The late ’50s and early ’60s were a period of progressive activism. Social movements were organized to fight nuclear proliferation and bring down racist and sexist practices in the United States. Kristen Fermaglich, in her book, American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America 1957 – 1965, provides an intriguing and scholarly analysis of how Jewish academics and journalists were actively involved in these progressive efforts, often evoking the imagery of the United States acting in a way similar to the Nazi regime. This hyperbole seems strange to us today but at that time many left leaning and liberal, Jewish and non-Jewish, writers used this analogy to condemn American practices without intending to trivialize the significance of the Holocaust. However, according to Fermaglich, what was distinctive about many of the Jewish American social critics was that they “were peculiarly elusive, even cryptic, in their published work about the murders of millions of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe.” This pattern is typical of many American Jewish intellectuals who have consistently identified vicariously with marginalized people but de-emphasized their own Jewish background. To support her conclusions, Fermaglich presents a fascinating analysis of the social commentary of that period and the treatment of Jews in the Nazi – America analogy. She zeros in on four important intellectuals who shaped the thinking of that period and today’s social thought: Stanley Elkins, Betty Friedan, Stanley Milgram and Robert Jay Lifton.
Fermaglich’s work makes an important contribution to understanding the cultural forces at work in the late 50’s and 60’s and thereafter. It is essential reading for those interested in comprehending modern American Jewish intellectual traditions and the treatment of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism.
