Download PDF What is anti-Semitism? While rooted in history, it remains a malady to this day, evidenced by the recent and widely publicized terrorist attacks in a Parisian market. But as times change, so does the term’s meaning. THE DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM by Kenneth L. Marcus (Oxford University Press Hardcover; September 2015; $29.95) is the first book-length study to explore what anti-Semitism means in the contemporary world. Previous efforts to define “anti-Semitism” have been complicated by the murky origins of the term, the contested politics that surround it, and the staggering diversity of its manifestations. Despite the conceptual confusion, though, defining it properly is a vitally important task given the salience of the issue: the year 2014 alone saw a measurable rise in anti-Semitic violence globally. After exploring how the definition of the term has evolved over the centuries, Marcus – who is the President and General Counsel of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law – shifts to the present. He combines legal analysis of the meaning of the term with an anatomy of current public debates about what does-and does not-count as anti-Semitism. He then moves to specific episodes. Does the 1964 Civil Rights Act apply to American Jews? What is the line separating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in critiques of Israel? Finally, to what extent is anti-Semitism (rather than anti-Zionism) fueling critiques of Israel on American college campuses? A major intervention in a hotly contested international debate that is raging with renewed relevance, THE DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM is an important book for anyone interested in the new forms of anti-Semitism plaguing the world.