‘When General Grant Expelled the Jews’ by Jonathan D. Sarna: A (92%) – Aggregate Book Review

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Historical, Non-Fiction, Rated A, Review

‘When General Grant Expelled the Jews’ by Jonathan D. Sarna
A Excellent (92%)	Summary of the Reviews:
	The story of a Civil War order from General Grant expelling the Jews from areas under his control and its aftermath, this narrative is a well-researched and interesting story of redemption.
	ISBN: 978-0805242799, Pages: 224

Non-Fiction \| Historical \| Judaism \| 1800s
THE BOOK JACKET: A riveting account of General Ulysses S. Grant’s decision, in the middle of the Civil War, to order the expulsion of all Jews from the territory under his command, and the reverberations of that decision on Grant’s political career, on the nascent American Jewish community, and on the American political process. On December 17, 1862, just weeks before Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, General Grant issued what remains the most notorious anti-Jewish order by a government official in American history. His attempt to eliminate black marketeers by targeting for expulsion all Jews “as a class” unleashed a firestorm of controversy that made newspaper headlines and terrified and enraged the approximately 150,000 Jews then living in the United States, who feared the importation of European antisemitism onto American soil. Although the order was quickly rescinded by a horrified Abraham Lincoln, the scandal came back to haunt Grant when he ran for president in 1868. Never before had Jews become an issue in a presidential contest, and never before had they been confronted so publicly with the question of how to balance their “American” and “Jewish” interests. Award-winning historian Jonathan D. Sarna gives us the first complete account of this little-known episode—including Grant’s subsequent apology, his groundbreaking appointment of Jews to prominent positions in his administration, and his unprecedented visit to the land of Israel. Sarna sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on the ongoing debate between group loyalty and national loyalty that continues to roil American political and social discourse. Read an excerpt View this book on Amazon

Harold Holzer – Washington Post
+	Sarna’s account shines brightest around the edges of the story, offering valuable new insights into ethnic politics, press power and the onetime ability of leaders to flip-flop with grace.

Marc Wortman – The Daily Beast
+	Sarna’s wide-ranging and judiciously balanced book is the latest entry in the luminous Schocken/ Nextbook Jewish Encounters series.

Brian Bethune – MacLeans.ca
+	In this engrossing account by a Brandeis University historian, the order is also shown to be a key moment in the life of Grant.

John David Smith – Charlotte Observer
+	Sarna’s excellent book reminds us that Americans have a long history of learning from their errors.

Janet Maslin – New York Times
~	Mr. Sarna places undue emphasis on the narrow question of whether Grant ultimately “earned” the support and forgiveness of Jews.

Jenna Weissman Joselit – The New Republic
~	For all its many pleasures, however, the book turns out to be more suggestive than persuasive, especially when it comes to its conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews
+	A well-argued exoneration of a president and a sturdy scholarly study.

Publishers Weekly
+	Thoroughly researched and crisply written, this is a very fine work that will interest students of both American and modern Jewish history.

ManofLaBook – SeattlePI.com
+	Dr. Sarna, a professor at Brandeis University, wrote a compelling, exciting book in which he tries to explain the huge impact General Order No. 11 had on the Jewish community in particular, and on the country at large.

Benet Exton – NewsOK.com
+	This book is highly recommended to those interested in the Civil War and American Jewish history.

Bernie Hodkin – Jewish Times
+	Thoroughly researched and impeccably written, even readers with little background in Civil War history will be able to follow Sarna’s narrative as he takes us through Grant’s term as general, president and beyond.

Matt Robinson – Jewish Ledger
?	This isn’t so much a review as snippets of an interview with the author and a summary.

William C. Davis – History Book Club
+	The best part of When General Grant Expelled the Jews comes in the narrative covering the years after the war, when Grant would become a leading light for tolerance and discouragement of prejudice against Jews.

Tags: 1800s, Civil War, Judaism, Sarna, U.S. Grant, US Presidents