Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish Establishment

by J.J. Goldberg

Book Overview

Widely acclaimed in both the mainstream and Jewish press, Jewish Power by J.J. Goldberg offers an engaging and provocative portrait of the people, institutions, and ideas that make up organized Jewish political influence in the United States. Deftly mixing anecdote and analysis, journalist Goldberg explores the inner dynamics of American Jewish life today and finds a Jewish political system in trouble, uncertain of its future, and out of touch with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201327988
• ISBN13: 9780201327984
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 446 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

An Ideal Read for a Book Club

This book really gets to the core of the influence of the Jewish community in America. It takes on topics that are explored in few other forums. Jewish Power is an ideal book for a bookclub made up of both Jews and non-Jews.

"Inside the American Jewish Establishment"

JEWISH POWER by obviously liberal journalist J. J. Goldberg describes the influence of America's Jewish community in influencing the US government. There are several problems with the book. It does not provide enough historical context and skims over some areas where Jews are either predominient (such as in Hollywood or textiles) or grossly represented out of proportion to the rest of the population (such as the mainstream media and Ivy League schools). Goldberg has a lot of ace to cover, and this is the type of book that might rile up that old demon "anti-Semitism" because it gives striking details on how much power the organized Jewish community wields (which includes Reform, Conservative and Orthodox synagouges plus the non-affiliated). But otherwise what Goldberg does say is worth the five stars. The vast majority of the book is about the ins-and-outs of Jewish 'alphabet soup' organizations, AIPAC's lobbying for Israel and its silencing of opponents, and a lengthy analysis of the conflicts between blacks and Jews from the mid-70s.Jews form the most consistently liberal segment of the US population, and Democratic canidates for President have usually been able to command roughly 80% of the Jewish vote. One-half of the white civil rights leaders that went to the South were Jews, the NAACP was formed and directed by Jews into the mid-60s and Jews have been consistently leading the fight for "seperation of church and state" (i.e. demoralizing Christians). 50% of the Democratic party's money comes from Jewish contributers. This can be decieving, because the Jewish swing vote can influence elections, hence the Republican party also tries to drum up Jewish support, and 20% of Republican money comes from Jews. Although the section about Jews in the media is far too brief and cursory, it mentions the NEW YORK TIMES as being the front voice for current Jewish opinions (1/3 of the TIMES' readership is estimated as Jewish anyway) and 1/4 of major editors for news magazines are Jewish. As for the perennial rumors of Jews controlling the media and Hollywood in particular, consider this quote from page 280:"And in a few key sectors of the media, notably among Hollywood studio executives, Jews are so numerically dominant that calling these businesses Jewish-controlled is little more than a statistical observation."The most popular movement in America is what is called "Neoconservatism." Goldberg shows that the Neocon think tank was dominated from the start back in the sixties by ex-Marxists, most of whom were Jews. Aside for its disparaging of liberals and the media in general, it is basically a re-hash of Marxism popularized in the sixties, but made more efficient. Neoconservatives do not want to do away with the welfare state, but want to make it more efficient, and it is known as "kosher conservativism" because of its unconditional support for the State of Israel.

On etzer

I simply had to make a statement about etzer, because I found what he/she was saying incredibly disturbing. I believe that this person really needs to study the affects of abuse upon people. Abused people, unfortunately, often become major abusers themselves. Please rethink your thoughts on needing to have power and control over other people and your need to be "better" than other people. I think if you study your own history, tragically, you will find where this idea comes from. Please excuse my not reviewing this book properly.

A humble account of our world triumph

Goldberg, a Jewish brother, has written here a superb account of our triumph in the US and indirectly in the rest of the world. He focuses on politics and the role of Jewish organizations and politicians in attaining our objectives (such as the Holocaust-consciousness or the re-conquest of Israel), and our struggle against anti-Semitism on one side and our loss of identity on the other side. Goldberg tackles difficult issues, such as the dilemma between Jewish power on one side and on the other side the jealousy / anti-Semitism it causes among non-Jews. A good example of this is his excellent chapter on our stronghold in the mass- media ), quickly covering the issue of the press, Hollywood and television networks (all this is already out of date, he does not cover the recent acquisition of CNN and AOL, but the book was written in 1996 and should be updated.) Goldberg cites examples of cases where groups such as Christians or blacks were too much attacked by the media and blamed it on the Jewishness of the media, - a wise lesson to learn here, that our control of the media should be diplomatic enough to avoid any rise of anti-Semitism (but Goldberg points out at the beginning of the book that we succeeded anyway in eradicating anti-Semitism of America, so I think there is no danger here.) In the same chapter he also deals with the vexing issue that some media, although Jewish-owned, Jewish-run and Jewish-staffed are however against their own people as it comes to the issue of the Holy Land and Palestinian terrorism. Many thrilling realms of our power are not covered, for example our strength in the advertisement industry, or of the world and national finances. Only an insignificant short mention of Wall Street on p. 288. I would have Goldberg to remember readers that Wall Street was a (Jewish) ghetto, where the anti-Semitic Dutch colonists, who unwillingly accepted us, erected an infamous wall (hence the name Wall Street) to separate our ghetto. No mention in the book either of Wall Street's World Trading companies, with proud Jewish names such as Goldman & Sachs, Solomon, Surov... and of Jewish bank leaders such as Greenspan (Fed.), Wolfensohn (IMF), or the man who runs the European Central bank), etc. Here there are whole domains of our power that completely remained unexplored by the books, as well as many more recent issues in American and international politics where our race was triumphant.So the book is quite limited, but it deals well with what it covers. It is full of anecdotes and all kinds of stories and mentions and is at no time boring, but instead a thrilling read for anyone proud of being a Jew, or any Jew who feels crushed by anti-Semitism or any kind of desperation, such as the troubles with Palestinians. Brothers, read this book and it will give you the feelings that we are indeed the strongest in the world. The Lord be blessed!!