Do Americans obsess over the Holocaust? Has the focus on the Holocaust distorted scholarship and our understanding of history, and our perception of other atrocities and war crimes?
The most recent responses appear first
"I am fascinated, obsessed even by the Holocaust. I'm not personally acquainted with many others who are. It's difficult to gauge why Americans would take such interest in it..."
"I am a major collector of books on the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and racism..."
"I am half-way through Prof. Novick's book on the Holocaust, and his work on the American Historical Profession (The Noble Dream) was required reading for a graduate class..."
"I do not know if many American Jews are 'obsessed' about the Holocaust..."
"Do Americans obsess about the so-called Holocaust? Surely that truth is self-evident..."
"This question is a very important one to consider and answer..."
"The Holocaust is an example of just how bad humanity can get..."
"What we may be missing in our studies of the Holocaust is the historical perspective of anti-Semitism in Poland and Russia..."
"Peter Novick is a colleague in a neighboring department and is an admirably honest and searching scholar..."
"I am troubled by some of the comments appearing here so far..."
"I have been amazed that with thousands of courses on the Holocaust..."
"I have not read Dr. Novick's book nor do I intend to. But I am very interested in the topic and in this discussion..."
"Dr. Novick may not think that he is ambiguous about his Judaism,..."
"I am trying to understand how a discussion of Americans' interest in the Holocaust..."
"Dr. Novick's aversion to controversy seems disingenuous..."
"I have not read Novick's book, but the issues he addresses preceed his publication. The Holocaust is one..."
"I have not yet read Prof Novick's book, but for a long time I, too, have felt that too much..."
"Peter Novick has a point and I look forward to reading his book closely. American Jewish preoccupation with..."
"After reading this article, I challenge the notion that Americans ARE obsessed with the Holocaust..."
"'Questions of capital-G Good and capital E-Evil' are precisely the questions that many academics shamefacedly avoid..."
"Mr. Novick's use of the phrase 'postural moral superiority' immediately reminded me of..."
"Unfortunately it's not that we are obsessed with the Holocaust itself..."
"The Holocaust was truly a tragedy of epic proportions..."
"It is quite disturbing to see the familiar catch-phrases of the Holocaust Revisionists..."
"There's no doubt that the Holocaust, seen in isolation and out of context with related history,..."
"Learning without comprehension? I think we still have a long way to go in 'understanding' 'the' holocaust..."
"I have taught the Holocaust for more than 20 years and have more than 50 articles and several books published..."
"Novick is certainly right that the 'use of the Holocaust' has often been 'abuse of the Holocaust.'..."
"I use a film about the holocaust to introduce my students to the chapter on civil liberties and civil rights in my class..."
"The Holocaust was an awesome, terrible event and like all such events it draws the attention of our hearts and minds..."
"I am upset over the fact that there is so much attention spent on the holocaust in Germany..."
"It is surprising that Professor Novick is surprised over the attention paid to the Holocaust in America..."
"I'm not quite sure that I would agree that the Holocaust is 'obsessed' on by Americans,..."
"As a serious student of the Holocaust and a teacher who offers a popular elective course on the subject,..."
"Concern about the Holocaust (to use a less pejorative word than obsession)..."
"The Holocaust was probably the only institutionalized mass murder in history,..."
"While I fully appreciate and concur with the attention..."
"I come from an abusive home, my mother was a battered woman,..."
"For comparative genocide studies full of psychological and philosophical insights..."
"Why is the Holocaust Museum in Washington, not in Berlin?..."
"'For the mind and the passion of Hitler --all the aberrations that possessed his feverish brain'..."
"What a difficult question. While studying African-American culture..."
"We seem to have fallen prey to a sort of 'holocaust fever.'..."
"Obsession with the Holocaust has gotten so out of hand..."
"I can't imagine who could not be obsessed with the holocaust..."
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Copyright © 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education