Square One: A Memoir; New Edition - Softcover

Forster, Arnold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556111665 ISBN 13: 9781556111662

Publisher: Plume, 1989

Synopsis

The author relates his experiences in fighting antiSemitism in America, and in promoting the Jewish culture as a major national officer on the B'nai Brith organization

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Traditional, organized anti-Semitism has decreased sharply over the past 40 years, but Forster, chief attorney for the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League, notes that anti-Jewish attitudes are still deep-rooted and pervasive. As the title of this punchy autobiographical memoir implies, society is almost "back to square one" in the fight against bigotry. One need not agree with his opinions on Jesse Jackson or Israel's handling of the Palestinian uprising to appreciate this outspoken and deeply disturbing report. Forster speaks from firsthand experience: he battled McCarthyism and blacklisting, led the fight against the Arab boycott of U.S. companies doing business with Israel, covered the Adolf Eichmann trial for Look , hobnobbed with Walter Mondale, Henry Luce, Golda Meir, Ben-Gurion. Starting with assaults on Jews made by Father Coughlin, McCarthy, the German-American Bund and the KKK, and continuing to recent incidents, Forster names names and exposes bigots in a jolting reassessment of how American Jews fare today.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Forster was chief attorney of B'nai Brith's Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for nearly 50 years, and his breezy, partisan memoir illuminates portions of the extraordinary career of one of the preeminent defenders of Jewish rights and the State of Israel. Forster's reflections on his many battles against bigotry make fascinating reading, as do his recollections of Ben Gurion and Golda Meir, among others. Although often episodic and superficial, the book is especially revealing about the fight against the blacklist in the 1950s and the Arab boycott of Israel. Forster is not sanguine about the future: organized anti-Semitism has diminished in America, but the anti-Semitic attitude has not, and we are back at "square one." Candid and engaging. Benny Kraut, Univ. of Cincinnati
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 1556111665
• ISBN 13: 9781556111662
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432