct cultural relevance for students. Although connections were often made to other genocides and current issues, these were largely approached through the lens of the Jewish experience under the Nazis. Contrastingly, the other context, represented by Vineland, New Jersey, and Brookline, Massachusetts, were areas with high non-white minority populations. The Holocaust had indirect relevance for these students, who were experiencing prejudice and discrimination in the present. The Holocaust was approached through an investigation into human nature with the Jewish experience just one of many analogous examples. Both of these approaches had roots in the affective revolution, which called for cultural relevance and controversy. Changes in the political climate during the neoconservative 1980s mandated revision. It was self-evident to many Americans the potential politically subversive nature of what and how things were being thought so a movement towards just getting across a more straight forward politic imperative of protecting the security and Judaic ethnic integrity of the state of Israel became the core lesson. ...the idea of using history to "liberalize" students made curricular and political conservatives as well as many historians uneasy. The Facing History controversy provided a concrete example of the century-long theoretical discussion about the most effective way to teach history. Savvy commentators such as [Lucy] Dawidowicz saw the curriculum for what it was'a representative example of the progressive, social studies approach to teaching history. Therefore, she not only attacked the curriculum, but also the underlying assumptions that engendered it. But others considered the curriculum some sort of excessively liberal aberration. They attacked it for inspiring civil disobedience and instilling irrational fears of nuclear war and contemporary American Holocausts. But no one criticized the fact that American students needed to learn about the Holocaust; on this basic fact, all could agree.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-21 00:00:00 Brian Dirk Josephus was an important Jewish historian from the late 1st century. Four of his texts are extant. The Jewish War is a description of the disastrous Jewish rebellion of 66 AD. The second, The Antiquities of the Jews, is a summary of Jewish history from Genesis up to the outbreak of the war. This book contains Josephus' two minor works: an autobiography and Against Apion, a defense of Judaism against its Roman critics. Personally, I don't find Josephus to be a gifted writer. His prose comes across as stuffy and laborious - although this is probably (in part) because his last major translator died in the 18th century. So for me, his texts sink or swim based off of their historical interest. The Autobiography largely fails this test. It was written, at least in part, as a defense against attacks from Justus of Tiberius. Josephus was an easy target after the failure of the Jewish rebellion, as he gave himself up to the Romans rather than commit suicide and became more or less an agent of the Empire. As a result, the bulk of the Autobiography is concerned with defending Josephus' conduct during his time as a general in Galilee. Most of the interesting bits were covered in The Jewish War, so if you've read that this is largely a rehash. Against Apion looked more promising. I thought this might be an interesting defense against 1st century anti-Semitism. But for the first half it is mostly concerned with proving that Jewish culture is at least as old as Greek culture (mission accomplished, FWIW). It picks up a bit in the second half. A few Gentile rumors are deftly defused, including one eye-opener where the Jews would supposedly capture a Greek citizen, keep him in the temple to fatten him up for a year, then sacrifice him (even eating him!). Josephus skewers these myths with admirable sarcasm, and also turns the tables by exposing the ludicrousness of some of the Greco-Roman beliefs, including the exploits of one Zeus/Jupiter himself: " [T]he chief of all their gods, and their first father himself, overlooks those goddesses whom he hath deluded and begotten with child, and suffers them to be kept in prison, or drowned in the sea. He is also so bound up by fate, that he cannot save his own offspring, nor can he bear their deaths without shedding of tears. These are fine things indeed! as are the rest that follow. Adulteries truly are so impudently looked on in heaven by the gods, that some of them have confessed they envied those that were found in the very act. And why should they not do so, when the eldest of them, who is their king also, hath not been able to restrain himself in the violence of his lust, from lying with his wife, so long as they might get into their bedchamber?" /drops mic But, for the most part, this is dedicated to showing that Judaism is an old belief system, and it's not going to scintillate the average reader. Having gone through Josephus' whole corpus, the only text I'd recommend to general readers is The Jewish War, and even that I'd only recommend to readers specifically interested in 1st century history. Jewish Antiquities has some notable passages, but they are buried in a long, uninspired presentation of history that will put all but the most determined readers to sleep. That text is of great interest for historians as a primary source, but it's not particularly engaging. As for these minor works? If you've made it through the first two texts, and aren't completely sick of Josephus' style, they're worth a read. They are much shorter than his major works, and each have their interesting moments. But there's simply not a lot to recommend here. 2 stars.